Hi,
10-12-14 edit.
I really liked the idea of the herculiner roof, and many have asked how it worked out for me. Well it is peeling off in some sections, and that I was not to happy about. So I just got finished with cleaning the whole roof, and recoating it with some two part roof coating (second link in the original post).
Where I had taken the time and cleaned the roof really well, and applied a thick coat of Herculiner, it seems to be holding up. But then I got lazy and put on 4 more gallons to the rest of the roof, and did not clean it well, and in many locations it went on really thin. The thick herculiner is still there, and will not pull off the roof. Some thinner areas, I was able to scrub it off with a washcloth. I do know the first area I did around my bathroom skylight and towards the rearward solar panels, and I covered the side of the RV with plastic, and washed it really well. That area, and where it was applied thick is still in great shape.
However it was so much easier to apply the two part roof coating tonight. And I did have to scrub and dry each square foot of the roof really well. The coating was put on thick. I only bought 5 gallons, and think that I will need another 5 to finish the project.
Because my RV has been in covered RV storage for a year, I can not really walk around on the roof, but have about 3' clearance between the roof and some bird screen to keep birds out of the attic area of the storage place. So it is really difficult on my knees to work on it. But next weekend I should be able to finish the whole roof again. Sad that it only lasted a few years, I was very hopeful about it.I have been talking about applying white bedliner to my roof for the past year or so, and collecting opinions of what to use, how it worked, ect. Even talked with a couple of people who had Rino Liner installed on their roof. White color is optional, and takes about 2 weeks to arrive. Cost for Rino Liner installed is around $3,000 - $4,250. Part of the high cost involves washing the old roof well, and having to remove the A/C covers, and roof vents. Masking anything that you don't want coated with the rino liner, and getting it into a huge spray booth with proper ventilation. It is a 3 day process too.
I decided to use Herculiner, do it yourself roll on white bedliner material. As the time got closer, and I started to collect the required equipment, I chickened out - two weekends in a row! Herculiner is rubber pellets disolved in Xyelene, and like acetone, will disolve normal govles, so special ones from Graingers that will last 16 hours when exposed to Acetone or Xyelene where ordered, along with a chemical carbon gas respirator. Chemical resistant coveralls and some other painting supplys from Home Depot (blue masking tape, .7 mil plastic to protect the sides of the RV, extra paint brushes, and metal paint stir for a drill to keep the rubber in suspension in the chemicals). These extra where about $150 in supplies.
Acetone is nothing to play around with, neither is Xyelene. Here is the website for Herculiner. I ordered white bedliner.
http://www.herculiner.com/product_info.htmlMy 14 year old rubber roof had almost all the white parts of the EPDM roof flake off, leaving behind large black areas, that all the white came off when scrubbed with some TSP soap. Instructions call for cleaning with TSP (Tri Sodioum Phosphate) a mild and great soap, then clean with acetone, then wait for that to evaperate, and apply the bed liner material.
The installation went really well. My fears where not founded, and it applied well, thick, and I was able to pour some material directly on the roof, move it around with a paint brush, then direct it over the side, to the masking tape line, and get it even and to the edge that I wanted, without any going down the side of the RV onto the plastic.
I put extra material around each solar panel mount, and covered those extra well. And also coated well around each roof vent, and the shower skylight. The skylight had been leaking, and there had been places where the old roof had shrunk, and hairline cracks up to 1/8" wide where in places.
I really should have done this 2-3 years ago, when the roof was in much better shape.
My friend did a similar roof repair, yet he used something else. His was much easier to apply, and took about 3 gallons to complete his 30' fifth wheel. It is also a bright white finish, and looks like it will last for years. Probably a lot thicker than the original roofing, and should be quiet in the rain, as well as better insulation, and no white streaks.
http://www.epdmcoatings.com/rv_roof_repair.htmlBy using a two part roof material, he has a roof that will not disolve in the rain. I had put a single part product on my old camper roof back in 1995, and it did disolve in the rain after sitting in Washington for a few years. It was a white roof coating sold by Home Depot at that time. Don't recall the brand name though.
So I wanted to use something a little harder, and I think the bedliner coating will be difficult to cut with a knife! All I need to do now is get 3 more gallons of the stuff, and apply it to the roof. The first gallon covered an area about 4' x 12' long, and around most of my roof vents, skylights, and solar panel mounts. Now I just have to cover the rest of the roof. It should go well, and take about 40 minutes per gallon, not including time to wash the roof, and relocate the solar panels.
IF I had known about the EPDM coating, and it does not require a chemical mask to install it, I might have used that. Yet I had already ordered the bedliner material, and I have my heart set on that super tough bedliner material now.
For those with white streaks on the RV sidewall, and wanting to get rid of them, the EPDM coating in the link above will not cause white streaks! For that, it is worth it. It would have been great to install the EPDM coating when my RV was only 8 - 9 years old, when the roof was still in great condition, because it makes the roof totally 1 peice, with no seams anymore. The same coating covers all the joints, right to the side of the roof vent, or to a certain part of the skylight. You protect the area you don't want coated with masking tape, and remove the masking tape while the product is still not fully cured, so it will come off cleanly.
Yet the EPDM coating is going to be slippery when wet. Not a problem for my friend, who does not get on his RV roof (until that plant was growing out of the roof material). With my solar panels, I wanted something a little more non-slip, and the Herculiner is non-slip, should be very quiet in the rain, and very durable.
And no more white streaks - Priiceless!
Fred.
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