Forum Discussion

PUCampin's avatar
PUCampin
Explorer
Sep 19, 2023

PVC roof failure

Has anyone else has issues with a PVC membrane roof? I kept reading goo things about PVC so I bought kit in March of 22 to replace my dead rubber roof and installed it on my trailer. After the tropical storm hit us in SoCal I went to check on it and there was significant leaking in a couple areas. I was able to get on a ladder today and I found the roof was trashed. Several large pieces missing and lots of cracks. The material is brittle and just crumbles in my hand. Now I have to scrape the whole thing off, repair damage and get a new membrane. This is only 18 months old. It looks and acts like it has no UV resistance. I sent a message to the company I bought it from but I don’t have a lot of faith they will do anything. Anyone else have anything like this?
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Some plastics do not stand up well to sunlight.. I DO NOT KNOW if PVC is one of them.
  • This is interesting to me as I've been looking at replacing my roof, possibly with PVC.

    Thanks for any updates.
    CC
  • I was literally about to click on and buy a PVC roof kit off amazon then thought I better do some more research and came across this post. I've hesitated for the last 4 weeks because I know PVC alone is not UV stable, but I figured they injected stabilizers into this roof membrane. Sounds like I just dodged a bullet. I think I'll go with commercial grade TPO.

    Where did you buy it?

    Thank you for saying something.
  • I purchased a kit from classAcustoms on Amazon, they seem to be a large supplier for rv parts. I don’t know who the actual manufacturer of the material is. Since it was a kit it was likely cut from a big roll. I noticed classAcustoms is not currently selling pvc, only tpo and epdm, so maybe I am not the only one though I have not been able to find any other examples of pvc failing like me, so it doesn’t seem the norm. Bits like the uv resistant material was left out of the batch. I posted because it is such an unusual failure and I wondered if anyone else in our community had experienced it. ClassAcustoms is replacing the material According to warranty but I still have additional damage to repair now. Thanks for the feedback, not trying to scare anyone away as it seems this is the exception, but I have read about other issues with other materials being manufactured incorrectly in the last couple years.
  • pvc roofs are new on the market compared to epdm and tpo. EPDM has been used as a roofing material on buildings for at least 40 years and holds up well to UV and other environmental issues.

    I've had enough experience with various PVC materials in the sun to be concerned about PVC for applications in the sun. Even a year can make it brittle.

    EPDM does have drawbacks but does seem to hold up well with proper care.
  • PUCampin wrote:
    I purchased a kit from classAcustoms on Amazon, they seem to be a large supplier for rv parts. I don’t know who the actual manufacturer of the material is. Since it was a kit it was likely cut from a big roll. I noticed classAcustoms is not currently selling pvc, only tpo and epdm, so maybe I am not the only one though I have not been able to find any other examples of pvc failing like me, so it doesn’t seem the norm. Bits like the uv resistant material was left out of the batch. I posted because it is such an unusual failure and I wondered if anyone else in our community had experienced it. ClassAcustoms is replacing the material According to warranty but I still have additional damage to repair now. Thanks for the feedback, not trying to scare anyone away as it seems this is the exception, but I have read about other issues with other materials being manufactured incorrectly in the last couple years.


    Thanks. From the reviews, it seems you're not the only one to have issues. I'll stick with EpDM or TPO since it proven. Too bad. I like the idea of how puncture resistant PVC is

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