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Old 09-07-2018, 02:17 PM   #1
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Washing your rubber roof

Good day folks. In the next few days I will be sealing all my roof joints with 4” wide Eternabond tape. Although I have no cracks or holes in the caulk, taping them will give extra protection and peace of mind.

My question to the group is: I was told that the powdered soap Comet (without bleach) is very good at cleaning the roof and caulking. What I would like to know is, do you just sprinkle it on a wet roof, scrub then rinse or do to mix it with water and wash the roof? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks
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Old 09-07-2018, 02:31 PM   #2
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Be careful not to use anything that would dry out the roof and make it crack.
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Old 09-07-2018, 06:13 PM   #3
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Be careful not to use anything that would dry out the roof and make it crack.
Absolutely!! Rinse, rinse and rinse again.....
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Old 09-07-2018, 07:15 PM   #4
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Keep the sides of that RV wet. Otherwise major streaking that sometimes can be a monster to rub out.
Rusty
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Old 09-07-2018, 08:20 PM   #5
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Keep the sides of that RV wet. Otherwise major streaking that sometimes can be a monster to rub out.
Rusty
10-4 Rusty!! Been there and learned the hard way!!
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Old 09-07-2018, 08:27 PM   #6
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I've used hot water and Dawn dish soap and simple green. Both did fine, but the simple green did an overall better job. I use a soft car washing brush, could probably use a stiffer brush, those thin rubber roofs scare me.
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Old 09-07-2018, 08:38 PM   #7
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I've used hot water and Dawn dish soap and simple green. Both did fine, but the simple green did an overall better job. I use a soft car washing brush, could probably use a stiffer brush, those thin rubber roofs scare me.
Yeah, they scare me too. I have a soft brush, a little stiffer than a car brush so it should be good. What I need to do is to really clean the existing lap joint sealer so that the Eternabond tape will bond to it permanently. The roof membrane seems to clean easier than the lap sealant.
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Old 09-08-2018, 01:47 PM   #8
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Washing your rubber roof

I found a sealer/cleaner at CW that seemed to work well and more importantly didn’t run the risk of drying out my roof. I also found a handled scrub brush—like a broom that made cleaning much easier as I wasn’t on my hands and knees. With a 40 foot rig this probably saved me hours.

It was funny to see all the foot prints in the caulking material all around my vents that proved how fast and careless they build these things.
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Old 09-09-2018, 12:36 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by dsol View Post
I found a sealer/cleaner at CW that seemed to work well and more importantly didn’t run the risk of drying out my roof. I also found a handled scrub brush—like a broom that made cleaning much easier as I wasn’t on my hands and knees. With a 40 foot rig this probably saved me hours.

It was funny to see all the foot prints in the caulking material all around my vents that proved how fast and careless they build these things.
I washed the roof this afternoon. I hosed it down and the sprinkled Comet powerdered soap with bleach incorporated on 4’ sections. I then brushed the roof with a med. soft brush.

This cleaned the roof back to white but the lap sealant remained grey and black in many areas. I had to get on my knees with a scrub pad and Mr Clean and that did the job.

I was able to install the Endurabond tape over all my lap sealant seals. All I have to do tomorrow is to tape the edges of the roof, overlapping the gutter a bit so that it is fully sealed. After that, I can rest easy knowing that my roof is fully waterproof! I will treat it with a U.V. protectant sealer twice a year just to be thorough.
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