Roof maintenance question from a newbie.

[Wiersy111]

I recently purchased a 1998 24ft Four Winds 5er. I am in the process of fixing her up, the first things I focused on were squaring the slider to the opening and I have the seals on the way for the slide out. It has been leaking in both back corners for a while. I have the wall open in the one corner and above the slide out because the worst visible water damage was in these areas. I am going to replace the damaged part of the studs. I was thinking that if I put a lap joint in them that they will be good as new. On the outside I need to find a way to remove the mountains of silicon left by the previous owner. I bought some Eternal Tape to seal the corners but I have to find the corners before I can seal them. What should i use to get the silicon off?

[George Z]

A plastic putty knife and a careful hand with a razor knife will remove the silicone.Eternabond tape can be used to seal over the silicone if you cannot remove all.

[oldbeek]

A sharpened putty knife, razor blades, patience, elbow grease and Eternabond primer spray. Never had any luck sticking anything to silicon. Take it all off.

[fsteve65]

Originally Posted by Wiersy111

I recently purchased a 1998 24ft Four Winds 5er. I am in the process of fixing her up, the first things I focused on were squaring the slider to the opening and I have the seals on the way for the slide out. It has been leaking in both back corners for a while. I have the wall open in the one corner and above the slide out because the worst visible water damage was in these areas. I am going to replace the damaged part of the studs. I was thinking that if I put a lap joint in them that they will be good as new. On the outside I need to find a way to remove the mountains of silicon left by the previous owner. I bought some Eternal Tape to seal the corners but I have to find the corners before I can seal them. What should i use to get the silicon off?

Eternabond as i am sure you are aware will not stick to silicone i second the plastic putty knife and lots of elbow grease also make sure you clean really well before putting the eternabond on i personally use Lacquer thinner on a rag and i know i will get bashed for saying that ! but you can use eternabond cleaner too.

Good Luck.
Steve

[oldbeek]

Couldn't think of what the ingredient in Eternabond primer spray is. It is Acetone. Found in paint dept at Lowes. Use on rag. Hotter than laquer thinner.

[Wiersy111]

Thanks guys for the info buit I am partial to lacquer thinner. I don't know if the acetone is toned down but lacquer thinner seems to cut the crud better.

[first5thwheel]

I had the same problem with much silicone used on my front end cap roof border just about over the closet area. It had been leaking issue in the past with the previous owner. Their fix was gobs and I mean gobs of silicone. All that did is just put a band-aid on the problem. As the Silicone aged it began to leak again.



I climbed up on my rubber roof and spent literally hours hand rubbing the silicone off my rig roof and end cap. I found the putty knives helped, but actually the rubbing of my palm and thumb on each and every piece of silicone did the trick. I had gotten blisters from the friction but that is how I got it all off. Eternabond will not stick to silicone...read the instructions and website and you will see that warning.



After that I put 4" Eternabond over the seam between the cap and rubber roof. 8 feet across the rig from side to side and turned it down the side wall to the edge of the rain gutter. It covered the seal perfectly and I have had no leaks since.



Once the eternabond was on and properly rolled and seal pressed, I scoured the entire roof with warm soap water and a scrub brush let the roof dry in the sun and when dry, put a RV rubber roof seal on the whole rig.



I used Heng's Roof Coat Rubber Roof Coating:

Rubber Roof Coating for RV / Camper / Trailer (Quart) on eBay!



see attached picture of the RV roof completed.