Question about replacing lap sealant on roof.

[Whitewolf]

When I uncovered our HC the spring I noticed some spots where the front cap meets the roof that had a few small holes in the Dicor. Mostly where the screw head were at. Grabbed a tube of Lap Sealant and plugged the holes. Now lets go campin'!

I can tell you from me replacing the original tanks vents with Siphon 360 vents that scraping off old LS is a pain in the..........

[JRTJH]

"scraping off old LS is a pain in the.......... "

Yes it is... and scraping off Eternabond microsealant is even more painful....

[itat]

Thanks for the different perspective, guys. If you wouldn’t use the Eternabond on a front/rear seam, where would you use it personally?

BTW, Eternabond doesn’t have a problem putting tape over tape and I’d love to see pics of the edges of the Eternabond actually lifting because that stuff is so sticky I can’t imagine that happening. If you had to use a bead of sealant along the edges, it wouldn’t be worth the investment in the tape IMO because one of the biggest benefits is that you wouldn’t have to worry about touching up the sealant.

[JRTJH]

The only place I use Eternabond is on a cut/gouge in the middle of the EPDM/TPO roof membrane or on the "roof/wall edge" of a slide. On any other location I use DICOR self leveling sealant. The only reason I don't use sealant on the slide edges is because the DICOR won't set up and will stick to the rubber seals when the slide is retracted. DICOR takes years to "completely cure" and will adhere to slide seals 2 or 3 years after application if left in contact for months (as in winter storage).

Here's one example of what I call an "eternabond mess". If you google "eternabond tape failure" you'll get hundreds of pictures of the tape not adhering properly. Not all of them are what I'd call "tape failure". Many are probably failure to clean the surface, applying while the surface is damp or oily, etc. I'm not going out on a limb and say "never use Eternabond". Rather I'd say, don't use it as a "band aid" where you should really be using DICOR the way the factory did, to cover screws, penetrations of the membrane and edges of extrusions. Putting a "permanent seal" over the entire area makes it very difficult, sometimes impossible to repair that area in the future.

[itat]

Thanks. That picture looks like an example of poor prep before applying the Eternabond tape. I agree that it will make a repair more difficult because if the area is prepared properly it should stick very well for a very long time.