Resealing a Roof Vent - Fiberglass RV
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Old 03-15-2014, 07:07 PM   #1
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Resealing a Roof Vent

Sort of an opinion question. If you had to reseal a roof vent on FG trailer, would you use Dicor Lap Sealant (self leveling), Dicor Lap Sealant (non-leveling) or Geocel PeoFlexRV and why?
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Old 03-15-2014, 07:28 PM   #2
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Have redone both roof vents and used none of the above.

I removed the vents cleaning up all the gunk previous owners as well as the factory had put on them and then using butyl tape to reset the vents which is the overwhelming first choose of most here who have redone their vents or any other exterior part on the trailer.

Forgot to add the reason for using butyl is its the longest lasting and lest likely to leak product out there.
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Old 03-15-2014, 07:53 PM   #3
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Carol,
While I appreciate your answer, and that is the way I would redo my vent if necessary, that was not the question. I have an acquaintance who is recaulking a roof vent fan in an older trailer and was going to use GE silicon. He doesn't want to remove and reinstall the unit. I advised him not to use silicon but am hoping to get some positives/negatives of some of the commonly used alternative sealants.
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Old 03-15-2014, 07:54 PM   #4
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If I didn't want to remove the vent I would use the Proflex. I used it to seal some seam leaks.
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Old 03-15-2014, 08:10 PM   #5
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Carol,
that is the way I would redo my vent if necessary, that was not the question.
.
Humm I don't believe I did misread your question :"If you had to reseal a roof vent on FG trailer, would you use Dicor Lap Sealant (self leveling), Dicor Lap Sealant (non-leveling) or Geocel PeoFlexRV and why?"

Please re read my answer as that is how and why I would "reseal" a vent.
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Old 03-15-2014, 08:16 PM   #6
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Carol,
While I appreciate your answer, and that is the way I would redo my vent if necessary, that was not the question. I have an acquaintance who is recaulking a roof vent fan in an older trailer and was going to use GE silicon. He doesn't want to remove and reinstall the unit. I advised him not to use silicon but am hoping to get some positives/negatives of some of the commonly used alternative sealants.
While the use of silicone is perfectly fine, not removing the vent to reseal it is not. If he doesn't want to remove the vent and doesn't want any leaks, then he really should consider keeping the trailer inside whenever there is a possibility of precipitation.
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Old 03-15-2014, 08:57 PM   #7
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OMG, no one has ever had long term success by blobbing on caulk on top of old caulk on all molded towables, whether windows or vents. It's one of the big things we try to teach newbees. Don't be lazy, pull the vent, clean all the old crap off and use butyl to rebed. Just like Carol said. Don't be lazy. This is a maintenace issue and if done properly, you won't need to do it for another 15-20 years.
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Old 03-15-2014, 09:35 PM   #8
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Donna and Carol are right. I have replaced vents on FG trailers. Remove the old vent, clean the roof area of all gunk. Use butyl tape under vent flange screw down. Then use Dicor self leveling covering all the screws and along the edges of the vent flange. This is the right way to do on all trailers.
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Old 03-16-2014, 05:21 AM   #9
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Thank you for all your answers, especially Mary and Bob. I am well aware of the proper way to seal a vent, and I was hoping not to stir a debate about butyl tape, probable future leaks, or "overwhelming first choices." I was really trying to determine which of three specific products, excluding silicon, is the preferable product as a sealant in the opinion of this forum's readers.
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Old 03-16-2014, 07:22 AM   #10
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Thanks Carl; A Scotty owner at a vintage rally told us about the Proflex. On our way home we passed a RV dealer and stopped in and bought some as we were battling several leaks in our Uhaul at the time. Sometimes I'll go with the theory of "try the easy fix first", or "don't open up a can of worms", or "let sleeping dogs lie"! We had leakage around our front window that I finally attributed to 3 possibilities, A small split in the rubber glass to frame seal, a flaw in the original sealant, or a flaw in the fiberglass seam, probably all three. The original window frame sealer was rock hard, I was afraid of damaging the window if I tried to remove it, so decided to try the Proflex, and it worked. I also used it with success on a leak at a marker light. Used it again around the rivets when I installed my awning rail. It comes in clear or white, but like many types of caulk in a tube it will harden in the nozzle once used. Your other choices I haven't used so can't compare them, but the Proflex did what I needed.
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Old 03-16-2014, 07:46 AM   #11
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Yep, the can of worms is now open....

Good luck on finding a recommendation for a question that asks; "Which of the following bad ideas is best".

All too many of us have been victims of previous owners who followed just that practice. Unfortunately most of those listed will work..... for a while, until more is piled on top of the first repair etc.

That said, for non-fiberglass roofs that I have worked on Sikaflex-715 self leveling sealer has been my weapon of choice, but never on fiberglass.



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Old 03-16-2014, 08:51 AM   #12
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I am well aware of the proper way to seal a vent, and I was hoping not to stir a debate about butyl tape,
don't believe you will ever find any debate over the use of butyl tape here.
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Old 03-16-2014, 10:27 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CPW View Post
I have an acquaintance who is recaulking a roof vent fan in an older trailer and was going to use GE silicon. He doesn't want to remove and reinstall the unit. I advised him not to use silicon but am hoping to get some positives/negatives of some of the commonly used alternative sealants.
Many other people view a trailer in the same way they view their stationary house, "I usually don't have to uninstall and reinstall the windows of my stationary house to seal them. I just re-caulk them, so why should I have to go to all of that difficult work to do the same thing for my trailer ?!?"

