Waterproofing fabric roof

[Kugaman1]

I decided it was time to give the roof some protection having being caught out in the rain a few weeks ago.

Most people seem to recommend the autoglym fabric roof kit which is £20.

Personally, i cant see that the cleaner bottle does anything that a good sponge wash wash/wax wouldnt do.

The protector is a different story. Therefore I tried to think about options and decided to buy some Nikwax heavy duty tent water repellent spray. It costs around £7 for a half litre bottle. I put some on the roof, left it for a day and then turned the hose pipe on it - it works great, provides a good level of water repelling protection.

Not sure how long it will last, but the 500ml bottle will provide at least 10 coatings, so it will cover me for quite a while and a damn site cheaper than the autoglym stuff!

Anyway, thats my twopenneth worth...

[iain3915]

I'm also too tight to buy the proper stuff so I've been using Fabsil tent waterproofer. Works great as demonstrated below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RMxddIbiq4

[IanD]

Renovo seems to get a good reputation if you need a renovator then reproof.
But I didn't, so as above bought a tin of Fabsil (paint on is much more economical than sprays) used it a couple of times and still loads left.

[woody]

Renovo is excellent. Eliseparts used to sell it, but I got my last kit from eBay. IMO it's worth getting the 3 stage kit with cleaner, dye and the re-proofer, but the re-proofer works well on it's own.

[pete]

The shed went into MMC with a roof that looked awful. Faded and sunbleached.

It came out looking like new - I'd find out what they used if I were you.

[Kugaman1]

Mines not faded and is pretty clean! I just wanted a cheap way to reproof it and the nikwax stuff sempt a pretty cheap way of doing it!

Andy

[GBOBM]

Nikwax waterproofer worked for me too.

Just used the stuff for jackets diluted slightly with water and put it in a spray bottle. Made a huge difference in winter and stopped all the condensation on the inside of the roof.

[Ferg]

+1 for Fabsil. I used most of a litre in three coats and it lasted 3 years. A year of which was everyday use. Need to do it again now, but can't recommend highly enough.

[cstrachan]

Fabsil here too, still on my first 5 litre tub after 5 years, the Autoglym stuff is good for getting rid of the fade though, so I use that every couple of years.

[gorrie]

I used Nikwax spray on my Elise roof a few years back also... (tent & gear waterproofer). Did the job nicely. Just removed the hood, gave it a clean so it was damp, then sprayed liberally. After 5mins it's just a case of mopping up any 'puddles' and then I left it to dry completely before refitting.

Used it on the hood of my Saab recently too, although that was a bit messy as I ended up with a fair amount of overspray I had to try & remove from the paintwork. Next time I'd use a brush if doing it with the hood fixed to a car.