Silicone Vs ALEX

[ClydesdaleKevin]

In the past, I have recommended ALEX over Silicone as the ideal caulk for sealing things around our RVs. I retract that statement.

I started using ALEX at the recommendation of a friend of mine who is usually right about a lot of things.  But he doesn't fulltime it or use his RV nearly as much as we do, nor does he accumulate nearly as many vibrating road miles.

That said, ALEX is an acrylic latex caulk with a little bit of silicone in the mix.  It cleans up easier, goes on a bit smoother, and has a longer warranty than pure Silicone caulk.  It I suppose is great stuff...for a stationary house.

On an RV, the seams sealed with ALEX start to crack within a year.  It doesn't stay flexible like pure Silocone caulk.  

So yeah...use Silocone...not ALEX.

Silicone:   

ALEX:   

We need a thumbs down button...lol

Kev

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

Ahh well, there goes the smartALEX

scrape scrape scape a we sillyconning we go.

Have fun - Dave


PS - Been stuck indoors to much lately

[ibdilbert01]

Hey, I accidentally found out a few weeks ago that GooGone (the Gel in a spray bottle kind) dissolves food grade silicone sheets, wonder if it will dissolve old silicon from our RVs?

[Froggy1936]

I concur i used Alex on my first shelf redo I just had to do it all over again due to a undiscovered leak that caused severe mold (i think from made in China plywood used on first repair) The Alex had cracked and shrunk in a lot of places on original repair And the silicone was still holding and a bear to remove after over 10 yrs  I will only use Silicone for all applications now  Frank

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Fortunately I haven't used much ALEX on the Holiday Rambler...learned the lesson on the Itasca.  I have some scraping to do and silicone to add, but the Itasca has a lot that needs to be removed and replaced.  Sorry Mark!

Kev