cracks on lap caulk seal

Yardvarkers wrote:
Larry. I am not a now it all. But in IMHO your rig's roof seals should not be in that condition after just 16 months. I'm guessing that you bought it as a new TT. The pics you have, were they taken at the dealership? If not, there may be some underlying problem. They still should repair, refund your $$, or sell one to you that looks like and is new, not a rental, loaner, or used rig. I do get on the roof of my 14 year old Jayco TT two or more times yearly to inspect, clean, and repair anything I notice. The cracks in the lap caulk on my TT do not appear to be near as bad as the pics you have. My roof still has a nice white color to it also. It does and will loose some of the white color when washing but that is normal. The cracks I posted about are not deep, or look deeply open. I had my son to get up on it and use "Dicor Self-Leveling Lap Sealant - White" to seal the cracks in the seals.
I hope you can resolve the problem easily.
Sincerely, Yardvarkers.:)

LarryJM wrote:
If you don't get up on your roof and check the caulk yearly you could be in for some expensive repairs. My trailer was manufactured in June 2006 and the below pics were taken in Oct 2007 during my PDI just 16mos after the original caulk was put on a virgin roof.

If you read my post carefully I specified those pics were taken DURING MY PDI (actually I took them before I made the offer on the trailer so fixing the caulking was written into the purchase contract) so it was at the dealership and the unit was a BRAND NEW never used unit. Yes, I had them go over those cracks before I acccepted delivery since that was the reason I specifically looked at the roof caulking. Point is you still need to do VERY FREQUENT roof inspections and caulking is a hit or miss on how long it will last. I agree I didn't think the caulking job was very good on my trailer, but it was as it came from the factory so it was what it was and I have seen other pics of caulking here that were both the same and some that were better so there is not standard of workmanship as it pretains to caulking across manufacturers. My trailer sat on the dealers lot out in the elements which was in southern Md. Within a year I removed every speck of caulking on my roof and Eternabonded every thing and now almost 6 years later it looks as good as the day I put it one and expect it will 10 more years from now.

I'm definitely not a fan of caulk on a roof since IMO I don't think you can effectively do a proper inspection and to reseal over the old caulk you need IMO to recoat it and get new caulk past the edges of the existing caulk which often is not feasible when flanges with are involved like on ventilation vents. Also unless you physically take something and try and pry up every edge there is almost no way to tell if the caulk is adhered to the roof along the entire seams. The number of threads on roof leaks and damage is IMO at least ancedotal evidence that caulking often fails w/o obvious visible issues.

Larry

Larry. I am not a now it all. But in IMHO your rig's roof seals should not be in that condition after just 16 months. I'm guessing that you bought it as a new TT. The pics you have, were they taken at the dealership? If not, there may be some underlying problem. They still should repair, refund your $$, or sell one to you that looks like and is new, not a rental, loaner, or used rig. I do get on the roof of my 14 year old Jayco TT two or more times yearly to inspect, clean, and repair anything I notice. The cracks in the lap caulk on my TT do not appear to be near as bad as the pics you have. My roof still has a nice white color to it also. It does and will loose some of the white color when washing but that is normal. The cracks I posted about are not deep, or look deeply open. I had my son to get up on it and use "Dicor Self-Leveling Lap Sealant - White" to seal the cracks in the seals.
I hope you can resolve the problem easily.
Sincerely, Yardvarkers.:)

LarryJM wrote:
If you don't get up on your roof and check the caulk yearly you could be in for some expensive repairs. My trailer was manufactured in June 2006 and the below pics were taken in Oct 2007 during my PDI just 16mos after the original caulk was put on a virgin roof.

John&Joey wrote:

RVUSA wrote:

John&Joey wrote:

tbred wrote:
Pretty impressive that the op has gone 14 years without recaulking.

Without a doubt he's on the edge right now. Much longer and the cracks will be deep enough where water will get into them and reach the roof. IMO, a Dicor roof from the factory will go 10-15 years, it won't be very pretty, but it will still be doing it's intended job.

Those that think it's a never ending job and use tape to avoid it simple does not make sense to me.

Tape it once and never re-tape vs. a yearly re-caulk.

Made sense to me. :B

Who taught you that you needed to re-caulk yearly, hopefully not the forum:S Think about it, if the OP's rig needs to be caulked now and it's been 14 years.....

