Newell Gurus

my front slide in a heavy rain leaked water at the bottom of the inside window trim ring.  i had sealed the window so after looking at the top of the outside of the slide, the adhesive that holds and seals the front of the slide to the top of the slide had cracked and water was getting in there and then running along the window frame on the inside.  

the adhesive that is in ther was very hard and brittle and had and nuber of cracks in it.  

i spent a few hours and got the adhesive out of the crack on the top.  there is about a 3/16" gap between the two pieces of aluminum.  and it was clear it had always been there as the hard adhesive was filling the gap.  

i will clean it up good with 3m adhesive cleaner and then i am going to fill it with 3m 5200 marine adhesive/sealant.  newell told me they use the sika black urethane window sealant, but that is wayyyy too nasty to use and i am goint to use the white 3m product to be more permanent.  

if it works good on the top, then i will consider doing the sides as well.  and then the rear slide.  

tom

I used the sikaflex on the outside around the edge of my slide with nitrile gloves and it was very clean to use - just don't get it on anything you want to wear again... Make sure to use blue masking tape and peel it off before the caulk dries. You can also spit on your finger and it will make a very smooth line... Just don't lick the caulk off your fingers... If you keep it wet it works really well...

i have used the sika flex to seal all my windows the same way you described. but...i did not want to use black to seal my slides since they are white on white. and...i wanted a strong adhesive to bond the two pieces of aluminum.

tom

Tom,

In that exact situation I used 5200. Works great. It's hard to go wrong with 5200 unless you change your mind and want to remove it :-)

Russ

so russ, did you dig out all the old adhesive like i did? did you do just the top or all the way around? if you did the sides, did it drip at all?

tom

I did the sides too. Did not drip. Stayed right where I laid the bead.

Russ