I usually clean my roof once or twice a year. That consists of me going up with a bucket of soap and scrub brush and doing what I can. It stays indoors over winter and most of the year while not camping.This year, the roof was really filthy and hard to clean. The darkest spots were where the steel spanned from one side of the camper to the other. Roof truss? Not sure what it's called. I scrubbed best I could with the notion of hitting it with a slightly stiffer brush and elbow grease before winter storage.My storage place called me and said they were running a special on roof conditioning. I mentioned I had a hard time getting it clean this time and he said the would clean it up, condition it and make any repairs necessary. He told me the price would be about $300 which I thought was fair. They did the work, only charged me $250. I checked it out afterwards (I can see from my closet window when at my house) and it didn't look any different in terms of being clean. Still had some dark spots where the trusses were. I did see some spots were new Dicor was applied. When it stops raining I will jump on the roof and look closer.Am I expecting too much? If someone charges me to condition and clean the roof I would expect it to be like new.... or at least the dark spots be removed. I really try and maintain the camper and spend a little extra for indoor storage to keep things nice. Thoughts? Am I expecting too much?

IMO, the only way to make it look like new, is a recoat, rather than clean/condition. If you had already cleaned it, you probably could have done the caulking yourself. For $250, if they cleaned, caulked, and conditioned, that sounds fair to me.Another IMO, if it stays indoors, when not in use, the conditioner should not be necessary, just a once/twice a year cleaning/caulk check.Jerry

The more you clean it, the shorter its life. Dirt has no detrimental impact on life span.

Some stains just wont come out without damaging the material. The reason to clean is really to remove the chalking that happens from aging, UV exposure, etc, and have a clean dry surface to put conditioner on so it sticks. That reminds me, need to get up and wash and condition mine before it gets too cold.

ScottG wrote:The more you clean it, the shorter its life. Dirt has no detrimental impact on life span.I agree. It is good to clean it once and awhile but, there is no reason to do it all the time. You are just scrubbing off the protective layer that you really want to keep. That is just my opinion though.

RoyBell wrote:They did the work, only charged me $250. I checked it out afterwards (I can see from my closet window when at my house) and it didn't look any different in terms of being clean. Still had some dark spots where the trusses were. I did see some spots were new Dicor was applied. When it stops raining I will jump on the roof and look closer.Am I expecting too much? If someone charges me to condition and clean the roof I would expect it to be like new.... or at least the dark spots be removed. I really try and maintain the camper and spend a little extra for indoor storage to keep things nice. Thoughts? Am I expecting too much?My thoughts are that you are wasting your money. Your roof needs no "conditioning". It only needs inspection 2-4 times a year for the caulk joints.

Roof conditioning | Good Sam Community

RoyBell
Explorer
Oct 27, 2017
Thanks for the tips guys. It's about to head back to inside storage for winter. It really only sees the sun for about 2 out of the 12 months it's on my driveway or we are camping :) By that math, I should only have to wash and seal it every 3-5 years :)
JBarca
Nomad II
Oct 29, 2017
RoyBell wrote:

This year, the roof was really filthy and hard to clean. The darkest spots were where the steel spanned from one side of the camper to the other. Roof truss? Not sure what it's called. I scrubbed best I could with the notion of hitting it with a slightly stiffer brush and elbow grease before winter storage.

My storage place called me and said they were running a special on roof conditioning. I mentioned I had a hard time getting it clean this time and he said the would clean it up, condition it and make any repairs necessary. He told me the price would be about $300 which I thought was fair.

They did the work, only charged me $250. I checked it out afterwards (I can see from my closet window when at my house) and it didn't look any different in terms of being clean. Still had some dark spots where the trusses were. I did see some spots were new Dicor was applied. When it stops raining I will jump on the roof and look closer.

Am I expecting too much? If someone charges me to condition and clean the roof I would expect it to be like new.... or at least the dark spots be removed. I really try and maintain the camper and spend a little extra for indoor storage to keep things nice. Thoughts? Am I expecting too much?

Hi Roy,

When they said they would condition the roof, what exactly does condition mean to them? Did the just wash it and do the caulking? Did they add any UV protectant?

This thread may help. It will also provide some of the why you should clean and use a UV protecant on your EPDM roof.

This link will drop you in when the pictures start showing up. You can go back to the beginning if you want. If you read to the end it will provide more of why at least Dicor who makes EPDM rubber roofing wants you to clean the roof. It also shows talks about the demolding process which may be some of what you are up against.
Cleaning an epdm roof

Also, do you know if your roof is EPDM rubber and who made it for your camper? That link deals with Dicor EPDM Brite Ply rubber. If yours is some other type of roof, it may not apply.

Hope this helps

John
RoyBell
Explorer
Oct 30, 2017
I dropped the camper back off Saturday to them and picked up the paperwork on it.

I left it at home, but I believe it said they bleached, washed, conditioned and sealed the roof and applied dicor where needed. It also said they applied some caulk on the front cap because it was starting to show age and crack.

I could see the new Dicor and caulk. Obviously the other stuff would be harder to see or verfiy. I was also wrong on the price. The $250 was for the labor, and another $60 in materials (which is what they quoted me originally).

Either way, it's now indoors for winter. I told them to pack the axles since it's now 3 years old. Campers happy and in good shape. Looks brand new still (no yellowing, scratches, torn anything, etc). We have been talking about a toy hauler, so it may get traded next year.

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