Window caulking

SH, sounds like excellent advise. Thanks. Getting ready to winterize and cover until March. But wanted to have an idea what supplies I will need when I uncover an prep for next year.

DRM796 wrote:
With all this being said, when should you caulk your windows? after 3 years? 5 years? 10 years? or do you wait until there are signs of leaks? Do you run a bead of clear caulk around the window frame or do you remove the window and reseal with butyl tape?
Thanks for all the input.

I would only remove the window if I saw serious water intrusion. The small leaks I have found were stopped by sealing the outside of the frame. I use a white polyurethane. If you have a bad leak like down the inside wall or signs of delamination by all means pull the window apply new butyl and seal the outside of the frame as well (at least that is what I would do) Don't forget to check the door, cargo hatches etc. I even found a leak in the metal trim with the vinyl insert...this trim joins the j panel to the wall. A leak was getting in through the crack where the j panel meets the wall behind the trim! Required new butyl and the caulk!

I also had to re-seal all the windows and caps of a new Big Country after the first year. I am in the process of resealing everything on our Alpenlite meaning pulling trim, new butyl etc.

If you inspect your caulking every season you should be able to tell when it needs to be redone. Hard to give a timeframe...too many variables.

Best Wishes!

With all this being said, when should you caulk your windows? after 3 years? 5 years? 10 years? or do you wait until there are signs of leaks? Do you run a bead of clear caulk around the window frame or do you remove the window and reseal with butyl tape?


Thanks for all the input.

Mine originally had only foam seals which dry rotted. I began to pull all of the windows and seat them with butyl tape and caulked with Geocel Pro Flex.

harley-dave wrote:

Grandpere wrote:
Just as an FYI, if you are going to add caulk, make sure you do not use silicone.

I hate to be dense but why no silicone?

There are several schools of thought on this matter...I subscribe to the "no silicone" regime.

IMO a polyurethane, tri-polymer, or polyether sealant will adhere better to many different substrates. Generally they are easier to use/tool than silicones and fairly easy to clean off. Yes, there are some very good silicones but silicone is a contaminate...it is difficult to remove. All sealants will eventually fail and need to be replaced. Once silicone is on a surface, you are pretty much stuck with using silicone without some serious cleaning and prep work.

I believe most manufactures use polyurethanes at least where exterior sealant is used.

DRM796 wrote:

path1 wrote:

we are not showing any signs of any leaking

What type of signs are you looking for?

Not exactly sure, since I haven't had any window leaks, that I know of. But I am guessing that there would be some discoloring on the interior wall, maybe some moisture. The reason I am asking is I am trying to be preventative and didn't want to slap caulk all around the window frames if it is not neded.

Another way is to pull a screw at each corner and see if its rusty.

Just my opinion about window posts and leaking...

Keep your weep holes clean out, water needs to drain to outside not overflow in track to inside.

RV's around 10 years old with leak problem, putty needs to be looked at.

Many think they have a window frame leak but leak coming in from higher, either running lights or roof.

I like the brand "tacky tape" for putty tape.

I've done all of our RV's over the years. Some windows are a pain to get out. When you take out screws keep them in order of how they came out so if you do have a problem you can look at screw and see where discoloration starts.

RV windows are not cheap!

Grandpere wrote:
Just as an FYI, if you are going to add caulk, make sure you do not use silicone.

I hate to be dense but why no silicone?

path1 wrote:

we are not showing any signs of any leaking

What type of signs are you looking for?

Not exactly sure, since I haven't had any window leaks, that I know of. But I am guessing that there would be some discoloring on the interior wall, maybe some moisture. The reason I am asking is I am trying to be preventative and didn't want to slap caulk all around the window frames if it is not neded.

we are not showing any signs of any leaking

What type of signs are you looking for?

Just as an FYI, if you are going to add caulk, make sure you do not use silicone.