Sealed delivered Steve Maxwell - Ottawa Citizen, October 21, 2006
I bought and installed $20,000 worth of Repla windows in a showcase project, only to find that the windows leaked badly along seams in the vinyl extrusions. A manufacturing flaw was at the root of the trouble. Since I took delivery, Repla declared bankruptcy, and the new owners of the trade name refused to offer assistance, except to suggest that I rely on caulking to keep water out. The only positive experience I had during this ordeal came from engineer David Nunn, an independent professional working with the window industry. He examined my windows and provided a cutaway model of the vinyl extrusions used in my case. As far as we can tell, vital caulking was left out during assembly, allowing key joints along the sill to leak. It took three months of phone calls and e-mails to discover all these facts and to realize I was on my own. If I wanted to stop pools of water from forming on the floor every time it rained, I'd either need to tear out the new windows or identify a fix and implement it myself. I needed a technical expert, and that led me to Adrian Russell, a sealant guru at Construction Distribution Supply. He made several suggestions based on the digital photos I sent, including the use of a product called Eternabond (www.eternabond.com). I'd never heard of this product, but it was the key component of an excellent and elegant solution. The largest Canadian supplier of Eternabond is Roofer's World (www.roofersworld.com; 800-3526147) Eternabond is probably the stickiest and most durable tape on Earth. It's a family of astonishing roof repair products that come in several variations. I chose a cloth-backed version called WebSeal as a cap for my defective windowsills, used over top the best polyurethane caulking I could find. WebSeal is designed to be painted, and that's why I chose it over the other plastic-backed and foil-backed Eternabond products. Either the caulking or the WebSeal alone may have done the job, but for how long? Used together, however, I'm confident that the sills are now sealed as reliably as if they were made from a single length of vinyl. Eternabond was originally developed for use sealing pipes under the ocean, and the adhesive backing is the most amazing part of this product line. It's pressure-activated. Once you put the tape in place and squeeze it down, it's not going anywhere. I never realized anything could be so sticky.
Eternabond comes in rolls ranging from 2-inches wide and up, with a peel able backing. That way you can cut the shape you need, put it into position, then peel the back before final adhesion. I made a cardboard template to match the top of my windows sill shape, then used this to trace and cut pieces of WebSeal to match. I nestled the tape down over fresh polyurethane caulking applied to the leaky gaps and seams, then smoothed over the caulking underneath with my finger. After that, three coats of exterior latex paint completed the repair. I'd be very surprised if this paint ever peels. It has soaked right into the cloth backing, seemingly for good. Eternabond products are also designed for repairing flat roof membranes, punctured roof valleys and leaking seams in RV roofs. It's not cheap (a 4-inch by 50-foot roll cost about $50), but it's more than worth the price. I'm even experimenting using WebSeal as a DIY alternative for cladding old wooden window frames in place of aluminum. I'll let you know if it works out. I hope you never have to deal with the kind of customer service nightmare I did, but chances are pretty good that water leaks of some sort will plague you during your time as a homeowner. And when that day comes, at least you're now better equipped to meet the challenge and win. Steve Maxwell is technical editor of Canadian Home Workshop magazine. Send questions to him at steve@stevemaxwell.ca. Message volume may prevent individual response. “I used Eternabond for the first time for an air conditioner ducting repair. This stuff is awesome! It sealed the ducts easily, quickly and better than any tape I’ve ever used. And to think I can use it on a gutter repair is incredible. A homeowner could make money buying just one roll of that stuff. And a pro roofer would save himself all kinds of headaches fixing gutters, downspouts, etc. And the uses for a remodeler—from deck flashing to who knows what—seem endless.” – Mark Clement - how-to ace for HGTVPro.com “I found the Eternabond tape went on very easy, somehow it seemed to me that to solve a leak problem, there should be a great deal of work, but such was NOT the case. Two coats of sealer were done as instructed, and I look forward to the end of leaks on my RV. I sealed the side seams, every vent, the skylight, the fridge vent, and around the upper luggage rails with the tape, and it all went on like magic. Now I am repairing the inside damage which the water leak caused to the framing, the paneling, and the flooring in the storage compartment which has disintegrated.” – Contractor in B.C. “We had a difficult situation with coping caps that were leaking at the seams. We used the Eternabond to cover the seams and it has worked perfectly, saving our customer $1,000′s of dollars. We have used it on a PVC Roof System with 100′s of feet of seam problems and it added at least another year to the life of the roof until a new roof system would fit our customer’s budget. I have not had a single call back on any repairs that I have used Eternabond to complete the repair.” Paul D. Eakley - All-Seasons Enterprises of Illinois, Inc.
“Our technicians have reported that it Eternabond is easy to install, and they feel confident in the quality of the repair. In fact, it’s so easy to install that quite often when we have a unit with a hard to find leak we simply reseam the entire roof. We feel this approach serves our customers better than using a self-leveling pour or spot repairing.” RV Owner
I recently purchased my 1st RV. Mountains of tar and caulk were to an avail for him or me… as soon as one part was fixed another area would spring a leak. I ordered Eternabond and began to apply it as soon as it arrived. Two days later we had a terrific thunderstorm and the water just POOLED up on the roof. It was wonderful! NO leaks!! NONE!!!” – RV Owner
http://www.roofersworld.com/eternabondonline.htm