How to Clean a Rubber Roof
Dave SolbergBy cleaning the roof of your RV at least once a year, you ensure that the material will last much longer and keep your unit free of leaks and damage. Taking care of an RV roof is a simple process, but it can be fairly time consuming and dangerous if you don’t take the proper precaution. With the right methods and materials, you can keep your roof in tiptop shape and not have to worry about it until its next cleaning. In this lesson, we teach you how to clean a TPO roof with basic commercial products and an hour of your spare time.
How to clean a TPO roof: a step-by-step guide
When it comes to most makes and models, the warranty on your RV should last 10 years, assuming you take proper care of the vehicle. That goes for every component on the unit, including the roof. If you clean and condition the roof regularly, it should be under warranty should you experience any unforeseen issues. With that in mind, you should only need to clean your roof once a year to keep it in good shape. To help you figure out the correct way to maintain your rubber roof, Dave Solberg walks you through a step-by-step demonstration on how to clean a TPO roof.
In beginning to show you how to clean a TPO roof, Dave introduces some things you should be aware of when you’re up on the rubber roof, including walking on wet spots near the corners of the roof. He explains which products he prefers to use, such as a rubber roof cleaner and conditioner you can pick up at a local store, and then teaches you how to clean a TPO roof with simple scrubbing motions.
You’ll learn some easy tips for maintaining the areas around vents and antennae, as well as how to safely clean a TPO roof to avoid damage to the rubber. He also recommends keeping a close eye on cracks and indentations that might eventually lead to punctures and, in turn, leaks. With this quick walkthrough on how to clean a TPO roof, you’ll be able to thoroughly wash and condition your rubber roof to make it last much, much longer!
For more helpful tips, check out our video on RV rubber roof repair and learn how to fix a hole in your rig’s roof.
Once a year it's important to get up on top of the roof and clean and condition it. Now the rubber and TPO manufacturers have a 10 year warranty. Most of them on the roof material. That's only if it's cleaned and conditioned on a regular basis. So what we're gonna do is get up on top here.
We're gonna use this rubber conditioner cleaner and conditioner, and I'm not gonna spray it on because of the size of this. I'm gonna empty them into the bucket here. Some of the tougher spots, I got a mildew and stain remover. We've got a few rust spots and some awnings I wanna possibly use this in too on a spot clean. And you gotta be careful up on the roof.
Cause it's gonna be very slippery. I've got a pretty good grip on a tennis shoes here but what I'm also gonna do I'm gonna start at the front and just kind of do a corner at a time and I'm not gonna wash the whole rig down first. I'm gonna do just that corner and then I'm gonna clean it, rinse it off. That way I can kind of minimize walking on a wet surface as much as possible. I still probably have to do a little bit of it but I'm just gonna use a mop.
And I like this one because not only does it have the mop side here, but if I have a real tough stain then I've got a bristle brush that I can get onto it a little harder and I don't have to get down on my hands and knees. So with that, we're gonna start off. First of all, take my hose here. You can see there's quite a few black streaks. What we see up there in those hand print sets, that's typically gonna be silicone when the workers were putting this in.
So we're just gonna get our mop good and wet here. We'll come down here. I still got some good footing. And I'm just gonna go in a circular motion with this. You can see, not a whole lot of real scrubbing needs to be done.
And if you do it more often then you don't have to really get on it. So you can just see. You see, with the very little effort that cleaned off really nice. What I'm doing is I'm just trying to get that chalk off of there, that UV kinda top coat on it. It conditions it while it does it, and we're gonna finish doing the rest of this.
Any place we got around a vent we're also gonna scrub a little more there then. That way we can see that lap seal and the silicone to see if we have any pin holes or cracks or stuff like that. So anytime you have something like the roof antenna here or anything laying over the top of it, you also wanna bring that up. Because even though it looks like it's kind of cleaned around there, once that comes up you see quite a bit of places that need to be cleaned. So bring anything laying on the roof up or off of the vents, bent covers, that type of stuff so you can really get at the places that you need to clean.
So, one thing I noticed, as I come up from this one here, this is a spot right there. I'm gonna have to watch that pretty close because I see it starting to make an indentation in that rubber membrane. So the more I bring this up and down the more it vibrates going down the road, the more I might get a puncture in that and a potential leak at some point. So that's why it's good to look at every inch of this roof. So you see it's fairly easy to do.
It's a little tedious. You gotta be patient on it. One of the things you'll notice too you gotta be careful when you're walking up here but even on this wet I got a pretty good surface right here, mostly because wearing tennis shoes with a good rubber sole on it. But even on this wet side, you can hear it streak. So you'll see a few footprints around here.
Still the farther you get back the more time you spend, sometimes the quicker you do it. I probably might go back and hit a couple of these but you know, it's more for aesthetics. I mainly wanted to get it cleaned. I wanted to get the oxidation off of it, conditioner on it, so that now it's gonna last a lot longer and you can get an aftermarket conditioner. Some of the roof material companies will make just a plain conditioner.
You can wash it with Dawn dish soap and then and use the blue kind. The blue is environmentally friendly. It also has a degreaser in it. And then afterwards I can use that conditioner on the top of it. So take care of it once a year.
It is part of your warranty to get your 10 year parts warranty on this rubber roof. And it'll make it last a lot, lot longer.
I wasn't sure if it would damage the roof by walking on it, so I normally use a ladder and scrub the roof by moving the ladder around the perimeter. So rubber roofs are made to walk on? Also I noticed recently on the rear of my camper trailer approx 2 inches below from where the rubber roof joins the metal side sheeting their appear so be 2 pin holes in the metal that appear to have developed from the inside of the metal sheeting, what is the possible cause of that.
This was so simplistic he could have summarized the whole video into “wash it once a year and be careful it’s slippery”... He even brushed up (pardon the pun) against an interesting problem of the dent, but didn’t spend a half a sentence on what we should do about it, other than keeping a close eye on it. The other questions here also indicate some other details to include... I’ve been tempted to sign up for all the videos, but then this gives me pause when it’s so basic... I wish he had discussed common roof problems and how to deal with them when your RV isn’t “under warranty”... All that being said, thank you for the video. I can sense the instructor has tons of knowledge, I just wish he’d have shared more of it...
I've been told by an RV Roof installer that plain water and a soft brush is safer than the cleaners. He said the cleaners & sponges or other more abrasive mops causes premature wear. He also said that any cleaners such as "Dawn" contain degreasers that can dry out the EPDM by breaking down the oils in it & drying it out. I've shortened his far more complicated explanation to keep my response short in length. He also said to be sure the treatment product used after cleaning needs to contain a UV protectant or you are wasting your time & money. Not all "treatments" contain UV protection. He did say that he encourages gental removal of noticeable tree sap, especially pine sap. Just wanted to give an alternative opinion on Roof care.
My firstt time cleaning my RV roof... So many products and tips out there made me overthink on how to do it. This vid and your professional explanation on how to made it simple for me . Thank You. ✌🏽🇺🇸 GOD Bless
How much water did you use to dilute the roof cleaner?
Could you tell me what brand long handle brush you used and where purchased. Thanks Jerry
If there is no ladder to get on the top of the roof, is it ok to get up on the roof? I have a 2017 Keystone Cougar X-Lite 33RES?
What brand roof cleaner/protector are you using? Seems to work well.
Hat product did he use to clean roof?
need more info on rubber roof