In response to:

Originally Posted by MarkMoore
Hey Greywolf,

I'm in the middle of resealing my roof and had a couple of questions...

I'm sealing the roof edges with Dicor and it seem to be going well, but their instructions are pretty lame; 'Apply like any other sealant' basically. So anyhow, I cut the tube and it pretty much fills the space between the roof edge and the metal rail at along the top of the wall. With regular silcone sealant, you usually run a wet finger to push the sealant in the crease, but when I tried that with the Dicor, it pretty much made a mess. So I'm guessing that it will just 'sink in' and seal the crevice - it is called 'Self Leveling' after all.

Next, while inspecting everything else I notice that the sealant around the front verticle corners is pretty much just falling off. So that is next... but what to use? It looks like the stuff on there is silicone; it pulls right off in a stretchy strip. Since I have aluminum siding, do I reseal this with silicone? Or do I also use Dicor here?

Thanks dude... you are the best, legimate source of RV info here.

Mark



To begin with, there are quite a few different sealing compounds out there. DICOR doesn't act like any of them when it is applied. Also - if you get it on your clothes, get used to it! It will STAY in your clothes...
*You can spot a new guy at an RV service place - he's the one with white knees on his trousers!!!

It is always best to thoroughly clean the areas you want to reseal, and if there is a lot of old sealer built up it may have to be removed with a knife. You'll find that this is an icky, time consuming chore. But you'll also notice a lot of things about DICOR - if that was what was used originally. If it wasn't, whatever was used has got to go!!!

Even very old dicor sealer will remain somewhat tacky and plasticky - putty turns hard eventually, dicor doesn't. Or at least not very.

If it IS dry, it's probably ancient!

DO NOT USE any kind of petroleum based cleaners or sprays to clean EPDM roofing or materials. EPDM doesn't get along at all well with petroleum based stuff. I'd frankly use dishwashing liquid, a push broom, and a garden hose. Watch your footing too - wear rubber soled sneakers, and stay out of the soapy parts until they're hosed off. EVERYTHING MUST BE DRY AS A BONE before putting the sealer on. Sealer repels water, but by the same ticket WATER REPELS sealer and we want to make sure it sticks.

If you plan on covering the old sealer with new - cover all of the old sealer, overlapping the edges. The new stuff is what will keep the old from leaking.

When dicor comes out of the tube, you can't spread it around or make nice neat fine beads like you can by running a wet finger over silicone. The best you can do is to use the tip of the caulk gun tube kind of like a spreader by swirling the sealer around in a circular motion, almost like finger painting (try not to get any on your fingers either - it's just plain icky).

The plan here is to get a continuous coat of whatever thickness, knowing that it will even out over time. It can stick up in places, or even look like an ocean landscape - it will smooth right out in about 24 hours. Cover screws, edges of roof vents, around vent pipes. Don't apply it around roof air conditioning units, because they already have their own dense rubber seal under them, and a tech will not thank you if you glue the unit down to the roof...

Above the refrigerator is a wide vent. The cover will have about four screws holding it on. The screw heads will be covered with dicor and will have to have the old sealer dug out of the screw holes to unscrew them. This cover needs to come off so that you can seal underneath it - and don't forget to refill the screw holes with a few dabs of sealer when you're done with that part. I usually tackle that, and any roof vents that need covers removed first. Also raise the TV antenna right from the start, you'll want to dicor the base of that and it's cable too.

Be aware that if you go too close to the edges, or use too much dicor along the tops of the side seams it can run over the edge and form a "DICORSICLE". Kind of like an icicle, but funkier, or it may run down the side - so be a little sparing in those areas.

The aluminum and plastic trim strips along the sides normally don't have to be disturbed. If they do, be careful of the plastic strip that covers the screw heads so that it doesn't get cut or torn. When they are put on, they are usually stretched so that an inch or two of the plastic can be tucked under the last screw at each end. Start at least a foot back from the ends pulling the plastic strip out, until a length of it is hanging down so you can get to the end screws. This trim piece is sealed with one thing only - what we call plumbers tape, or putty tape. It is stuck to the back of the trim where it goes against the trailer wall, and when the screws are tightened it is pressed out under it. Beware the screws in it too. You can almost count on a lot of them being rusted, or even broken under the trim. Not to worry - use self drilling replacements in positions near the original screws.

You really don't want to have to mess with it if you can avoid it, because the awning hardware usually straddles it on one side.

Where the front cap meets the rubber roof, you want a good coat of sealer, but on the clearance lights use 100% Silicone (NEVER LATEX), the best color is clear. Go all the way around the lenses with it so water can't blast into them on the road. The reason for SILICONE (emphasis) in this area is because it stays put when you use it on a slope, it has very little tendency to run because it's sticky.

On the vertical edges at the corners, there are a lot of options available. DICOR is not one of them. Go with silicone, latex, a silicon blend, there is a stuff called Siliprene that drys pretty hard and tends to seal better in some circumstances when there are problems.

Most people will lick a finger and run it along the bead on side or corner areas, some use adhesive remover. My favorite trick is to totally soak a rag and keep it handy to both wet my fingertip with, and clean the goop off my finger at the same time. Some of that stuff is just plain nasty, I don't want it on me and I have no interest at all in finding out what it tastes like...

Aluminum sided coaches have a tendency to have problems at the corners. You want to be sure to get a good seal on all sides of the vertical trim pieces, if possible try to get the sealer to go under the edges of the trim. In some cases you may have to pick or dig out old sealer from under them, working carefully so as not to cause damage.

Lights and windows are usually installed with putty tape to seal them. These should not have problems, but on an aluminum sided coach, there may be gaps along the windows. Look for them, and use an appropriate color of silicon to fill any potential leakers.

Check around cargo doors. Not only the caulk around them, but also the weatherstrip between the doors and their frames. Weatherstrip can be found at hardware stores in different thicknesses and styles. Look over the entry door(s) too.

Check any hardware attachment points (like awnings for example) where a screw or anything goes into or through the exterior walls of the coach. If it could use a dab of sealer, give it one.

Finally - look underneath the coach.

Does it have a plastic cover under the frame? If it does, check for gaps or loose edges. Large gaps can be filled with foaming gap sealer like 'Great Stuff' or something like it.

If there is no underliner, look at all pipes, lines, and wireharnesses to see if there are gaps you might want to seal.

Slideouts are another issue, but not one for this topic. I've tried to think of anything pertinent front, back, top, bottom, and sides that you might need to know. If you run into something I didn't touch on feel free to drop a dime here!

~Wolfie

 

You da man!

I finished resealing the sides last night looks pretty good and I'm right proud of myself.

I will tackle the front/rear ends this weekend along with the lights and what ever else I think needs to be done. I also have to reseal around the slideout seal. Wow, so many seals that I think I'm at Sea World.

Thanks a Bazillion!