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tricketts · 01-19-2021, 04:29 PM

Is it difficult to calk/seal a Motorhome?? Repair place will charge about $1700.

kenandterry · 01-19-2021, 04:32 PM

You talking about the roof?

Roy-c · 01-19-2021, 04:34 PM

Way too broad of a question. What exactly are they going to do for that much money ? Could be a fair price or not depending on the scope of work being done. Is there leakage now ? Damage to the interior ?

GOLDWINGER2 · 01-19-2021, 04:37 PM

Make, model?

tricketts · 01-19-2021, 04:59 PM

Sorry, no the outer side seals and the cap.

tricketts · 01-19-2021, 05:00 PM

2015 itasca spirit 27q

tricketts · 01-19-2021, 05:02 PM

No leaks

cherv · 01-23-2021, 08:31 AM

I did preventative sealing of all vents and ladder mount areas on our 2019 class c which did not have any roof leaks..used quick roof extreme tape and dicored all tape edges. Tape available from amazon. Be very careful applying tape, its a one time shot only, cannot remove/realign tape once it is down..easy diy job

okcnewbie · 01-23-2021, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tricketts

Is it difficult to calk/seal a Motorhome?? Repair place will charge about $1700.

Pics would help but in general totally resealing a roof is a ton of work that is not rocket science. I recently removed the 3M mask from my Monaco. I wanted to save about 1000. It turned out great but I'm not sure if I would ever do it again. Saving money is a lot of work.

groswald · 01-23-2021, 10:14 AM

To answer your question, yes, it's hard work and time consuming. (yes, I've done it) $1700 for a top to bottom strip, clean, and re-caulk probably isn't too outrageous.

The caulking process is this (roof sealing is similar, without the taping bit):

Strip all of the old caulk without damaging anything in the process. This means digging it out of all the nooks and crannies. Depending on what sealant was used this can be difficult to damn near impossible. This is where the bulk of the time will be spent.

New sealant won't stick/seal too well to old/dirty stuff so it's all got to go.
Thoroughly clean everything to be caulked with a cleaner/solvent that, again, won't damage anything. It's all got to be clean (and dry) for the sealant to adhere properly.
Mask off everything to be caulked. This step is often skipped, but I always do it, and I'd insist on it being done if I was paying someone else to do it for me. I'd also want to watch to ensure it was done. You can actually tell after the fact, but it's easier to just watch.

Masking does two things.

A) It insures a neat job. Without it, you're left hoping that the person doing the work has a steady hand, and as like as not you'll be left with inconsistent beads and smearing.

B) And more importantly, it lets the person doing the work apply enough pressure to force the sealant deep into the joints without worrying about squeeze out. The squeeze out will be removed with the tape after the bead is smoothed. Folks who caulk without taping first tend to just lay down a surface bead which won't prevent leaks for long, and has a tendency to peel.
Apply the caulk, smooth the bead, and remove the tape. This is the easy part once all of the prep work is done properly.