Cost of a new EPDM roof?
OK, it has been a month since I have had a chance to get any estimates on getting new EPDM roof on my TC. I am in the middle of a restoration on my TC and having a tree limb come through the roof, la...
Forum Discussion
I agree with Sleepy:
Look VERY, very closely at TPO specs, and compare them very closely to EPDM rubber. TPO is a far more robust product. I have a relative (a rubber/plastics/coatings development scientist in the biz for 50+ years) look into TPO vs. rubber, and TPO (properly installed) offers numerous advantages.
After our research, we bought a camper with a TPO roof (properly installed: I know, because I was at the truck camper factory watching their install of a roof on the same camper), and today, 9 years later, our roof looks like the the day it was built. I'm anal at keeping the roof membrane clean. I inspect our roof once a month during truck camper season, and have done so the entire 9 years of ownership. Based on our roof's appearance today, I would estimate it's life to go at least another 5 years.
Caveat: I did drop a 10-lb tree cutter hardened steel cutting head onto our camper roof many years ago, from 20 feet up. The razor-sharp cutter head put only a deep impression into the TPO about 3/16th long, and crazed the TPO 3 inches lateral of the 1st impact (but no puncture) both of which I patched anyway.
Remember: the TPO has to be installed properly (replete with 3/16th thick roofing felt over the roof decking), and side rolled over the edge of the roof (like Sleepy notes, and like we have; not seamed on top), and properly stretched and fastened down. The last time I was at IKEA in early November (the store is about the size of 4 football fields) I noted that their TPO roof (installed 15+ years ago) looked like it was installed the day before I saw it. I could see a ~30,000 sq/ft section of their roof from the window at their 2nd floor restaurant...
Cost? No idea. It can't be cheap, for sure. Only a hand-full of RV manufacturers use TPO (Lance is one of them; so was Outfitter {but now Outfitter has a fiberglass roof}). We should actually have a running list of truck camper manufacturers, in this Forum, that build with TPO roof systems. Personally, a TPO roof membrane would be a weighting of 35 (out of 100) in our decision to buy a new camper (in the deal-breaker category!). Structure build would weight 45, and interior layout would weight a 20 (most truck camper interiors are very similar in cross-competitive models, and truck camper makers are mostly open to doing interior mods at the factory, thus the lower interior layout weighting).
Look VERY, very closely at TPO specs, and compare them very closely to EPDM rubber. TPO is a far more robust product. I have a relative (a rubber/plastics/coatings development scientist in the biz for 50+ years) look into TPO vs. rubber, and TPO (properly installed) offers numerous advantages.
After our research, we bought a camper with a TPO roof (properly installed: I know, because I was at the truck camper factory watching their install of a roof on the same camper), and today, 9 years later, our roof looks like the the day it was built. I'm anal at keeping the roof membrane clean. I inspect our roof once a month during truck camper season, and have done so the entire 9 years of ownership. Based on our roof's appearance today, I would estimate it's life to go at least another 5 years.
Caveat: I did drop a 10-lb tree cutter hardened steel cutting head onto our camper roof many years ago, from 20 feet up. The razor-sharp cutter head put only a deep impression into the TPO about 3/16th long, and crazed the TPO 3 inches lateral of the 1st impact (but no puncture) both of which I patched anyway.
Remember: the TPO has to be installed properly (replete with 3/16th thick roofing felt over the roof decking), and side rolled over the edge of the roof (like Sleepy notes, and like we have; not seamed on top), and properly stretched and fastened down. The last time I was at IKEA in early November (the store is about the size of 4 football fields) I noted that their TPO roof (installed 15+ years ago) looked like it was installed the day before I saw it. I could see a ~30,000 sq/ft section of their roof from the window at their 2nd floor restaurant...
Cost? No idea. It can't be cheap, for sure. Only a hand-full of RV manufacturers use TPO (Lance is one of them; so was Outfitter {but now Outfitter has a fiberglass roof}). We should actually have a running list of truck camper manufacturers, in this Forum, that build with TPO roof systems. Personally, a TPO roof membrane would be a weighting of 35 (out of 100) in our decision to buy a new camper (in the deal-breaker category!). Structure build would weight 45, and interior layout would weight a 20 (most truck camper interiors are very similar in cross-competitive models, and truck camper makers are mostly open to doing interior mods at the factory, thus the lower interior layout weighting).
