Roof Maintenance

Fort Myers, Florida

Sunday was spent doing chores around the house, and watching football.

Our roof was in need of cleaning and yesterday was the day.  We have a fiberglass roof on this motorhome.  We like it much better than the rubber roof we had on the other motorhome, but it still needs some cleaning and maintenance.

We have been noticing gray streaks running down the side of the motor home, so we knew the roof needed a good cleaning and sealing.  It was from the oxidation of the rubber roof.  I had read on Rv-Net Forum that someone used Mop n Glow on their fiberglass roof to seal it.  That sounded like a good idea, so Al got up there yesterday with a mop and cleaned it and then another mop to apply the wax.   Next step is to wash the sides down and remove the streaks.

We’ll see how well this does to eliminating the gray streaks running onto the sides.

Another project we plan on is to put  Eternabond tape along all the seams on the roof.  This is great stuff.  If you don’t know about Eternabond, check out the link and the video.

We had it on the old motorhome and it’s wonderful stuff.  Once you apply Eternabond once, you never have to worry about leaky seams again.   No, we don’t sell it, or have any affiliations with the product.  I just like to share things that I think are really good products.

In this motorhome, we have the vinyl ceiling inside the coach.  If we get a leak, we may not know about it because the water would be underneath the vinyl ceiling. 

In our other motorhome, we had the white fabric ceiling that looked like carpeting.  Believe me, we knew when we had a leak because it would leave a bright rust color stain on the ceiling!  (it came out with Oxy-Clean)   That may have been a good thing though because we learned how often you need to re-caulk the seams on your rv roof.

Al was always vigilant about checking the caulking on the roof, but we still seemed to have a problem with leaks on a regular basis.  He would go up on the roof and check the caulking and think it was fine…but then it would rain and we would have a leak.  It only takes a tiny small pin hole to cause water intrusion. He checked the roof seams at least twice a year.

Al used the recommended Dicor Sealant and caulked all the openings in the roof as well as the front and end caps and the sides.  However, due to the heat and cold, it seemed he was always finding very tiny cracks in the sealant. Very tiny cracks that can leak in a lot of water.  Once we finally applied the Eternabond tape, we never had another problem.

If you don’t check your roof at least twice a year, you may very well have some leaks you aren’t even aware of.  Trust me.  Those tiny little cracks that you can barely see with the naked eye, can cause water intrusion.  You may not know it unless you have a cloth ceiling in the interior of your motor home, but it still could be there.

When we got our new to us motor home last summer, Mike re-caulked all the seams on the roof with another product he liked better than Dicor.  I can’t remember the name of it though.    He said  the roof would be fine for a year or so.  We always intended on putting some Eternabond on anyway, but were hoping it would last until the weather got cool enough to start that project.  

Al checked the roof recently and noticed a few tiny little pinholes in  some of the caulking.   We know that is enough to allow water to penetrate, so we ordered some Eternabond, and that will get done once we get back to Tampa.  In the meantime, he is going to fill those little openings with sealant.  Between the sun, the cold and the flexing when you move, the caulk doesn’t last forever.

Here is a good video of an Eternabond installation.  This is what we watched before we did the other motor home.   It’s really pretty easy.

Once you do it once, you never have to worry again.

We ordered some  Eternabond and it’s waiting for us in Tampa.  I climbed up on the roof to help Al last time, but I’m very hesitant about getting on this roof…it’s a bit higher.   We’ll see.  It is really easier for two people.

Today, we’re off for some kayaking and touring on Sanibel Island.  It’s going to be a beautiful, warm day!