RV 101® / RV Education 101®

It’s important you know what type of RV roof you have so you can properly clean and maintain the roof. For the most part there are two categories RV synthetic roofs fall into:

1) Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer or EPDM

2) Thermal Poly Olefin or TPO.

You may have heard various techniques for determining the type of rubber roof you have, but you need a sure-fire method, so there are no questions left unanswered.

You should be able to locate this information in the RV owner’s manual. If not, the easiest method I know is to go inside the RV and locate an overhead roof vent.  Using the proper type screwdriver remove the vent trim ring.  Most RV manufacturers will leave a section of the roofing material stapled to the inside of each side of the framed vent opening.  If possible remove a staple so you can look at both sides of the roofing material. If one side is a white or a dove color and the other side is black it is EPDM. If the roofing material is all one color, top and bottom, it is TPO.  Some TPO roofing has a fleece backing too, but the thing to remember is if the roofing material is all one color it is TPO.

If your RV roofing is EPDM, and you want to make repairs or touch-up the sealants you can use Dicor lap sealant.

If your RV roofing is TPO you need to do a bit more research prior to using any sealants. Beginning in 2011 new forms of TPO roofing entered the RV marketplace. Basically if the TPO roofing was manufactured in 2010 or earlier or if it has a fleece backing you can use Dicor lap sealant for repairs and resealing. If the TPO roofing was manufactured in 2011 or later, or if it does not have a fleece backing you need to use the Dicor Ultra Sealant System for resealing and repairs.