Emergency roof repair help needed.

[upstateman]

I have a '68 Winston MH. We had an unusual 7.5-inch snow about three weeks ago. Since then we have had frequent rains. The past week has seen a lot of steady rain with intermitting down pours. This MH has a bow roof. The snow, plus the rain, has broken all the bows on one end, over the master bedroom.

The original ceiling height was 7'1" in the bedroom. Now it's 6'3". A collapse is imminent. We have nowhere to go. I'm on disability and my wife is working all she can. What little money we have, is going to move later this year, because the MH is slated to be torn down over the summer, or possibly as late as the fall. I have to tear it down because the land is going back to my family. I was only allowed to keep my trailer here until I could move to a better place. It's in no shape to be moved, hence the necessity to tear it down. If I spend money repairing this trailer, It will set me back years, and we will become homeless. My family won't take us in, and her family is five states away in an area where employment is not possible for my wife.

The roof is not leaking, but from all the rain, one wall is starting to lean in.

I am in crisis mode and loosing my mind. What can I do to brace the ceiling and make it through until we can move later this summer? All ideas are welcome.

[Greg]

About the only advise I have would be drop the ceiling and try repairing the trusses or build new ones. You are between a rock and something really hard.

Good luck, Greg

[JD]

I agree with Greg. You will need to repair the trusses. As long as you are or have able body workers it does not need to be expensive. No point in putting in a textured sheetrock ceiling in if you are going too demo the house. After the repair, you can replace the insulation and then just fasten up blue tarp for a ceiling. It is just temporary.
Pull the ceiling down, remove what insulation is there, then cut pieces of 3/8" cdx plywood into the shape the trusses SHOULD be. Over foot wide pieces is sufficient. You do not need total coverage. Fasten your brace pieces to the broken top cord of your truss, then push it up to where it should be located, and then fasten the bottom cord. A pneumatic narrow crown 16ga stapler is best, as screws can split the 1x2 trusses, and hammers will just beat the truss to death.