Caulking removers - caution
Because I was recently changing out yellowed fixtures on the outside of my TT I had to remove a bit caulking. I tried two types of remover - Lift Off and 3M. I can't say I was overly impressed with ...
Forum Discussion
DreamComeTrue wrote:
myredracer: What did you finally do to remove the ProFlex or did you just put new Proflex over the old as you mentioned? How is it holding up? I live half a mile from the Pacific and we get wid storms here. They do a job on caulking, but I have had good luck with Proflex. In the past I have tooled it off (often it comes off in a long strip) and then wiped it down with acetone before I reapply.
We're a few miles from the ocean but on an acreage with no trees. We get rain almost non-stop for about 6 months starting in Oct. plus we get winds from the southeast almost daily. We use a cover over the winter which helps to keep wind-driven rain away.
I expected the naphtha solvent (white gas) to soften the old Proflex like butter but it didn't. I used a plastic scraper with a hard blade in it (can get a soft, medium or hard removeable blade for it). The old Proflex is rather hard/stiff stuff and I broke a couple of blades at first. I put tape over the fiberglass exterior to keep the gas away from the decals and fiberglass. Then alternated between applications of the solvent and scraping. It helps to do it in the sun on a warm day. Some have used a heat gun, but I'd be worried about damaging something. According to our local RV repair shop who uses white gas, you need to leave it on long enough to soften the caulk but I found that didn't help that much. Lots of elbow grease needed...
Geocel Proflex isn't like silicone because you can put more Proflex over existing Proflex. The old caulk on our TT was opaque looking while the new is fairly clear even after putting it on last year. Isn't that noticeable though unless you go looking for it. The old caulk had shrunk in a few spots so that's where I put new over it. It looks like some use acetone to clean the area before re-caulking to clean the surfaces and remove any remaining residue.
The vinyl decals they use are very thin and could be damaged if not careful. Some decals go underneath corner trim, vents, etc. so there is caulk over the decals. Best to leave the old on if you can and re-caulk over it I think.
The worst area that needed re-caulking was around the fenders because they flex a lot and the caulking had completely separated. Slow process to remove the old and put on the new caulk due to length of the seam. Re-caulking over the old wouldn't have worked that well for that area.
The re-caulking I did almost a year ago looks good. I want to do a pressure test one of these days to make sure I haven't overlooked any potential leakage spots.
For those that mentioned "silicone", that's not what they use on RVs at the factories and shouldn't be used.
