Mobile Home Roof Repair

In mobile homes, some of the easiest repairs are also some of the most daunting. It is fairly simple compared to other tasks such as replacing the water heater or plumbing that is stuck into such a small closet or under small cabinets that you have no room to work.

Mobile homes have their own unique characteristics and quirks and need to be handled a little differently then other home improvement jobs. If you notice water leakage near the water heater, furnace or in the walls near the kitchen or bathroom, it may be time to redo that roof.  I'm not talking about ripping off the aluminum or sheet metal and replacing it. Just a simple job of replacing some of that goopy stuff around the pipes, along the seams and that silver stuff all over the roof.

You can tell when the mobile home roof needs to be repaired: the silver coating will start to appear thin and have what looks like cracks in it. The seams where the metal is folded over itself will have gaps in it and the areas around the pipes and things sticking up on the roof will have holes that you can see down into. You can also tell it's time when you have water leaking in around the pipes and such on the roof.

To start with, we need to talk about safety. I know it's boring but you don't want to go and fall off the roof or break the metal and step through the roof. When you go onto the roof of the mobile home, use a ladder tall enough to get up there. Don't use the pipes and things up there to pull yourself up with.

Step on the beams up on the roof, not between them, you can tell where they are by the feeling of bowing when you step. Before you get up on the roof push down on it with your hand, you should feel either a solid surface under your hand or it will have some give.

Go to the front or back and you should feel sooner or later that solid beam under the metal. This is where you want to step, not between them. All across the roof they will be evenly spaced along the top.

Be careful when you are doing your job that you don't backup off the roof. It's easy to be paying attention to the job at hand and not what's behind you.