Sealing side skirts? (1 Viewer)

Oct 3, 2012
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Just been reading some older threads on damp and a lot of mentions of sealing side skirts, I have no damp but have an area where the water always runs down the side when its raining and am thinking I might seal it to be safe, Is it just a case of running a bead of sealant along the top edge where skirt meets side of van or remove skirt, seal and stick back on (if you get my drift)?
 

Ed Excel

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Just had some damp repair work done around the rear wheel arches. Part of what they did included running a bead of sealant along the top of the side skirts.
 

TheBig1

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to do it correctly, you need to remove them, clean of old sealant and refit with new mastic. better than nothing and to help prevent future leaks, clean up the joint between skirt and van, making sure to remove any excess mastic and run a bead of sikaflex along the join. dont use silicon as it wont remain watertight

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Scottyboy
Oct 3, 2012
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so we are talking about, remove skirts, clean up, seal with non setting mastic where the skirt clips on the brackets and then a bead of sika along the top once refitted?
 

Terry

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Hi you won't remove the skirts without causing yourself a lot of grief, so simply clean,mask and run a bead of Sikaflex type sealant (pu 40 from toolstation is good and cheap:winky:)
terry
edit if you are reading old posts on this you probably found they missed the seals on skirts during manufacture causing damp floors :winky:
 
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Scottyboy
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Thanks Terry, after reading some of the horror stories I thought I should do some preventative work

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TheBig1

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I agree with Terry, only remove the skirts where its neccessary, as in they are leaking or have pulled away from the body. and you dont use non setting building mastic, use the correct mastic on a roll which is more dense and temperature and flex stable:thumb:
 

camocam1

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Had my side skirts removed by a dealer and in his words "was a pig of a job" well stuck on in most places and nothing in others. Now resealed but there are a couple of bit where yo can see slight bulge where outer skin appears to have pulled away from the Styrofoam when they removed the skirts so I would not recommend trying it yourself
 

TheBig1

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the easiest way is remove all screws and with 2 people use a piece of strong fishing line to cut through the sealant after lifting one end. then clean it all up thoroughly with a plastic scraper followed by white spirit on a rag

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mentaliss

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I agree with Terry, only remove the skirts where its neccessary, as in they are leaking or have pulled away from the body. and you dont use non setting building mastic, use the correct mastic on a roll which is more dense and temperature and flex stable:thumb:

ok you got my interest :Smile: so what is the correct 'mastic on a roll' to use cause i have never heard of the use of this on motorhome repairs?:whatthe:
 

Terry

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Hi for the side skirts I would use a polyurethane type sealant like Sikaflex /PU40 -from toolstation comes in a tube like mastic -tigerseal is another -lots out there a lot cheaper than Sikaflex - The stuff on a roll is a non setting mastic that you would use to seal roof lights with--not really for skirts-- a bit like a very thick sellotape that has good sealing because it remains like a soft putty but no strength for sicking -the tape is good for the different surfaces say between plastic and ali roof---
carabond / caraseal lots out thereto seal the skirts -wipe clean and mask up squirt in,smooth off remove tapes job done :thumb:
Sikaflex is great at sealing and sticking but after a while it lets go of some plastics :Eeek:People don't believe me when I tell them that it lets go but I can assure you it does -it may take a few yrs but it will eventually let go leading to leaking roof lights etc.Plastic to ali always causes problems simply because they expand and contract at different rates --once a small break in the seal happens it only needs a cold winter for water to get in and freeze making the gap bigger and bigger :Eeek:until bingo you have a leak ::bigsmile:
i TRY TO MINIMIZE THIS BY USING BOTH SEALS ON MY ROOF LIGHTS A SORT OF BELT AND BRACES (bloody caps) a strip of mastic say on inner and the sikaflex type on the outer --
Ring such as http://www.olearymotorhomes.co.uk/ or http://www.magnummotorhomes.co.uk/
and tell them what you want to seal and they will tell you whats best :thumb: they get feedback all the time so know what works and doesn't
terry
 
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Well that`s our 13th year & still loving it.
I`m thinking most side skirts are only there for decorative finish reasons.
The side and end walls should have been built in such a way that water can`t get at the end grain of the floor, (unlike those built by swift).

If the wall panels come down past the floor edges then they shouldn`t have the problem of water ingress.
All floor edges should also be sealed to repel moisture.
If they aren`t then I would be asking the builder why, this is surely a design fault and a problem created on the drawing board.

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Terry

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I`m thinking most side skirts are only there for decorative finish reasons.
The side and end walls should have been built in such a way that water can`t get at the end grain of the floor, (unlike those built by swift).

If the wall panels come down past the floor edges then they shouldn`t have the problem of water ingress.
All floor edges should also be sealed to repel moisture.
If they aren`t then I would be asking the builder why, this is surely a design fault and a problem created on the drawing board.

::bigsmile:Have a look at your own van Rob - most manufacturers simply sit the side walls onto the floor so any water running between the van side wall past the skirt sits on the floor -some even don't let the roof go over the sides :Eeek:simply sides butted up then a trim placed over the jiont then simply sealed :Eeek: not even the covering trim is stuck / sealed if you get what I mean -only the outer edges of the trim :Eeek:A lot are recipes for leaks built in :Doh:::bigsmile:
terry
 
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Scottyboy
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I had a good look under mine last night and my construction is the sidewalls are fixed to the side of the floor so you can see the bottom timber of the wall, the water is running down behind the skirts and then creeping along this timber, no damage but definitely constantly getting wet and then drying, this can't be good for the timber, so once I've sealed the skirts this weekend and its all dry under there i think i will spray something on the exposed wood, (when I say exposed you can see the grain but the manufacturer has sprayed it black but not very thick at all kinda opaque) maybe waxoyl to protect it from road spray, With my OCD I wouldn't be able to leave it un treated, i would never sleep again LOL.
 

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