Quote:
Originally Posted by brulaz
Well, I'm going to have to eat those words. And probably eternabond will be the next step.
While my new caulking has reduced the leakage to something more like seepage, after a heavy rainstorm there's still water coming down the walls from the roof/side wall angle in the vicinity of the door and bedroom window. Others have reported roof leaks in this area as well.
Inside, the water collects at the top of the inside Al angle piece holding the side wall and roof together, and then tends to drain at the end of the angle piece in the closet. And, as you would expect, if we're not there to mop it up, mold develops.
I checked the new caulk on the roof, and there's no visible separation between the new caulk and the plastic strips like there was with the original caulk. But when poking and prodding the caulk, I could see that it can separate from the plastic strips very cleanly, and there was a lot of water and mold under the strips.
Some thoughts:
I just don't think there is a silicone type caulk (or maybe any type?) that can stick to those plastic strips, even after my cleaning with iso-propyl alcohol. Maybe some more rigorous chemical cleaning is required, or abrasion?
The front to back plastic strips along the edge of the roof of the Elkmont do not seem to cover a seam. Perhaps the strips are just there to provide an additional barrier to water pooling against the outside angle piece between side wall and roof panels? The awning is attached to this length of outside angle, and perhaps its weight and all our traveling caused it to separate from the caulk?
There is a side-to-side roof seam covered by a plastic strip that ends in the vicinity of the leak. Water pools against the plastic strip and could possibly travel under the strip along the seam to the roof/wall edge? There's no interior leakage along this seam though. But when I re-caulked around the strip, I did find water under it.
There is also a front to back seam covered by a plastic strip in the centre of the roof. Although most of it has been re-caulked, there is no interior leakage and I can't imagine it contributing to our side wall leakage as it's right at the roof peak. Water should drain away from it.
Plans:
My plan is to strip off those plastic strips next to the outside angle piece, clean it up and apply a 6" eternabond strip with a good 3" going up and over the outside angle piece. And similarly replace the strip covering the side-to-side seam with eternabond. Hopefully this will strengthen the joints as well make them waterproof.
It's tempting to take the trailer down to the Ohio Dealer or the Tennessee factory for repair, but I suspect that all they would do is re-caulk it. It needs more than that.
If there are any new experiences with eternabond, good or bad, I'd like to hear it. This problem needs to be fixed.
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Ok Brulaz, I ran into a similar problem when we first got the trailer, and it was the same place that you got yours, Texas RV. On the morning we came to pick up our Elkmont 24, there was a trickle of water running down the front right corner inside of the closet by the bed. At the time we thought it was condensate. BUT the night before a very heavy storm with lots of rain had passed and it turned out that the trailer had been facing the storm with that part of the trailer.
Here in Arizona we don't see much rain but another member here alerted me to 4 weep holes at the roof line that may contribute to rain water entering the trailer.
I am not saying that it is the cause, but I think it is worth looking into. It should be possible to shield those holes with a small piece of plastic or even aluminum glued to the top of the roof line, protruding maybe an inch, like a visor on a cap.
Here are pictures of each of the 4 holes. They are barely visible from the ground so you may have to get up on a ladder to see them.
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