Aluminum Roof Repair FAILURE

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Rambo37

New member
Joined
Jun 3, 2019
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3
Hello everyone newbie here from New York. I bought a used Jayco 231RB last year and went to work redoing the roof. Removing all old silver coating, cleaned it real good with soap and water and then resealed it with Liquid Rubber RV roof coating. I followed the Instructions and primed the roof with their primer product as well. I also patched some areas with eternabond tape and did a fairly large patch with new aluminum flashing over the cab. I glued that down with rubber cement and then eternabond tape over the seams.

One year later I am finding that the roof is now beginning to peel up in areas. I believe it is due to corrosion on the aluminum roofing. (The chalky white substance that comes about when the aluminum comes in contact with water.) I noticed spots where it looked like it was bubbling up under the coating and when i started to tug on the loose bits of coating underneath there was that corrosion.

Also, where I used eternabond tape to cover smaller holes and painted over with the coating, the rubber coating peeled right off of that as well. It stuck perfectly to the patch with new aluminum.

My question is, is it necessary to remove all of the coating and redo the whole roof? I think if i tug and scrape it will come off. I obviously want to avoid that but Id rather do it right then pay for it down the line. Or should i maybe use Dicor to fill in those holes where the corrosion was happening and then re prime and re coat only the areas where I peeled the coating back. Alternatively i could use eternabond tape over those small pinholes where the corrosion was happening. The way that the coating peeled right off the eternabond tape Im a little hesitant to do that method.

Ill add some pictures in the morning to show you guys what Im talking about.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.
 
Sounds to me that it's going to continue to peel off. I would strip it again. I think I heard a long time ago to wash aluminum with vinegar before painting. Maybe someone can confirm that. I would also call the manufacturer of the coating and explain to them how you prepped it and what's happening now. 
 
Yes contacting the company is on the to do list today. I really hope it doesn't come to a complete strip and redo but i Guess it is what it is.

Here are the pictures as promised.

First one shows where the coating as bubbling up and the second shows the corrosion underneath.

The third and fourth show where I peeled back the coating.

And the fifth shows the repair before the coating.
 

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I don?t know anything about aluminum rv roofs, but I?ve welded and painted a lot of aluminum in the last 50 years. I?ve always used a diluted muriatic acid treatment immediately before during either. I think white vinegar would probably suffice for painting or glueing. Needs to be done and rinsed immediately before application. I?m only talking about bare aluminum.
 
The 5th picture shows pretty bad oxidation before the coating was applied. If it were mine I'd use a dual action sander and spend a few hours roughing up the surface. That will give it something to stick to.
 
The key to aluminium oxidation is air,, remove the air and you have no corrosion.  In the old days we used Zinc Chromate to seal the air from the surface and promote adhesion for a top coat of paint..  A good zinc chromate is no more, so today's coating for aluminium is Poli eurathane primer,, it is not porous so it seals the air from the surface and makes an ideal primer for top coats..
>>>Dan
 
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