Fixing a Hole in a TPO RV Roof with a Rubber Patch
Dave SolbergDescription
When it comes to maintaining the exterior components on your RV, regular preventative care is just as important as making the right fix when the damage is done. This is especially true for a TPO RV roof, which is that thin skin of rubber material that lines the roof of your rig. It’s prone to cuts, rips and holes from any number of sources, including folded TV antennae and debris. At first it’s just a tiny tear in the top layer, but when left untreated for too long it’s liable to become a bubble of moisture trapped in the ceiling of your cab, and then we have ourselves a real ordeal!
Repairing a TPO RV roof that’s experiencing common wear and tear can be a quick, hassle-free process that requires little cost and a bit of your time, provided you utilize the right solution. In this lesson, RV expert Dave Solberg hops up on the roof and teaches you how to easily mend any minor damage that’s been done to your TPO RV roof to guarantee you won’t need to do more serious repairs down the line.
How to fix a TPO RV roof
Like all other forms of preventative care for any recreational vehicle, the objective for repairing a TPO RV roof is to nip minor damage in the bud before it becomes a big issue. Because of their height and the type of travel through which they’re put, RV roofs are susceptible to cutting and tearing as well as the resulting costly leaks, so it’s essential that you keep an eye on your roof to ensure it stays in tiptop shape.
To help you prevent major damage and seal up small holes on your TPO RV roof, Dave demonstrates the proper way to repair torn or cut TPO membrane on an RV roof. He walks you step by step through the simple process for patching and reinforcing TPO RV roof liner with rubber tape strips, which you can pick up from just about any reputable dealer. Dicor makes a great kit that Dave always recommends.
In this case, the RV’s TV antenna has worn small holes into the TPO RV roof, so to avoid bubbling under the membrane from rain and sun damage, Dave uses these rubber patches to cover the holes and keep the roofline watertight. Prior to completing the patch, it’s extremely important that you thoroughly clean the TPO surface with approved roof cleaner and a scouring pad, as you want to avoid the new rubber coming loose when you’re expecting it to last!
Furthermore, while he doesn’t deem it necessary for this particular repair, Dave talks about how you can apply self-leveling lap sealant around the edges of the new patch to better ensure it stays intact and effective for years to come. This is especially true when patching bigger holes.
So that’s it, ten minutes of your time and a foolproof kit. Take advantage of Dave’s expert tips to prevent that small cut on your TPO RV roof from turning into an expensive headache!
Once we're up on top here, we cleaned this roof and we found a couple of spots, we see right here where this roof antenna comes down in. Now, if you have any kind of a tear or a puncture, even a bubble coming up into this rubber and TPO membrane, you really need to take care of it. It's just a rubber, the old style is just like this, and it gets chalked white, it'll start to deteriorate, but I get any kind of moisture under here and it's gonna start to work in. Now, these two spots happen to come from the antenna, as this comes down here and it's wearing into 'em. It's not critical yet, but one of the things I'd like to do is, I'm just gonna put a rubber patch that's available for rubber and TPO roofs, if I had a hole I would do the same procedure. And I'm gonna put this in there just to give it a little bit if reinforcement to make sure that I don't puncture that in future so. Got one right here, one right here, so I'm just gonna take and cut this about two lengths, right there. And this just happens to be a, a leaks, Dicor makes it, DiSeal they call it, same type of material, and it just has a flap on here. If I can find it and get the first one on. There we go, you see it's got a little adhesive, I'll take that off. Now, if I had not washed this beforehand, I would have taken this scouring pad and some Dawn dish soap or some kind of roof cleaner, cleaned this up really well making sure there was no contaminants, oxidation, chalking, otherwise it's not gonna seep, but, we'll put this on, and that's gonna sit pretty well. Sometimes these are a little hard to see. There we go. I'm just gonna butt this up right next to it. So I'll come back in a little bit with this and put some self-leveling lap seal around it, now, it's not quite as critical with this one because it's just acting as a pad or a buffer to keep it from going into that rubber membrane underneath, now, if I had a hole in it, I would definitely want to put it all the way around the outside in lap seal but, really easy to take care, you see a puncture in the roof or something starts to look like it's going to become a problem, get a little of your, this tape. Just peel it and stick, and your roof will last for a long time.
Could you just use Eternabond tape to do this?