Eternabond with or without caulk

[John Mo]

I've re-caulked my roof once and it didn't last as long as the original material. Not liking the idea of redoing the caulk every couple of years, I've decided to go with Eternabond and be done with it. I've seen the Eternabond application discussed a lot, but I don't think I've seen an explicit discussion about caulking with Eternabond.

I think the three options are:
1-Leave the old caulk in place and run the Eternabond over it
2-Recaulk and then apply the Eternabond.
3-Clean out the old caulk, don't caulk at all and apply Eternabond.

I know the surface needs to be cleaned well and that cleaning will probably result in removal of some or all of the caulking that's in place. Does it need to be replaced?

My initial inclination is that caulk is redundant and serves no function once the Eternabond goes on, so just clean and apply.

Those that have gone with Eternabond, what did you do about caulk?

[Wetstuff]

John, The few places I have used it (upper corners: sides/cap joints) I simply cleaned with alcohol after removing any loose caulk. I figure, if the rest has stayed attached for 17 yrs, then it will likely outlast my interest in the unit.

Eternabod does have other uses... These are perhaps the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn (Patagonia skywalkers) I change shoes when I get to work because paint, other spills and wet grass tear up good shoes. I simply wore thru the bottoms to where there were 'flaps' ...no longer!

(I have three other pair in reserve, but do not like to throw out good tools.)

Jim

[Oldchinahand]

Went with Eternabond 2 yrs ago. Still happy. Went thru some hellacious winds and rain last month on our trip east. No leaks, roof tight.

Our thoughts parrelled yours. While my gut tells me the tape has sufficient shear strength to be used alone, we went with your option 2. Recaulked. Allowed to sit a couple of weeks. Applied eternabond over. Belt and suspenders.

Not that you asked, but, applying it is a one person job. Unless you are contemplating the single life again.

Fair Winds and Following Seas

[jarnarcos]

Discovered bad/peeling/separated caulk on the roof to sidewall seams (2012 Winnie Vista with fiberglass roof). Cleaned out the bad stuff, recaulked with Dicor 501LSW-1 (Amazon) sealant.

Decided that it still looked a little flimsy so decided to put a layer of Eternabond on all the seams. Hopefully this is a do it once; forget about it for 5 years.

Was somewhat painful to apply. Cooler ambient temps (less than 60F) make it easier. The 4" width seems to cover the seams with plenty of overlap. The 6" width is just too hard to apply. Did it in 4 foot long sections with about 1/2" overlap. Better folks than me might be able to do one complete side vs sections but 4 feet at a time was pretty doable. Seams pretty invisible.

[FIRE UP]

For the life of me,
I cannot figure out why so many have such a problem with the Dicor product. Our coach, an '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the CAT C-7 330HP, is now 15 years old and has almost ALL the original Dicor product on the roof. And, very little of it is showing any signs of despair. I have only replaced some around one of the plumbing vents due to the vent being struck by a low hanging cable that crossed the street in some distant town.

I heated up all the original stuff, scraped it all off, remove what was left of the broken vent, installed a new one and, reinstalled brand new Dicor and, that was over 3 years ago and it still looks as good as it did when I did the job. If I've used Dicor for years and it's never failed me yet.
Scott

[jarnarcos]

Nothing really wrong with the Dicor. Just figured an extra layer over it would give me that many more years of not having to think about roof seals.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by FIRE UP

For the life of me,
I cannot figure out why so many have such a problem with the Dicor product. Our coach, an '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the CAT C-7 330HP, is now 15 years old and has almost ALL the original Dicor product on the roof. And, very little of it is showing any signs of despair. I have only replaced some around one of the plumbing vents due to the vent being struck by a low hanging cable that crossed the street in some distant town.

I heated up all the original stuff, scraped it all off, remove what was left of the broken vent, installed a new one and, reinstalled brand new Dicor and, that was over 3 years ago and it still looks as good as it did when I did the job. If I've used Dicor for years and it's never failed me yet.
Scott

If it's truly original, it's not Dicor. Winnebago didn't use Dicor on your coach. Winnebago's part numbers cross-reference to Nuco 311.

https://www.amazon.com/NUCO-Self-Lev...B8SGSF77XSRY85

You can check out the sealant call out sheet for your coach to see what was used in different places:

https://winnebagoind.com/diagram/Sealant.htm

Dicor is formulated for rubber roofs and, although it's not going to damage Winnebago fiberglass roofs, my personal preference is to use Winnebago's specified sealants. Winnebago does use Dicor on it's towables, which have rubber roofs.

There are many sealants out there and many will work just fine but we need to be aware of their properties, especially adhesiveness. Some have very little and some, like 5200 are intended for permanent installations, not for roof vents and the like that will likely need replacement at some point.

