Roof caulking?

[Super_Dave]

Found this when I crawled up on my roof to do a little inspection. It looks to be a complete failure of the caulk material in only one year. Could they have used the wrong product/material?

[mtofell1]

I just get the stuff at Camping World and have been pleased with it. The whole one-year thing is dealer excuses and total BS. I've gotten 5+ years on sealant routinely. The stuff in OP's pictures looks to be the wrong product. Scrape it out and put on the right thing and you should be good for a while.

[Gjac]

I have used a number of caulks over the last 15 years on the MH. The Geocell seems to resits mold and have a better adhesive properties better than the others I have tried. It is also more expensive.

[Super_Dave]

Update: As expected, no warranty help and the dealer wants $900 to fix it. What caulk do you guys like for the vertical and gutter edge sealing?

[Super_Dave]

Gjac wrote:
Any caulk should not look like that after 18 months. It looks to me like the roof was not cleaned before applying the caulk therefore it did not adhere to the substrate. I would remove the old caulk, looks like it will come off easily with just your fingers, clean it well and reapply new caulk.

Feeling like it shouldn't look like that either and therefore not be my problem. We will see how much of a fight the dealer and or manufacturer is going to put up about it.

[Gjac]

Any caulk should not look like that after 18 months. It looks to me like the roof was not cleaned before applying the caulk therefore it did not adhere to the substrate. I would remove the old caulk, looks like it will come off easily with just your fingers, clean it well and reapply new caulk.

[joelc]

Don't say what you used, but silicone is a no-no with RV's. I use Dicor on the roof and Lexel on the sides. I also hear something called ?? = 303 is good too. Be sure to clean the area well of calk and use alcohol to clean.

[theboondork_com]

I was up on the roof of my 2013 Arctic Fox 27 – 5L fifth wheel last week and I didn't see any caulking that Was in the condition yours is, and I haven't touched up the caulking since I bought the Arctic Fox new.

I'm a full timer so my fifth wheel has never been indoors because I live in it, so I get up on the roof and check things out fairly often and I haven't seen a need to repair any of the caulking.

Just guessing here, is it possible when the trailer was new before you bought it, there had been some kind of accident and the insurance had it repaired improperly? Just a thought.

theboondork.com

[librty02]

Super_Dave wrote:
I bought and received my unit new in March of last year and the trailer Winters in a covered barn. The bottom picture is at the roof edge along the gutter.

Typically manufacturers use Geocel Proflex RV where the gutter meets the roof. It's very good stuff when applied correctly but like anything else doesn't last forever

[humblerb]

Regardless what you were told, that doesn't look right for 1.5 years.
No way it should look like that after 18 months.
Doesn't look like it was done properly or with the proper materials.

[Super_Dave]

I bought and received my unit new in March of last year and the trailer Winters in a covered barn. The bottom picture is at the roof edge along the gutter.

[garyp4951]

Top pick does not look like Dicor self leveling, and the non sag caulk is horrible. The bottom pick looks like putty tape that dried, and cracked.

[ItsyRV]

Yeah, the whitish caulking looks a lot like regular commercially available household silicone, not roofing silicone. Was this a factory job?

[MARKW8]

To me, that looks terrible for one year. I know what the dealers and manufacturers say and I agree you shoud do inspections. That said, I could see that in 5 years not 1.

Mark

[Super_Dave]

The look and feel of the caulk more resembled silicone.