Ever repair a rubber (EDPM) roof??

[WOT]

A tree branch caught the rubber roof on my camper and ripped a spot 28" x 8". Anyone have any experiance repairing a rubber roof? I'm wondering about the best repair method or am I just up the creek and need a whole new roof put on!!



Any input would be appreciated...



Thanks!

 

[CPG]

Hi WOT, This is not a rare thing to happen. If You have a Camper World back there in Your country, I'm sure they sell EDPM rubber roof repair kits. They come with the fabric, glue and white rubber coating. As a matter of fact, any good RV shop will be able to do this for You.

Hope this helps.

 

[Jammar9082]

A similar thing happened to our trailer on its arrival at this property and I repaired it with out any problems. I had two tears that were rather extensive. I used about three square feet of material. This perhaps was excessive but the repair should be very durable.



I think you should not be afraid to make the repair.



The prepackaged repair kits available did not have enough material enclosed. I went to an RV dealer and explained my problem and the parts manager went to the shop and got scraps from a full roof repair job and about a 1/4 pint of the latex glue they use from a five gallon container. ( I wish I knew exactly what the glue was but don't. ) He then got a tube of dicor brand self leveling caulk in a tube and sent me on my way.



I cleaned the roof area with regular liquid detergent using a stiff brush. The stiff brush is not recommended by Dicor but it works good and no apparent damage was noted. I was not sure what kind of solvent cleaner to use and tried several. I chose to use lacquer thinner to further clean the rubber. It seemed to work OK after experimenting on some small samples without any deterioating effect to the rubber. I found that coating the two pieces of rubber and letting them become tacky before pressing together made the best repair as opposed to using a wet glue technique. This is time critical so the glue must not be too dry nor too wet and mark locating points on the patch and the roof to insure the patch goes where it belongs. It is something like contact cement in this stage and there is little time to reposition the patch. I rolled the patch with a wooden wall paper roller to insure good contact. I let this stage of the repair dry 24 hours and then used the Dicor caulk to seal the edges of the patch/patches.



I gained an appreciation for the rubber roof material and feel that it is a very durable product if one stays away from tree limbs. My Rv is a 1990 model built in 1989 and the roof did not appear to have been cared for at least recently. There was a lot of oxidised rubber that came off but underneath the rubber had a clean slick pinkish hued appearance.



This is a long response but I hope it will give you confidence to repair your roof.

 

[WOT]

Jammar9082,



Thanks for the info. Did any of your repair entend down where the rubber bends over the side and is held into place with the rain gutter? That's where the 9" tear in mine is. If so, did you remove the gutter and slip the material under it?



Thanks again!

 

[TowPro]

Just be sure you get the correct cement. It will say "for rubber roofs" I just bought a 12 year old camper that has a rubber roof, and somebody re-caulked it with the wrong stuff, it did not hold well, now I got to fix it right.

 

[RustyJC]

The real key to repairing an EDPM roof is use of the right techniques and materials. I'd suggest visiting Dicor's website here and getting what you need if you don't have a good RV shop handy.



Rusty

 

[RustyJC]

The real key to repairing an EPDM roof is use of the right techniques and materials. I'd suggest visiting Dicor's website here and getting what you need if you don't have a good RV shop handy.



Rusty

 

[Tom W]

WOT, check out www.eternabond.com .

I used this and it worked great.



Tom

 

[Fireman]

WOT,



I had a tear that extended over the edge, and yes I loosened the gutter and extended the patch to the edge of the original roof. I bought a Dicor kit for reparing rubber roofs, it contained all materials need to make the repair. The instructions in the kit were also very good, making the repair easy.



Fireman

 

[WOT]

All,



Thanks for all the good info. This site is certainly worth the money!



WOT

 

[GAmes]

I too tested the durability of my rubber roof with a tree branch and lost. I ordered a roll of repair tape that is about 6 inches wide and 25 ft long, made by Dicor. It is preglued and VERY sticky. (about $75) I cleaned up the damaged area and applied the tape. Pretty easy. This stuff has removable backing on both sides. One side is for the adhesive, the other you remove after the tape is applied to the roof. The second backing is solely to keep the tape from stretching during application. I have three numbers, 800-837-2059, 800-666-7824, and 800-495-5858. Can't remember which one I used.

 

[B.G. Smith]

Rubber roof

Mine split and tried to blow off at the front, ripped down the middle about 2 feet. I called the trailer Mfg. and got the material and instructions. I bought a strip of roofing three feet wide and long enough to go all the way across trailer, gutter to gutter. You will need two types of adhesive, one to glue the rubber to the plywood and one to vulcanize the new rubber to the old rubber. Stay away from any type cleaner that is petrolieum based, it will ruin the rubber roof. On my trailer, after I pulled the gutter loose back far enough to do the job I found that the rubber was stapled to the side of the trailer where the gutter covers it. I used an air stapler that I had that came from Sears and it used heavy staples, also put fiber strip over rubber which I stapled through to keep the staples from tearing the rubber. It is not a bad job to do if you are young and have an area where you can get in the shade. Trailer is Carri Lite and the material came from Millersburg Ind. bg

 

[DHRA]

Call around to the local roofers and see if you can buy some "patch" material from them. 12" cured flashing would do the trick, peel and stick. Be sure to clean the area with the appropriate surface solvent.

They also may help you with a scrap piece of . 045 single ply EPDM. Get some splice adhesive, and that will work too.

Make sure you get a good overlap. Good Luck.