I, too, am using Eternabond for extra protection.

[DryCreek]

Originally Posted by John Mo

I've re-caulked my roof once and it didn't last as long as the original material. Not liking the idea of redoing the caulk every couple of years, I've decided to go with Eternabond and be done with it. I've seen the Eternabond application discussed a lot, but I don't think I've seen an explicit discussion about caulking with Eternabond.

I have a couple of questions:
1 - which areas are you talking about "caulking"?
2 - when you mention that you have re-caulked, what product did you use?

I am only asking because I know many folks have unknowingly used regular caulk or Dicor on the roof edge seams instead of the Manus Bond 75 (an adhesive/sealant) that is shown in the roof sealant callout sheet.

[NeilV]

The correct product is a Manus Urathane Adhesive Caulk which you have to be careful about since that type of caulking only has around a 9 month shelf life from the date of manufacture. I have too often bought it and received tubes well past their expiration. With such a short shelf life you really can't stock up on it either as its usually at least a few months old by the time you get it which leaves you only about 6 months before the unopened tubes have to be used or thrown out.

If you ever used any Silicone based caulk you will have to clean that out completely and replace it with the correct Adhesive Sealant before applying the EternaBond which is really miserable to replace once the backing starts separating from the butyl rubber adhesive. If you get the adhesive from the EternaBond on your shoes don't step inside your house, rv or vehicle as it will be just about impossible to get out of any carpeting you track it on to and in to.

I've used EternaBond for years on Aluminum and Vinyl roofs and unfortunately it does not hold up as long as you'd like in sunny locations and does also get washed out at times where there is a large flow of water runoff especially where there is any aggregate from tab or sheet roll roofs in the runoff. You should also caulk with a compatible butyl caulking where it crosses over anything that may leave a small gap at the end or edge since over time it will open up no matter how well you press it down.

For the roof edge you will need the 2 inch or narrower EternaBond and a good roller to work it into the aluminum awning rail plus plenty of rags and solvent cleaner to make for a neat job since the roller can smear the butyl rubber backing all over the place. The roof and awning rail will need to be cleaned of any wax, silicone, oil, 303, etc to be able to get a good bond on the small area you will have to get the tape applied too which is going to be perhaps 3/8 of and inch from the top edge of the side rail to the awning groove plus you will have a bend to work it into.

Some people find hanging the EternaBond in place the entire length of the roof edge with painters tape helps to keep it aligned while gently peeling away the backing and working it out taking extreme care not to stretch it out as your applying it so it does not pull back leaving a gap at the ends after it has been applied and sat in the sun for a while.

Here is a PDF to give you a visual reference to the small area available on the aluminum rail that you will be attempting to work the EternaBond into and its really not a very big area.

https://winnebagoind.com/resources/s...%20Sealing.pdf

[akeagle]

Is Eternabond a brand name, or just a common name applied to any wide sealing tape?

The reason I ask is that I've looked for Eternabond here in Alaska and no one seems to carry it.

[Phil-T]

Amazon.

[BobC]

https://www.amazon.com/EternaBond-RS...08527673&psc=1

I bought 4" tape and split it down to 2" or whatever width was best for what I was doing. It's easy to do with a mat knife and a metal straight edge since the adhesive is covered by a peel-off strip of plastic.

[Jim_HiTek]

@akeagle: Home Depot carries it. It has a different name but I think it's just Ebond rebranded for Home Depot. Even available in Fairbanks, Alaska. In the paint department. In 2" widths usually...maybe some of the stores carry the 4" stuff. It's called a roof waterproofing tape on the box but I don't recall the name...but they didn't call it Ebond.

@Fire_Up: Conditions vary -- sometimes there's too high humidity when applying, or the roof was moist when it was installed at the factory, or the factory installer was a new hire. Then there's the owner/operator, sometimes they don't stay on perfect roads all the time and the roof gets racked. All these things contribute to early failure of Dicor like products on the roof. Of course, this can also happen to Ebond during installation but it's a darn site easier to repair a failing Ebond installation then Dicor...IN MY OPINION. I tend to stay in the sunny and hot areas of the SW and my 15 and now 3 year old installations of Ebond tape are still holding strong (2 different RVs). No maintenance needed except occasionally might need to replace a short section that's peeled up.

@Joe_Mo: I used the #1 method sort of. First, wash the area. Then clean up the old caulking a bit...scrape off the bad areas, pull up the caulking where it had let loose. Making sure that the Ebond tape I used would span the caulking with 1/2" on each side at least, I would just cover the remaining caulking.

Here's a link to my blog articles about roof work: Roof and Roof Items

[akeagle]

Thanks Jim, I'll take a look at Home Depot.