How to remove metric F*#@ ton of Butyl ?

[TacoBirdinNW]

I bought my Topo Toppers Badlander second hand. The owner was in a cooler climate and decided to "insulate" the top of the interior with Siless 3 in 1.
Two problems:
1. It doesn't really insulate and I want to replace with a light weight and effective insulation.
2. The butyl from the backside of the siless is pushing out when the topper is closed now that it's warmer and smashing cheap green butyl into my tent fabric and bedding.

So it has to go.

Any ideas ? Rubbing alcohol does nothing. Read about dry ice, so that would be my next course of action, but you guys usually have some slick ideas.

Took me 30 min to do this terrible job on one square with a plastic scraper and alcohol, so that's out.

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[ctngo82]

Try MEK or a strong solvent.

 

[TacoBirdinNW]

Try MEK or a strong solvent.

Will look into it! Thank you.

 

[Delta1Seven]

I also remember seeing a video once of someone turning a compressed air can upside to freeze and then chip off the stuff.

 

[trailhunger]

Wow dude… yes dry ice, putty knife, and probably 3M Citrus Base Adhesive Remover for the remaining bits of residue. Acetone will probably eat into the roof composites, odorless mineral spirits if you can’t get the citrus stuff

 

[TacoBirdinNW]

Wow dude… yes dry ice, putty knife, and probably 3M Citrus Base Adhesive Remover for the remaining bits of residue. Acetone will probably eat into the roof composites, odorless mineral spirits if you can’t get the citrus stuff

Thanks! I was actually able to make just a bit of headway tonight with the cooler temps. In my head the heat was going to help since folks use heat guns, but man, just made it worse! I'm going to get up early and see how much I can do, if it's too much of a PIA I'll go dry ice.

Luckily it is only stuck to aluminum. But either way I'll snag some citrus adhesive remover! Forgot all about that stuff. Used it to strip a dresser I found on the road once.

I'm becoming quite close with this damn butyl. Was a serious chore getting the bed completely sealed with the camper. Lots of butyl there that I'm now dreading dealing with if I ever remove the topper lol

 

[CharlieLed]

I have installed my share of that stuff and never gave it much thought that there would ever be a time that someone would want to remove it...I give you a lot of props for the work you're doing! Butyl is great for dampening sound vibrations but as a professional sound dampening expert once told me, "what sound sources are there coming from overhead, don't put butyl on the ceiling". Good luck!

 

[Will721]

I have installed my share of that stuff and never gave it much thought that there would ever be a time that someone would want to remove it...I give you a lot of props for the work you're doing! Butyl is great for dampening sound vibrations but as a professional sound dampening expert once told me, "what sound sources are there coming from overhead, don't put butyl on the ceiling". Good luck!

To an extent that is the case. However for a metal roof you plan to sleep under, rain makes quite alot of sound. Plus, the point of the foil face to my understanding is to help with temperature transfer. I haven't gotten around to testing that in practice. Its also commonly added in car audio to minimize the resonance of large flat roofs from heavy bass.

As far as removal, the colder the better. The warmer the rubber is, the softer and the more it stretches and grips. Which is why warmer weather is recommended for install. Get it as cold as you can, and if you really want to remove any residue, dry ice blasting would probably be the trick.

 

[co425]

Dry ice laid on it for 10 min or so and it will pop right off.

 

[TacoBirdinNW]

Thanks everybody. Got up early and made some progress, but as soon as things started warming up it became too time consuming. Headed for the dry ice now!

 

[djevans]

Will look into it! Thank you.

If you try MEK, be sure you're in a well ventilated area.

 

[trailhunger]

...Luckily it is only stuck to aluminum. But either way I'll snag some citrus adhesive remover! Forgot all about that stuff. Used it to strip a dresser I found on the road once.

You might be thinking about the orange paint stripper stuff you can buy at HD or Lowes but the 3M citrus stuff removes adhesive / formulated for it. I wouldn't personally put the stripper in the camper...that kind of stripper that is bro

 

[TacoBirdinNW]

Alright, so dry ice was a good thought in theory, but didn't work well here. This siless 3 in 1 has a very then layer of adhesive butyl, then a thin layer of foam, then another thin layer of butyl, then a cover film. The bottom layer was so thin I wasn't able to get any large chunks off after freezing. It was very tedious just chipping away at it.
I ended up letting it heat back up in the sun, then scraped each square off with as much butyl as possible, then rolled some higher quality butyl into big balls and just dabbed the remaining/left over butyl on the ceiling until I got it all off. It was very time consuming! Now I just have a little bit of cleanup left.
I would suggest you never use this garbage. It was a good thought by the previous owner for easy insulation, but it didn't insulate much and as soon as it got hot the butyl turned to goop and started oozing out onto the tent fabric.
Anyways, appreciate you all and all of your ideas. This was a pain in the ass.

 

[CharlieLed]

I commend you on your grit and perseverance...well done!

 

[lauren01]

Your camper will be fabulous once you have a clean slate to work with.
This is an example of “DIY” nearly rhyming with “DIE.” Excellent efforts!!

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