Cleaning an epdm roof

JBarca wrote:

ScottG wrote:

LarryJM wrote:

nextlevel wrote:
Good morning everyone. I am having trouble getting my epdm roof clean. I bought this 2011 Puma back in July and I don't think the previous owner ever cleaned the roof. I am presently using Lucas #115 as a cleaner but after cleaning I can still rub my hand across the rubber and white stuff comes off. Any advice?

Yea LEAVE IT ALONE ... that white stuff is the normal deterioration of the protective layer which helps provide more protection as a somewhat sacrificial layer if left alone. By trying to remove it which BTW is going to be virtually impossible you are IMO actually SHORTENING THE LIFE of your roof.

LEAVE YOUR ROOF ALONE and GO CAMPING:B:W

Larry

X2,
Your roof never "needs" to be cleaned except for your own asthetic reasons. The more you clean it the more you remove that protective white coating. It does nothing healthy for the roof to clean it.
The best thing you can do is inspect the caulking and otherwise leave it alone.

Hi, trying to learn about how you came to learning this.

I'm not following this thought process. Have you found a manufacture of a rubber roof membrane that has stated to not "clean" the roof? If so, please link their instructions that state this. May learn something new from it.

Dicor is who made my EPDM roof. Read all of it including the UV protectent at the end. This is their recommendation. Dicor EPDM Rubber Roofing Care

My camper was built in Nov. 2003 and is close to being 14 years old. For the first 10 years, the camper lived outside 365 days a year in Central Ohio through snowing winters. It now lives in a pole barn since 2013.

I wash the roof with Tide laundry detergent to get the dirt off. Once dry, I apply 303 UV protectant to the rubber and all plastic or Dicor caulking on the roof. This process is done 3 to 4 times a year. Once always before winter and once always comeing out of winter and a time or 2 in the warmer weather.

Due to my area, mold grows quickly. About every 3 to 4 years I need to do a mold removal on the roof to keep it in check. The Tide cuts the dirt but not the mold. The Dicor instructions tell how to do this that I linked above.

My roof today is still in perfect shape. There is very little deterioration of the white layer and there are no fine or large cracks in the rubber membrane white layer.

I also acquired a project camper this spring. It was built in Oct 2003. It is only 1 month older then my current camper in my sig. It is the same brand I have now, but it had a leak, a bad one. I am rebuilding it. This roof never had any attention to it. The Dicor caulking is toast, the rubber is toast, the dirt is deeply embedded into the rubber and spider cracks exist in the rubber membrane white layer. Everything plastic on the roof is shot. This camper lived 3.5 hours from where I have had mine stored outside. Same state, with very similar winter conditions as well as moist spring and summer as well as the years the roof has been on.

The difference between the 2 campers roofs is dramatic. One has been taken care of, the other not. The outcome is very different. Granted this is for living in Central Ohio. Other states may produce a different outcome. I'm sure AZ, FL and TX will be different then a northern state.

The more I help others with a 10 plus year old rubber roof camper where the prior owner did nothing for the roof, the outcome is not good. The rubber itself is cracked in the white layer like it was a piece of glass with fine and large lines going all over. The more I learn about how bad a neglected roof turns out in 10 years, the more I am convinced that using 303 UV protectant on the rubber and the caulking makes a significant difference in the lasting of the roof system. Proper cleaning is also part of this. The caulking is still a weak link in this roof system but even the Dicor will benefit from the added UV protection. In 2010 I did a full Eternabond treatment
to deal with the caulking splits that come over the winter.

I never would of known how much my care regiment on the EPDM roof has helped until I have had to help several others repair their failing 10 year old roof system. That and the project camper I acquired this spring.

My vote, care for the rubber roof like your manufacture states and consider a UV protectant.

Hope this helps

John

I'm a big believer in 303 and use it extensively and buy it by the gallon and IMO it is the ONE ITEM worth using to extend anything made of rubber or plastic that lives outside. The one biggest drawback is that it doesn't last very long and would agree with you that if you expend the time, effort and $$$ to simply apply it 4 times a year that will extend and preserve an EDPM roof significantly. I still would not clean it, but can't disagree too much with your apparantly very reasonable cleaning and 303 application. Question is the time and effort one has to spend performing such a dedicated and frequent maintenance plan. I doubt there is more than maybe 1 in 20 that do what you do 4X a year and if the interval is extended to say 6 or 9 months then I still think one can do more harm than good trying to extend the life of an EDPM roof by cleaning it. However simply dumping 303 even on a dirty roof can't hurt it either, but unless you do it like you do 4x or more a year I question how much longer an EDPM roof will actually last over one not maintained. Looks like the spider web cracking I'm not so sure how significant that is to the overall life of the roof. Maybe it only lasts 15 vice 20+ years I'm not sure.

My roof is not 11 years old (built in June of 2006) and I have cleaned it ONCE back in the spring of 2008 just prior to my massive Eternabonding extravaganza and it is not showing the type of issues your 2003 unit is and mine has live outside 24/7 in the NoVa weather (just outside of D.C.) that entire time except for the year or so it has been on the road, mostly to Florida/Mississippi.

Larry