Most of us old fogeys get obsessive-compulsive about procedure. Uninitiated trailerites are destination oriented, not journey oriented like those of us who have taken "the road everyone else took" and we remember all the potholes. We see our collective past; they can only see their imagined virtual future.

I can appreciate Carl's intention. HE knows how it ought to be done. His previous instructions to his acquaintance have so far fallen on deaf ears... so plan "B" is to minimize that person's self-inflicted damage if he cannot prevent it. We don't need to preach to the choir...

I'm a belt AND suspenders kind of guy. I have used Dicor Lap Sealant (self leveling) on my Fantastic-Fan install as a finish after using butyl tape in the proper install procedure. I didn't want the bazillion screw heads left exposed, and mine have not leaked in 10 years. The adherence trick for extruded caulk products is absolute pristine cleanliness of the substrate, usually achieved by an alcohol wipe-down that is allowed to evaporate completely before application of the caulk.
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Old 03-19-2014, 10:41 AM   #14
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I've used Dicor self leveling to cover everything installed on my roof, whether it's around the fan, over solar mounts, rivets, or small holes from the PO. I've never had it leak. It's removal is fairly easy as well. The PO had a hole in the roof for solar wiring, it was simply covered in Dicor and never leaked. I did the same just to see if it would work and it's been completely fine. It was recommended to me by Trillium in Calgary, that's pretty much all they use on roofs as far as I can tell. I'll be re-covering my awning rivet's this year with it just to be safe.
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Old 03-19-2014, 11:37 AM   #15
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Quote: "It's removal is fairly easy" would be a clue for me.

To not use something that is.

But I do know that Dicor is an excellent material for use on stickys, and we know that they need lots of it.



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Old 03-19-2014, 11:47 AM   #16
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Quote: "It's removal is fairly easy" would be a clue for me.

To not use something that is.

But I do know that Dicor is an excellent material for use on stickys, and we know that they need lots of it.
Perhaps you should try removing silicone and you'll know why I wrote that. It's a sealant, not glue. I have Dicor on my roof that's 10 years old and it's perfectly fine, meaning it won't just come off. But if you try to remove it manually it will come off easily meaning you won't destroy your fiberglass or gel coat.
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Old 03-19-2014, 11:49 AM   #17
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Dicor self leveling is pretty much "industry standard" and can repair many unforgiving situations. It does not last forever and will need to be done again in 3-5 years, depending on the environment.

As an alternative for a stubborn friend, I will suggest another product that has many pros, and one BIG con. EternaBond

Eternabond lives up to its name. It is a seal that will last longer than the rig. I have used it on many very difficult repairs, and if done correctly, you will never have to worry about whats under it again. I sealed the roof seams of a 32 foot motorhome that had been neglected for many years and the fix was instantanious. A virtual shower that occured along both seems into my over heads and walls simply stopped, just like that. There is no need to dig out old sealant, it goes right over it and levels itself into it, unless it is silicone (Eternabond does not stick to silicone) and much time and effort was saved on the process. I also, unfortunately, had to use it on my own roof vents, with a *twist, on my Leocraft. (More later on that)

The BIG con to it is: Once it's down, it's difficult, if not impossible to get off. Should he relent and finally want to get the vent out, and he uses this product, he will have a fight ahead of him. The manufacturer has a product to break the adhesion, I have never had to use it tho, so I can not comment on it's effectiveness. The second con is..it ain't pretty and should be used on top of the rig only, if cosmetics are a concern.

For the twist...instead of sealing the vents themselves, I added a maxxair vent cover to each and used the eternabond on the flanges of THOSE. The vents were sealed with dicor, and then the covers added with the eternabond..

If the vent covers ever crack, it'll be a *you know what* to get them off, but considering the permanency of the product, I opted for that gamble.
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Old 03-19-2014, 12:07 PM   #18
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Perhaps you should try removing silicone and you'll know why I wrote that. It's a sealant, not glue. I have Dicor on my roof that's 10 years old and it's perfectly fine, meaning it won't just come off. But if you try to remove it manually it will come off easily meaning you won't destroy your fiberglass or gel coat.
I've probably resealed at least 20 Fiberglass RV's in the past few years and am well aware of silicones features. Either it peels off in a strip or you have to get out the single edge razorblade and a can of acetone. But it's the former feature that is it's downfall.

Just yesterday I peeled a 3 foot long strip of silicone sealer off of an RV roof in one piece. The other 3 feet or so were already missing, making it real easy to find the source of the water leak.

Products become "The standard of the industry" not because they are the best, but because they are the most cost effective to use and need only outlast the warranty period, usually 2 years or less.

In the case of a recently purchased Coleman sticky, factory sealant started lifting at the edges within the 1st 3 months, and it leaked at the first rain, which as everyone knows, we don't get much of here in SoCal.

My local dealer sez: Putty tape is best, but the labor cost to use is about 3-4 times using stuff in a tube.



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Old 03-19-2014, 06:27 PM   #19
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If you're still around, O.P., I took the liberty of posting this question for you at another Forum I frequent. It's made up of a big cross section of folks using all kinds of RV's. Something I find both refreshing and illuminating betimes...

Answers comin' in already over there... Here's the link to that thread. Hope it helps!
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Old 03-19-2014, 06:38 PM   #20
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Spray with FlexSeal?............LOL
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