Question regarding lap sealant

[jbres]

Have a brand new Keystone Hideout 27DBS.
I been checking over everything and especially paying attention to my roof, and noticed I wanted to do a little more detail work with the lap sealant. I noticed around a few of the vents the lap sealant has "settled" since the caulking was completed at factory. No problem, I hit it today and now its drying.
My important question is where the roof meets the front of the trailer and where the roof meets the rear of the trailer, it looks to me not enough lap sealant was used. It just seems the whole area looks thin on lap sealant, from side to side.

I realize how to touch up the cracks and small gaps but how do I apply the lap sealant over an entire area span like that to make it "thicker"? The span of sealant is say 2" wide and not sure the self leveling lap sealant will cover over all that....
I used the self leveling lap sealant in the few small areas around vents...

[ashnic]

No..you misunderstood..They were very sloppy with the Dicor and I want to clean it up when I do the rest of the roof. They didn't cover it up other then the area that meets the roof..but they were very sloppy with it. I was wondering if I clean it all off Can I use Eternabond then Dicor over it.

[CA_Traveler]

BTW We've never had any condensation on our shower skylight. Kinda wonder about your dealers solution. Plus we like the light.

[CA_Traveler]

If you're saying it looks bad from the outside then paint it a different color. With 3 tubes of Dicor I can't imagine that it will ever leak again. I also can't imagine using that much Dicor on a skylight.

[ashnic]

I have a question about Eternabond. I am thinking about jumping in and replacing my front and rear globs of Dicor on my 08 Aruba with Eternabond but also I have a skylight over my shower that the dealer repaired last year due to condensation..guess what they did..about 3 tubes of dicor. Now I don't have any condensation but man it looks gross and more problems down the road..would this be a possible use for Eternabond and Dicor?

[jbres]

wmoses- and to all the other responders....
Thanks for all your responses! very helpful and a lot learned! I realize how many people love eternabond.
After speaking with the closet Keystone dealer to my house (not the dealer I just bought from which is further away but I did save almost 4k buying from them) they advised me to bring it into them for warranty caulking, so I do not void my warranty attempting to repair these "thin" factory caulks myself.
They said factory caulk is warrantied for up to 3 months from purchase date, and I am not there yet.
Also, through my extensive research I have found that my roof is an ALPHA TPO roof and I believe ALPHA self leveling sealant was used.

[wmoses]

CA Traveler wrote:
OP, While the advice above is good you should use the exact same sealant as the factory used until your warranty expires. You don't want to have a potential warranty denied issue.

On the other hand, when I asked the service adviser about warranty coverage on factory-installed caulking he said that they don't consider claims before a failure unless it can be proven to have voids or gaps or whatever.

To my mind, I am not waiting for it to leak before I fight with the warrantor over leaks. I'd rather put on the Eternabond if the weakness is significant, get no leaks and never have to worry about arguing with the warrantor. Besides the warranty only lasts 1 maybe 2 years.

[brulaz]

Hmmm, just how thin is your Sealant? Not sure if Thickness is all that important, but certainly good coverage is. I've used Dicor self-leveling to touch up 1-2 places that looked like they were missed on my roof, but going further on a *new* roof, especially with eternabond, seems like over-kill?

[JIMNLIN]

Be careful using Eternabond on new RV roofs as some RV owners have reported it can void their new RV roof warranty.
Whatever you add up on the roof don't make a dam (lake effect) for water to sit such as piling up sealant on sealant or Eternabond laying over a pile of sealant.

Eternabond is great stuff when applied properly. Check out some of the many youtubes on installing Eternabond. Just be sure and seal the edges with Dicor (or similar products) like the pros do it. Looks much better and it seals the edges from water intrusion.

Unless the OEM sealant is lifting or cracking I wouldn't make a mess up there.

[CA_Traveler]

OP, While the advice above is good you should use the exact same sealant as the factory used until your warranty expires. You don't want to have a potential warranty denied issue.

[westend]

You're welcome there, WM.

Here's the experience I had sealing my vintage rig: I replaced a lot of framing and wanted no leaks after I was done. When working on the wall-> roof joint, the siding I moved was reattached with a bead of good quality sealant under the siding against the frame. Another bead of sealant was placed over the joint, both on the siding and on the roof. The aluminum trim molding was then bedded in these beads and screwed down. I then went back and sealed the trim to the roof. The first time it rained I experienced a few leaks so went back up and covered screw heads and areas I thought might be a problem. Again, with rain, a few small leaks. By this time, I had placed the vinyl screw covers into the aluminum trim and was getting frustrated. I had read about Eternabond on this Forum but had never used it and was gun shy about using an unknown product but thought, "it can't hurt to try it". I installed the 2" Eternabond on the roof-> trim edge and didn't see any more leaks. Since then, I've done two pressurized leak tests and the only areas where I haven't seen even a pinhole is the area that has the tape. I now have Eternabond on every joint on the roof, walls-> roof, vent stacks, operating vents, etc..I have no more leaks and the Eternabond is stuck like no tomorrow. It's a great product and I'm thankful I found it from the members on this Forum.

[wmoses]

Westend - good and informative post - thanks. I also have a new trailer on which it was pointed out to me that there are some areas on the roof where the factory-applied sealant was "not sufficient" and that they could scrape all that off and replace it properly (at a cost of maybe $600!). After inspecting the roof with the adviser I said thanks for bringing this to my attention but I will do this myself. 😉 The areas were as the OP described - joints at the roof-front and roof-back end faces.

I have Dicor self-levelling lap sealant already and my intent was, and still remains, to use this for small touch ups on existing sealant. Now that I see this thread and the comments regarding Eternabond, and after checking out their website, it is clear that I need to get some Eternabond as well.

[westend]

jbres wrote:
yea sorry what I used is "self leveling sealant".. Can anyone fill me in on the difference between the "lap sealant" and "self leveling caulk"? If I don't use the eternabond, what type of sealant should I use that will seal the entire 2" span?

A lap sealant is a sealant that is used for sealing two surfaces, one of them overlapping. A self-leveling sealant is one that has low viscosity when applied so that it can spread over an area before curing.

I know at least Dicor labels their product "lap sealant" and it's primary use on RV's is to seal other areas, much like a caulk where two surfaces meet. In the traditional definition of "lap sealant" it isn't being used as one.

The OP doesn't believe Eternabond is better (I was there once) so the best sealant to use to cover a 2" mess of sealant is Dicor self-leveling sealant. To control the added mess created by spooning more sealant over the spread area, you could tape or cut the unwanted off.

FWIW, I come from a construction trades viewpoint on sealants and never saw the kind of sealing process that was done on an RV roof until recently. I've seen a lot of pictures in this Forum of vent->roof joints, around vent stacks, and on the front or back wall->roof joints. The sealants must have been applied with a machine assisted gun applicator and the excess sealant used is probably to insure adhesion to the surfaces. But what a freakin' mess. There really is no reason to have 1/2" of sealant piled on top of a joint. The usual maintenance procedure is then to get up there and spread more across the top, trying to seal small cracks or edge areas that have come loose.
I don't have a rig with these furrows of sealant but if I did, I'd be up there pulling it off and replacing with an adequate sealant, probably Eternabond because it works so well.

[jbres]

and I have a TPO roof. Is this eternabond good for TPO?

[jbres]

yea sorry what I used is "self leveling sealant".. Can anyone fill me in on the difference between the "lap sealant" and "self leveling caulk"? If I don't use the eternabond, what type of sealant should I use that will seal the entire 2" span?