Best Roof Coating

JBarca is a smart guy and I wouldn't ever consider debating with him. But the Heng's acrylic latex coating I put on my EPDM roof, that by the way has lots of Eternabond tape, is holding up quite well. I don't know about water ponding as my roof is peaked so it all runs off. The only place I've ever seen any ponding is on the high side edge of the refrigerator vent, and that area is as intact as the rest of the roof. As it's easy to apply and is holding up well, I expect it'll be my go to product if recoating is ever again necessary. Maybe geography plays into it, I dunno. My trailer lives outside pretty far north in the inland northwest. Snowy winters and sunny summers with generally low humidity. Just reporting my experience.

I applied Heng's to my grandpaw's 1995 Pace Arrow roof 8 months ago. So far, it is holding up very well. I used eternabond and proflex around the seems first and coated everything.

Marcela wrote:
I would seriously look at henrys tropicool 100% silicone roof coating.

I'll add to this,

Hi TECMike,

How many years do you want to get from your roof coating before you stop using the camper? The cost of the product and time to apply, changes with how many years you want to get.

I have done some in-depth looking and testing into roof coatings as my 16 year roof is getting thinner and I have no intention of selling the camper anytime soon. I have not yet, done a total coating install, but will in time. I have narrowed down the coating to the two below.

There is a need to understand the difference between acrylic coatings and then, silicone coatings and how each react to ponding water. Ponding water can breakdown acrylic coatings in some cases as they not made to handle that environment. Some campers have walk on roofs, others do not. Water sheds different from those two types of roofs.

Next up, are you using the coating to restore the shedding white layer of your old roof, or do you want to deal with all the seams and known leaks points which is wherever caulking was used and the infamous gutter rail area leaks?

There are 2 products that fall into the high solids silicone treatment for roofing. There may be more, but these 2 are the I found so far.

Here is the Henrys Tropical Cool. This system shows a lifetime warranty.
https://henry.com/retail/white-roof-coatings/887-tropi-cool-100-silicone-white-roof-coating

Here is the other, Crazy Seal. This system has a 50 year warranty.
https://crazyseal.com/?msclkid=9dec2a474820129b03794a082dcb511f

Both of them have 3 different viscosities of the product to work on different needs. You use the thicker viscosities over sound older caulk, there is a pump tube for joints if needed and then a open area thinner coating.

Both of these products have to be applied to a very clean surface. Both do work with 1 coat ~ 22 mils thick, but it is better with 2 coats, ~ 40 mill thick.

Both the Tropi Cool and the Crazy Seal have many similarities, the Crazy Seal is infused with fiber where the Tropi Cool is not. Both are rated for buildings and RV's. The Crazy Seal is targeted for the RV'er but rated for buildings. Tropi Cool is targeted for buildings but used on RV's. It is a marketing thing.

The Tropi Cool will most likely be a little cheaper. Both of these coatings will most likely be more expensive then the other RV coatings mentioned in this thread and take longer to install over all the leak prone areas. The end result can be better pending on what you are after.

The big thing I was after is the gutter rails and all the caulk on the roof. That is where the big issues are. As I stated, both products have 3 different viscosity's of the product to go over seams, sound caulking etc. The gutter rails, meaning dealing the the screw area down in the gutter, I had to create my own method to make it work. Over the winter I bought the Crazy Seal product and created test roof samples and applied the product to make sure I knew how it was going to react. The open areas and horizontal area worked flawless as the web site states over caulking and the large roof surface. At the gutter area I had to create a process to deal with them as it is a vertical surface. I have not tested the Tropi Cool product but from reviewing, I expect it to work very similar. If your roof has a large roof radius at the gutter rail that exposes a vertical section of roof, lets talk on how to deal with the vertical surface.

Both of these options create a maintenance free roof other then cleaning and inspection that is rated to last the life of the camper. And they deal with all the caulk issues of the original install.

Three things to note,

1. Any water damage to the roof system from a prior leak, should be repaired before the coating. This includes dealing with crumbling old dried up caulk.

2. Think about replacing all roof mounted plastic before the coating. Shower domes, tank vents, fridge vents etc. This is not a mandate, but dealing with them after the coating will be more difficult.

3. Crazy Seal will not create a long lasting bond to Eternabond. They will tell you that. I suspect Tropi Cool will not either and the same goes for the Dicro acrylic coatings as I have seen it lift on that product too. The top slick surface is the problem. There are ways to deal with this if you used Ebond, it just takes extra steps.

