Old mobile home roof problem

[Johnf]

Hello,
I own a 1969 Bilmore 40"x 20" mobile home. In december I had a roof leak In the bedroom. It has a steel "bubble " roof as the former roofers called it. The ceiling was sagging as well. Upon removal of the false ceiling the I found 2 broken rafters, completely soaked and sagging insultation, a plastic barrier stapled between the false ceiling and the rafter holding large pools of water, and the entire metal underside of the roof covered in water. I pulled the down the plastic to get rid of the water and the soaked insulation. The roof had pooled water on the outside still after a week in a couple of low spots. I ran a dehumidifer in the room and after two days the water was gone and and did not come back. So I guessed that this is a condensation problem because even after 2 rainstorms I never had water again. The 2 rafters I repaired thanks to a search on this site. but this is my dilemma. The insulation was placed inbetween the steel roof and the rafters. I have read on the neccesity of a moisture barrier inbetween the steel roof and the rafters. So I guess the original insulation was a vapor barrier of sorts. What are my options without removing the steel roof on a 50 year old mobile home?
One other question, one each end of the outside vertical wall is what appears to be a vent for the roof (see photo.) I figured it was ventalation for the roof but it is just a vent screwed into the outside wall and not opened at all. Is this just decoration or an oversight by the original builders? Should a hole be drilled to vent the rafters from these points? Sorry for the book but I'm a little wordy when I write.
Thanks for any help, John
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[Greg]

Hi & welcome. I hate to answer a question with a question, but how deep do you want to get?

After seeing the patented roof hold down in the second picture, I would guess you may be a good candidate for a roof over. That may be the best and fastest to do, you could solve the insulation and vapor barrier problem without too much inside work.

Greg

[Johnf]

Well I was hoping to be able to repair what I got. I am no roofing experience but can read a tape measurer and used a saw well enough to fix the broken rafters as described by JD. Just from an amateurs prespective would it be possible to lower the truss enough from the inside and slide underlayment between the truss and the original roof. I 'm sorry if this sounds stupid, I'm just looking at options.
John

[JD]

You wouldn't want to lower the trusses, but you can easily push up on the roof metal. You can get pretty good clearance up to the last inches near the eaves.

Another option is to start installing the vapor barrier to the bottom of the trusses, going from one eave wall to the other. After you get to the middle of the room, slide R19 insulation in all the way back to the eave. A stick may help and clear poly vapor barrier let's you see what you are doing. You will also staple insulation (no paper or VB) to the side of the trus that you end your repair on. This will help insulate air trying to move across these different insulation areas. Staple up some more VB to about 3' to the other wall, and stuff in the rest of the insulation. That last 3' can be just pushed up and stapled. While this could eliminate condensation problems for the room you are working on, it could also create a problem in the original factory insulation area, as damp air will search out the avenue of least resistance.

[Johnf]

OK, thanks to the both of you, Greg and JD. I think in short term im going to go with JDs suggestion. I was kinda leaning that way anyway. That will get me sleeping back in my bed and not the couch. This spring/summer I was looking at retarring the roof anyway. I'll have the rest of the winter to look over the Manual and decide which route I want to go with the roof.
John

[akonsouth]

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[DaleM]

Repairing the old stuff is a waste of time. The lumber is way dried out and really was a crap system when it was originally installed. Did many of these when I was younger. We always cut and installed new rafters out of either 2x6 or 2x8s depending on the height of the original truss style rafters. It was alot of work but the finished product was well worth it. Installed the new rafters 16" on center, insulated with 3 1/2" kraft faced insulation then stapled plastic up for a vapor barier. Do whatever you want for a finished ceiling after that. The rafters were usually 2" on each end then angled up to the full height of the board from either end. The center 3' of the rafter was full height. We always cleaned the edge completely of all old ceiling material then our rafters rested on the wall. Installing them was a bit of a trick, we'd slip them onto the wall at each end 90 degrees to their full up position, get them close to where we wanted them them using a large set of Channel Locks twist them up into place putting a nice crown back in the metal roofing. Install some 2x4 rafter ties in between the rafters, 2 in each section, to keep them from rolling on you. One more thing, we'd always drill several 1/2" holes, about 5, in each rafter to allow for free air flow rafter to rafter.