Forum Discussion

turboo's avatar
turboo
Explorer
Jun 19, 2014

Recaulking rubber roof edge

I have a rubber roof 1999 Fleetwood. The roof is in pretty good shape however the edge sealant is degraded. Basically the roof consists of a rubber sheet wrapped over the wooden frame roof edge then attached to the camper with an aluminum strip along the whole side, the common type with a center section stuffed with a long piece of curved vinyl strip, to cover the screws. My question is, I need to carve out the old sealant , and do not want to nick up the rubber, so a metal scraper is out of the question. I guess I'll make some tools out of plastic. Then I need to clean it up somehow. heres what the edge looks like. Heres what I bought for sealant. Any tips on how to proceed? One photo shows the hatch and its seal, looks to be pretty in good shape. One of the seals had some small cracks in it, on the antenna exit, and I just smeared some sealant on it, it seemed way too much trouble to try to carve all that old caulk out . Is that OK?















  • I got so much to do,,,,,, what is the roll on product I am supposed to use on a rubber roof? How do I clean it good enough?, scotch brites and hands and knees?I bought a spray on rubber roof cleaner a few years ago, but I don't think it got it clean enough for a recoat process .
  • Before you re-seal all the edges and such with dicor self leveling caulk , you may want to think about recoating the entire roof , and the caulking
    From your pics it looks like you have a lot of black spots showing thru the white , that's the underlayer of the roofing
    Its not to bad a job , clean it off and roll and brush on a new topcoat , then re-caulk
  • remember , I have a rubber roof and do not want to ruin it with solvents that attack it.
  • mellow wrote:
    I thought Dicor's claim to fame was that you could use their cleaner then put down the lap sealant over top the old stuff.


    I agree. On my 1998 Lance I wash it down with dawn and scrubbed the whole roof with magic erasers, swear by these for just about everything!!! great for bugs on cabover. My roof is aluminum or metal though and I wanted to try something different besides Dicor. Purchased Proflex roof repair. Used this product on every seam, vent, windows, and jack brackets with a paint brush.

    Only time I used dicor was to fill in wider north south roof seams then painted over with proflex roof sealer. This stuff is easier and a great product. Not sure I would is on a new TC though.
  • I thought Dicor's claim to fame was that you could use their cleaner then put down the lap sealant over top the old stuff.
  • RICKIM's avatar
    RICKIM
    Explorer III
    Do yourself a favor and do it correctly.....remove the old caulk. It sucks, but you really should do it right.
    Home Depot sells plastic caulk removal tools made by Hyde. You can find them where they sell the silicone.
    Purchase some naphtha while your there. It cleans up the old residue and quickly drys.

    Take your time and do a section at a time, once you get going, it goes quick.
    Unfortunately, owning a truck camper ends up turning into a labor of love.

    There is more info in: Camper Maintenance/ caulks, sealants-Roof replacements repairs,
    found in the university.

    Good Luck
    Rick
  • I've thought about this same thing and like DWeikert's method. It sure seems like a TON of work to remove all the old sealant.
  • I recently resealed around my roof vents after noticing some cracking. I just got up there with a brush and some soapy(Dawn) water, cleaned off the dirt, rinsed thoroughly, waited for it to dry, then applied the Dicor over the existing sealer.