How to remove contact cement from ensolite?

[Cam A]

A previous owner was over-enthusiastic with the contact cement; while the seam tape is certainly secure, there is quite a bit of contact cement on the ensolite. Any thoughts on how best to remove long cured contact cement from ensolite without damaging it?

[Sharon Herman]

A previous owner was over-enthusiastic with the contact cement; while the seam tape is certainly secure, there is quite a bit of contact cement on the ensolite. Any thoughts on how best to remove long cured contact cement from ensolite without damaging it?

Hi Cam,

I don't have the answer you are looking for, but I was hoping to tag on to your question. I have one 30" piece of seam tape that is not the original snap in type. It was glued on by some type of product but it is done doing it's job and I don't know what to use to glue it back up. Is contact cement the way to go?

Thanks for the tag along...
Sharon

[Con]

Try as small test spot with some Acetone! It works on contact cement on most stuff but I am not sure about it on the vinyl finish of Ensolite.

[Bill MacDermod]

I know lacquer thinner will cut it because thats basically what is used to thin the cement out but, not knowing what ensolite characteristics are I have no idea what it will do to that

[Miriam]

I successfully used rubber cement remover. It didn't damage the ensolite. That stuff is indestructable - if you don't poke a hole through it. The rubber cement was hard as rock so it took a few applications. I even put it on a cotton swab and soaked it for the thicker pieces. It helped first that I scraped off as much as I could - even chipped it off with a fingernail.

I also had a half-dozen layers of different types of silicone sealer (a pox and a plague on the guy that put it there in the first place). That stuff, if it doesn't just peel off, is a *^*&$%^ to remove. For the stuff that didn't peel off when water got underneath it, I ended up using silicone sealer remover. It goes on like bad jello and solftens the silicone so that you can scrape off a layer. Then you have to put more on to remove the next layer......until you finally get to the last bit. It took me WEEKS, but in the end, the ensolite looks like...ENSOLITE!

Because I had layers of granite paint over the silicone and glue (and wallpaper, and other gunk), I had to use a variety of cleaners. I had nothing to lose. In the end I used just about every solvent known to modern man, except battery acid and oven cleaner. Some of them softened the ensolite a little bit, so I had to be careful when scrubbing so I wouldn't stretch and tear it. The ensolite hung in there. I have a new respect for the stuff.

I found that it hekped to stretch it a bit to get some of the gunk out of the grooves. And, again, vacuuming and scraping took off a lot of stuff that would have had to be really worked at.

BEFORE AND AFTER PIX:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/in...howtopic=18957