Roof Seam RE-Seal: A New Beginning

[Stripe]

So yesterday I decided I was going to remove and re-seal the roof seams on my RV.
To this end I had prepared myself with a heat gun, plastic scrapers, soapy water (washing), fresh water (rinsing), some wiping rags and a new roll of Eternabond RV Leak Repair tape (4"x37' roll).

I began the job by first researching how to remove the old tape, I used this link,

http://www.eternabond.com/articles.asp?id=165

and chose option number two, as I could not see myself STACKING tape to re-seal my roof seams.

So, with all my gear already up top I set to my work. And that's where I really noticed how bad the old seal really was.  As you can see in the first pic, I had taken a one inch by two foot piece of tape that was dried up and brittle.  The tape either lost it's cohesion, maybe shrank, was not applied right or the surface was not prepped properly before the tape was put down. The inch wide stripping was typical along the whole length of the tape covering the seam between the front plastic cowling and the aluminum roofing.  Only about a half to 3/4" of an inch was adhesed to the roofing side.


You can see that the PO's used sealing putty at the ends as well, the tape stopped short about an inch from both sides and was finished off with the putty.

So, I get my heat gun plugged in and get ready to start the "heat and peel" portion of the job and discovered that either because it was sun was out and may have softened it up, or because the adhesion really was not there, that I could just grab a part of the tape and just peel it up with no problems at all.

Almost, too easy.....

Here's the port side of the strip, before cleaning.  I found a lot of moisture here and discovered that it was leaking into the RV from here.

This part is also where I was able to use the heat gun.  Had to heat up the putty to scrape it off.

So, I nearly have the strip all cleaned up, A little acetone and some green meanie pad and it was good to go.

It cleaned up way better with acetone, but I had to take it easy on the plastic cowl so as to not melt it.


Okay, here we are about 2/3rds done with taping up the seam.  I decided to make sure the tape is ahesed as close up to the seam as possible.

I used the back of that plastic scraper you see to press the tape to the surfaces, push out bubbles and to get rid of bumps.

Photo of almost completely finished job.  I did more pressing and bump removal.

You can also see I went past the side arcs and all the way past the side arcs.
And..
All the way down to the side stripping.

Port side... Blake my Husky mix was keeping overwatch on me while I took this photo.

And....

The Starboard side... Hmm, where did Blake disappear to?

All in all, it was actually a pretty easy job and I look forward to doing a little more today and tomorrow.  Then work on removing the old putty and replacing it with a nice new coat of Elastomeric roof seal.  But before I do that, I think I might also clean (and maybe bleach) the roof so it at least looks CLOSE to the same color white as the new tape seal...

Peace,

Fredric

[HandyDan]

I've got to do that.  At the arc on mine I can see where it is cracking and curling.  I don't have the putty and I don't think it is leaking inside, yet, but you made it look extremely easy. 

[Stripe]

Thanks, to be honest Dan I thought it was going to be a "you-know-what" to do this and it ended up being pretty easy.
Plus the fact it was a nearly uninterrupted straight line probably helped.

The only thing I used my heat gun on was the putty, that was probably the toughest part.  Heat it till it was soft enough to scrape with a plastic scraper.
By the way, try not to heat the scraper, lol, I did that twice and had to re heat the scraper to re shape it.
There were a couple of panic moments when I thought I got the cowl too hot, but it turned out okay.
I didn't do this, but I would recommend getting a roof roller to use instead of the back of a scraper to press the tape down.  That would have made it even more easy.
Also, stretch the tape just a little as your applying it and pulling the protective cover off the adhesive.

Oh, and have a WAY sharper blade to cut it than I did...

[Stripe]

One last look at the taped seam, just to be sure.

[M & J]

Odd looking periscope Fredric.

[Stripe]

Hehe, You ain't seen nuthin' yet!

[Mytdawg]

That's one of them there Holiday Rambler weather forecasters, that's what it is.   

[LJ-TJ]

   
• To bad Lauren and I went with these folks and it turned out to be an incredible produce and is guaranteed  for 20 years.

   
• http://www.polycoatings.com/rvroof.html

[Stripe]

If you look at the fifth photo my tape looks the same, also bead the leading edges of any tape that will be exposed to headwind from driving.

Fredric

[Wayne Thomas]

Do you recomend painting an alumium roof ? I hear they will pit sooner or later .

[Oz]

Yes - paint with elastomeric coating designed for aluminum.

[Stripe]

Agreed with Mark, that is exactly what I will be doing soon..

Fredric