My roof sealant failed at 18 months, check your seam overlap

I used a popular seam tape on my container roof in Austin and found water dripping inside after a hurricane last fall. Took me 3 weekends of redoing corners with liquid rubber before I learned the tape needs a 4 inch overlap minimum, has anyone else had seam tape lift on them?

2 comments

2 Comments

jennifer_fisher8d ago

Learned that same lesson the hard way myself, but with a camper shell instead of a container. The tape looked fine on top but the edges were curling up just enough to let water sneak under. Four inches is the magic number, I re-did mine with a six inch overlap just to be safe and it's held through two winters now. Honestly the tape is fine if you prep the surface right, the problem is most folks don't clean with the right solvent first. Also gotta press it down with a roller, not just by hand, those tiny air bubbles turn into big failures later.

phoenix8458d ago

Huh, I gotta disagree with you there. I've seen the exact same tape fail on a buddy's shed in Dallas even with a 5 inch overlap and a clean surface. He used the right solvent, rolled it down hard, did everything by the book. The tape itself just shrank and pulled away after a hot summer. I think the sun cooks that adhesive no matter how careful you are, and in Texas heat that happens fast. Liquid rubber is a pain to work with but it doesn't have the same failure mode. Tape might work for some folks in milder weather, but I wouldn't trust it down here.