RV Roof showing air conditioners and vents. 
rv air conditioner outside view on the roof of a fifth wheel
The RV Roof is one of the most important things to your RV. This is for a million reasons – first and foremost I’m reminded of the saying “three squares and a roof over my head” ( or something similar ). Or when the weather is incredibly terrible, raining, snowing, hailing, etc, – you’d rather have a roof over your head than anything else. Add in the fact that you paid $60K dollars for a really nice fifth wheel, and you want a roof to protect your investment too!
On your roof, you’ll find the air conditioners, roof vents, plumbing vents, sometimes you’ll find a skylight, and finally communications antennas ( rv tv antenna, satellite antennas, fm antennas ).
An RV roof is expensive to repair and I’ve heard that you can’t really do it in the field – its a trip to a dealer. I’ve heard estimates that say the roof is easily a $10K replacement value. So take care of it.
The RV Roof is a multilayer thing, but the final layer tends to be a rubberized coating called EPDM or TPO.
These roofs cannot really be more than 12/13 feet tall since they have to abide by transportation laws.
Hello, my question is: How can I tell if I have a EPDM or a TPO type RV roof on my RV?
The service folks at a local RV service shop tell us that EPDM rubber (ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber) is a pliable rubber. It’s much more flexible than the TPO (Thermoplastic Olefin).
Another differentiator is the backing. In the RV industry, the EPDM typically has a black backing, and in other industries, it’s often solid black. The TPO has a felt backing.
For more info, check outwww.roofhelp.com/choices/tpo or find more about EPDM on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPDM_rubber.
To summarize: The TPO has a felt backing and is stiff. The EPDM is a pliable rubber with a black backing. That’s the difference.
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RV Roof Repair How To Video Collection:
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Henry Garcia says
great video! ..this has helped me alot… thank you for sharing ! =)
RV Roof Coatings says
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