Epdm roof replacement elastomeric options

[Padres_Chris]

The Epdm roof on our 2.5 year old Arctic Fox truckcamper has become separated from the plywood surface below. The separation covers almost the entire roof. I don't see how this is possible. I'm very diligent with checking for gaps in sealant and refreshing the lap sealant every 6-8 months. I've only cleaned the roof with water and a light detergent and foam sponge. Usually every 6-8 months also. Regardless the rubber has become so loose that it's ballooning up and rubbing on things like the roof rack and edges of the air conditioner. I'm thinking of removing the epdm, since it has since been cut through by the rack and ax, I'm considering several types of elastomeric coatings.

I have communicated with the manufacturers of safe-t-plex in Canada. They stated that on a bare plywood roof I can tape the plywood seams with their tape and apply 3 coats of their coating product to obtain a good roof sealant. Sounded good, however shipping 5 gallons cost $100 bringing the required materials from $300 up to $400.

Has anyone ever used the Henry or Gardner products available at homedepot?
Or does anyone have any direct experience with the safe-t-plex?
Or any other thoughts in general on my project?
I've also considered the bed-liner options.

Thanks
Chris

[BarneyS]

Sounds to me like an installation problem and not a problem of the roof material itself. That would mean that the material manufacturer would not have any liability for the roof coming off and the "12 year warranty" would not apply. I would go after the builder of the RV itself instead of the rubber roof manufacturer, or preferably, do as the OP is doing and fix it myself.
Barney

[firemen122]

Contact an attorney. Roof is under warranty.

[RollandB]

One thought, I'd still send Northwood a demand letter with requesting a return receipt from the postal service. At least you know they got it. On many things warrantee do it covers the product and not the labor so you could get the cost of the pro depict taken care of and still do the work yourself. Good luck!

[Golden_HVAC]

It seems from your description that air got under the roof, then allowed it to balloon up and separate from the plywood. Anything that you apply to the factory EPDM will not work, until you have properly applied contact cement to the roof, and let it get tacky (this can take an hour) then re-apply the factory EPDM membrane. After that, you will probably have a open seam down the center of the RV, where you must pull it back to coat the plywood with contact cement.

I would cut the factory EPDM down the center, and work one side at a time, stay on the EPDM while working on the other side. Remove the A/C cover to keep it out of the way.

Once the EPDM is sealed to the RV again, run some Eternabond 4" wide tape down the center to make it raintight so that it will be possible to wash all the dirt off the roof material.

After washing the roof, and with it stuck to the plywood very well, you can coat the whole roof with something like
http://www.epdmcoatings.com/rv_roof_repair.html

Eternabond can be found here. https://www.bigrocksupply.com/Eternabond-RoofSeal-White.html

You can buy it in 6" or even 18" wide strips. Many apply this to the seams on the sidewalls of their RV, so that they will never need to deal with roof to sidewall sealant again. I don't know if I would use Eternabond, but you will need to do something to make the roof raintight enough to wash it before applying something like the EPDM coating. If applied to a dusty roof, it might only stick to the dust, and come off in sheets! That would not be good.

Good luck on your project!

Fred.

[Lar_s]

Check out RV roof armor... great guarantee, and they come to you.

I've seen it done, and it looks great. Warrantee goes to the next owner as well.

[Padres_Chris]

donn0128 wrote:
Roof is warrented for 12 years. Have you contacted Northwood Mfg directly?

I've left two voicemails and sent two emails. None were responded to. I'd prefer to do it myself and know it's done right than to trust them to do another less than stellar job.

-Chris

[donn0128]

Roof is warrented for 12 years. Have you contacted Northwood Mfg directly?