As Marcela stated, look into the high solids silicone coatings as you sort this out.

Hope this helps.

John

TECMike,

I have used Proguard. From what I have read Hengs is easier to apply, but I do not have first hand experience with it.

In 2015 I applied Proguard for the first time. Due to weather conditions I ended up rushing the job and it made for a long day (clean, dry, mask, cut, roll). I also ended up with some spots a little too thick (the higher humidity and finishing late in the day did not help).

Anyway, after 5 years it was getting thin and I went with Proguard again because I was familiar with using it. So last August I split the job into 3 days and that made it easy. This is for a trailer where the roof is 26' long & about 8' wide.

Day 1 - Cleaned it well and took care of masking.
Day 2 - Opened a 1 gallon can and took care of the edges which extend down side of trailer 1/2 inch. Cut around all vents, skylights, AC and then used remaining to cover front couple of feet of trailer. Did not cut in around ladder where I get on and off.
Day 3 - Rolled the rest of the trailer. Had it marked in 45' sections and would apply 1 gallon per 45 sq ft.

This was done on 80 degree days when working with material I would start at around 9:30am and finish by around 11:00am before it really got too warm. No issues with pot life.

By splitting into three days it made it easy, no rush, and felt like it did a nice job covering and expect minimum 5 years out of this and perhaps more because I think I spread it more evenly. Once this is on it really does appear to be quality material.

Hope this is of some help.

Take it easy,
Stu

Does Proguard Liquid RV Roof coating need their primer applied to Eternabond areas prior to application of the coating?

I would seriously look at henrys tropicool 100% silicone roof coating.

TECMike wrote:
Thanks everyone for their posts. Heng's seem to have a good following. However it is interesting that no one has used Proguard, which has a five year warranty if applied properly.

. People have used Proguard but it is much more expensive than the acrylic coatings. The proguard or liquid rubber is liquid EPDM and is suppose to last longer. The EPDM roofs have an outer white layer that will slough off in time exposing a black rubber substrate. Once the black is exposed the black rubber will absorb the suns rays and heat up the RV. My roof started showing the black at about 12 years of age, my friends MH is the same year as mine and his roof is entirely black now and hot inside because he never coated it. I coated mine with one coat of Cool Seal because a friend gave me a can when he bought a new MH with a FG roof. It looked great for 3-4 years then it started to wear of. My roof is 25 years old now and has never leaked . It looks about the same as it did at 12 years of age, so I figured the coating extended the roof’s life by 12 years.

Thanks everyone for their posts. Heng's seem to have a good following. However it is interesting that no one has used Proguard, which has a five year warranty if applied properly.

Gdetrailer wrote:

gbopp wrote:
Yes, you're going to get a lot of opinions.
My vote is for Heng's Rubber Roof Coating. It goes on easily and needs no primer. Just wash the roof well before applying. I used 2 1/2 gallons to cover 30' of roof with two light coats.
Heng's holds up well.
Use Eternabond and Dicor Self Leveling Caulk for any seams or tears in the roof.

Define "HOLDS UP WELL".

1 yr??
2 yrs??
3 yrs??
5 yrs??
10 yrs??
15 yrs???

Is the "HOLDS UP WELL" just the "pretty blinding white" factor?

If so, blinding white does not equal "HOLDING UP WELL"...

It can look pretty and white but if in the end it cracks, wears thin or peels off or you have to reapply again, it failed to "HOLD UP WELL".

RVrs seem to be totally obsessed with having a "blinding white roof" and are willing to spend a lot of time and money on keeping it blinding white.

Slathering things on that roof also does not add real life to the roof, just prolongs the obvious issue a couple of yrs.. If you are really planning to hold on to the RV, fixing old cracked caulking is best plan than worrying about the color..

You don't see home owners painting sticks and bricks roofs, not sure why RVs get so obsessed with perfect white roofs.. They will get dirty, they will go grey to black as the roof wears and even if the roof goes 100% black as long as it sheds water it is 100% functional without slathering fixes in a can on it.

I coated my roof with Hengs 3 years ago, and aside from currently being dirtier than when it was fresh, it's holding up great. And that blindingly white is an awesome feature. My RV cooled very noticeably literally the very day I coated it. If it peels or anything I'll have no problem slapping another coat on there, but it looks like it's going to hold up for a while yet.

I've had the Heng's on my roof about 5 years. I only coated the roof because the original white coating wore off.
It was cheaper to clean and coat the roof than it was to replace it.
I wanted a light colored roof to reflect heat, the coating only comes in white.