Roof seams- remove and replace or tape over

[saflyer]

I have a Holiday Rambler Ambassador with an aluminum roof.  Am planning a solar installation so thought it would be a good tome to redo the seams before making them inaccessible.  I’m pretty sure they need it but a shop gave me two choices, remove and replace the old 4” wide Eternabond  seal running down the middle of the coach and over the seams at the end cap to roof juncture or leaving the old Sealand down and cleaning it with denatured alcohol then laying a 6” strip of Eternabond over the old.  Of course the latter is much less expensive.  Would that be an acceptable course of action.

Also, the vents and skylights need resealing.  Same question, can I just clean the old material and lay nw ever it?  In that case Eternabond, Dicor self leveling or Proflex.  If I remove the old sealing material what should I replace it with?

If I remove the old sealant should I use the oscillating tool I have or is that too aggressive, especially on the fiberglass end caps?

I’ll need to replace the air conditioner gaskets.will the A/C units need to be removed completely or just lifted enough to slide the new gaskets in?

Edited October 7, 2020 by saflyer

[Steven P]

I can say that removing that Eternabond tape is a challenge in itself.  I had a leak in BR slide and decided to remove all of the eternabond.  I used a combination of scrapers and acetone to get it done.  Once gone, it looked great and I felt good about my removal and then applied new eternabond.  I personally wouldn't use any mechanical or electrical devices for removal.  If you can get that acetone to get bw the tape and the roof it will help a lot.  

[saflyer]

1 hour ago, Steven P said:

I can say that removing that Eternabond tape is a challenge in itself.  I had a leak in BR slide and decided to remove all of the eternabond.  I used a combination of scrapers and acetone to get it done.  Once gone, it looked great and I felt good about my removal and then applied new eternabond.  I personally wouldn't use any mechanical or electrical devices for removal.  If you can get that acetone to get bw the tape and the roof it will help a lot.  

I’m not sure but can only assume the tape on the roof was original from the factory so don’t know if it’s Eternabond or something else.

Ed     
’05 HR Ambassador 

Edited October 8, 2020 by saflyer

[Steven P]

In my case (06 Diplomat), I'm pretty sure it was the original and it sure seemed consistent w the new Eternabond. 

[saflyer]

38 minutes ago, Steven P said:

In my case (06 Diplomat), I'm pretty sure it was the original and it sure seemed consistent w the new Eternabond. 

Thanks Stephen

[Bob Nodine]

This is the best thing I have found for removing adhesive or old caulk.

https://tinyurl.com/y3h8986l

 

[saflyer]

2 hours ago, Bob Nodine said:

This is the best thing I have found for removing adhesive or old caulk.

https://tinyurl.com/y3h8986l

 

Thanks Bob. What do you think of using the oscillating tool to remove the old tape?  Good idea or too aggressive?

Ed

[96 EVO]

On 10/8/2020 at 12:16 PM, Steven P said:

In my case (06 Diplomat), I'm pretty sure it was the original and it sure seemed consistent w the new Eternabond. 

I thought mine was as well, till I went to remove a strip.

Mine is a tar tape.

[Bob Nodine]

19 hours ago, saflyer said:

Thanks Bob. What do you think of using the oscillating tool to remove the old tape?  Good idea or too aggressive?

Ed

Ed,

I would not use that and instead use a heat gun to heat up a putty knife and then scrape up the old tape. Don't use anything with an open flame. Heat guns are commonly sold as paint strippers.

 

[frankogrly]

When I replaced the skylight over my shower I used a hair dryer and a Foshio plastic scraper. This uses plastic blades like a razor blade. I found that EternaClean would not only remove the residue, but the paint so I used denatured alcohol to remove the residue.

[RNMCBR]

I use a putty knife heated with a propane torch. I have stripped a bunch of dichor, eternabond and tar tape with this method. Of course, some may prefer a heat gun over an open flame but I haven’t had any problems. I was shown this technique by a seasoned rv service tech. It’s fast and will get you down to a surface clean enough for new dichor or eternabond tape. You don’t have to clean dichor or eternabond residue completely off. The old tar tape surface will need to be cleaned with solvent to remove tar residue which will smear. I’ve used acetone and lacquer thinner for this. Just be sure to not overheat the putty knife or you will destroy its heat treatment and it will bend easily. Also be careful about digging into the fiberglass roof or cap material. As with many things, technique is important.  Use nitrile gloves and have plenty of paper towels. I discard the old sealant/ tape into a 5 gal bucket to keep my work area clean. 

[96 EVO]

3 hours ago, RNMCBR said:

 The old tar tape surface will need to be cleaned with solvent to remove tar residue which will smear. I’ve used acetone and lacquer thinner for this. 

I was using acetone for this until Dennis, on this forum, turned me onto WD40 for tar removal. Worked great!!