'
If you don't get up on your roof and check the caulk yearly you could be in for some expensive repairs. My trailer was manufactured in June 2006 and the below pics were taken in Oct 2007 during my PDI just 16mos after the original caulk was put on a virgin roof.










Also we don't know how long the OP went after recaulking should have been done, but wasn't. However, I have provided factual pics of how quick cracks can develop so ignore yearly maintenance if you want and take your chances on potential damages. In fact I think some TT manufacturers recommend roof inspections like twice a year.

Larry

John&Joey wrote:

RVUSA wrote:

John&Joey wrote:

tbred wrote:
Pretty impressive that the op has gone 14 years without recaulking.

Without a doubt he's on the edge right now. Much longer and the cracks will be deep enough where water will get into them and reach the roof. IMO, a Dicor roof from the factory will go 10-15 years, it won't be very pretty, but it will still be doing it's intended job.

Those that think it's a never ending job and use tape to avoid it simple does not make sense to me.

Tape it once and never re-tape vs. a yearly re-caulk.

Made sense to me. :B

Who taught you that you needed to re-caulk yearly, hopefully not the forum:S Think about it, if the OP's rig needs to be caulked now and it's been 14 years.....

Surely you arent suggesting caulking will last for 14 years for everyone. I've seen it last for years, and also last for months. It has to do with heat and how fast it dries out. The desert will eat your caulk for breakfast.

RVUSA wrote:

John&Joey wrote:

tbred wrote:
Pretty impressive that the op has gone 14 years without recaulking.

Without a doubt he's on the edge right now. Much longer and the cracks will be deep enough where water will get into them and reach the roof. IMO, a Dicor roof from the factory will go 10-15 years, it won't be very pretty, but it will still be doing it's intended job.

Those that think it's a never ending job and use tape to avoid it simple does not make sense to me.

Tape it once and never re-tape vs. a yearly re-caulk.

Made sense to me. :B

Who taught you that you needed to re-caulk yearly, hopefully not the forum:S Think about it, if the OP's rig needs to be caulked now and it's been 14 years.....

John&Joey wrote:

tbred wrote:
Pretty impressive that the op has gone 14 years without recaulking.

Without a doubt he's on the edge right now. Much longer and the cracks will be deep enough where water will get into them and reach the roof. IMO, a Dicor roof from the factory will go 10-15 years, it won't be very pretty, but it will still be doing it's intended job.

Those that think it's a never ending job and use tape to avoid it simple does not make sense to me.

Tape it once and never re-tape vs. a yearly re-caulk.

Made sense to me. :B

tbred wrote:
Pretty impressive that the op has gone 14 years without recaulking.

Without a doubt he's on the edge right now. Much longer and the cracks will be deep enough where water will get into them and reach the roof. IMO, a Dicor roof from the factory will go 10-15 years, it won't be very pretty, but it will still be doing it's intended job.

Those that think it's a never ending job and use tape to avoid it simple does not make sense to me.

Pretty impressive that the op has gone 14 years without recaulking.

The cracks you are seeing are normal and will come with age. If you let them go the cracks will fill with water and eventually work there way down to the roof and create a leak.

Clean the cracks with a good scrub brush and some dish soap. If you want you can also use other products that have been mentioned after the scrubbing, just use them sparingly and try to stay off the rubber part. Make sure the area is dry prior to applying new Dicor.

Working in 1-2 foot sections spread a thin layer of Dicor self leveling over the old (clean) caulk. I like to use the back of a plastic spoon to then smooth it out a little. This makes the leveling occur faster and also gives you some control on where the Dicor goes. I also cut a 2 liter pop bottle in half and lay my caulk gun in it. Otherwise you'll have a mess when you're not running the gun.

A warm sunny day with a breeze is best. You may see some bubbling of the roof where the new Dicor touches it. The longer it takes for Dicor to dry the more bubbling that will occur. This will lay flat in a week or so. Again a thin layer is best, not gobs and try to just stay on top of the old chaulk.

You don't have to remove the old stuff unless it is lifting off the roof. This means that section of sealant is shot and needs to be replaced.

WoodGlue wrote:

Likes to tow wrote:

badboy368 wrote:
I have found that PRO-FLEX works the best. available in different colors, and most r-v places.

I don't think Pro Flex is a roof caulk.

Correct! It's a side sealer. For the roof use Dicor Self Leveling Roof Caulk and Geocell ProFlex on the sides of the RV.

WoodGlue

Ahhhh sorry, i didnt realize it was a rubber roof :?