Roofing Issue

[hipernb]

Hello everyone,
I am new to the forum. We have a older 1974 mobile home 14x72 with a flat metal roof, we also have a addition 30x40 (just a guess)with a slight slope wood roof. We have had nothing but problems with the main seam from the metal roof to the asphalt rolled roofing addition. Now when this addition was built (not by us). They butted the addition to the side of the mobile home, trying to make it level. We have lived in this mobile home for over 20 years now and still every year we have problems with the leaking between the main seams. They person who built the addition was not the smarted Lego in the box.

I just don't know what to do to fix this problem we have tried everything we can think of to stop the leaks.
2 times a year my hubby goes up on the roof to roller that rubber mobile home sealant over the seam but this does not seam to last more that a few months.

We have thought of building a whole new roof over the mobile home and addition but our issues are are walls are 2x2 and would not support another roof.

We are not made of money so I need a cost effective solution that will last. I did price out a spray foam product. It is sprayed over the entire mobile home and addition. It is said to add r value as well as preventing leaks but the cost was crazy over $6,000 to do my roof.

My questions to anyone is:
1. Is there a product that would allow me to joint the two seams together (wood & metal ) to make on seam? Do we continue to go with the rolled roofing asphalt or go with metal on the addition?
And if metal how do we join the seams together?

Since our mobile home has no over hang it only has the small rain gutters, and the addition has nothing. We are planning on installing rain gutter this summer to help with the water runoff. But not sure how to incorporate this with the existing factory on mobile home.

Please anyone who have any ideas.

Thanks\
Hipernb

[Greg]

Hi & welcome. you did not say what type of foundation you have, but I am willing to bet that it is NOT a below the frost line.
The very problem you have is why we do not recommend putting an addition on without below frostline footers. What happens is the ground freezes & thaws in stages, unfortunatly it does not do it evenly one part of your home will heave from the frost, the other may not, this effectivly twists the home. Now add an addition into the mix and you can see why you get leakage.
Some people here have had limited sucess, perhaps one will add to this. If not I'm sure JD (our roof expert) will add his thoughts. Greg

[hipernb]

Hi Greg,
Thanks for the quick response. I spoke with my hubby about the Frost line, He can not say for sure but did not thing the guy was smart enough for that. however he did bring up the fact that our interior walls and ceiling in our addition are gyprock. neither of these show any signs of cracking at any seams. Not sure if this would make a difference or not. But thought I would mention it. If there is any of info you may need. I can try to find the answer.

[JD]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

I can imagine your frustration with having this problem every year. Greg gave you good info about frost heave moving the 2 units enough to cause the leak. If this movement is the problem, there may not be a permanent fix.

I can think of a couple of things to consider though. First, this leak may be coming from the edge of the roof of the main coach and not from the actual joint. The water would end up in the same place at the add-on room.

Secondly, I still feel that this joint can be sealed, provided the frost heave thing isn't a huge problem. One concern is the rolled roofing. Regular rolled mineral/asphalt roofing is supposed to be an 8-12 year roof surface. So you need to consider the condition of this roofing material before spending a lot of money on the problem. But provided the rolled roofing is in good condition, you should be able to seal this joint.

You could install a new flashing over the joint. I will not use the thin silver flashing material (MD brand) from the home stores. I would recommend a true .024 aluminum flashing like is used on aluminum roofs. Even the lighter gauge flashing that they use on aluminum awnings would be better. Both are also pre-formed, which helps. Basically, the flashing would have a 1" part that fastens to the aluminum siding on the main coach, and the long section, usually 9", fastens to the roof. This should totally cover the old joint that is giving you problems. So you may need to have this flashing made up if you need the long side to be 12" or whatever. Any hvac/sheetmetal company can make this for you. Keep in mind that flashing over the 9" wide can have an "oil-canning" situation causing pops and like noises as it expands and contracts with changing temps. If the flashing projects out past the old sealant build up and is reaching good roofing material, you should be able to screw it down and seal it with an asphalt compatible sealant, like most lap sealants. Where the flashing attaches to the aluminum on the main coach, I would run a small bead of Tremco Vulkem 116 behind the 1" part, and screw it to the home 4" o.c. Then seal the joint and the screws with more Vulkem.

Another possible solution is to use an asphalt compatible Eternabond product. This would offer fewer seams, and the seams would be permanently sealed. The stuff is put on like wide tape, very easy. Read about the Eternabond products here. http://www.eternabond.com I have had very good success with Eternabond products. VERY sticky stuff. The oldest Eternabond repair I have is about 6 years old and looks great (when I saw it last year). So I can't say that it will last 20 years for sure, but the manufacturer does and I believe it will. I believe you would want to use the EternaBond RoofSeal PLUS product, and you may possibly want to use the Eterna-prime on the rolled roofing section being covered. The best bet is to call the company and talk to them. Very friendly and helpful folks. You need to let them know what kind and how much of the old sealants are at the joint now. Another very good point about using the Eternabond, is that it is VERY flexible and might survive a frost heave problem.

The aluminum flashing could be removed to install new rolled roofing in the future and is probably cheaper than the Eternabond. But using a flashing like this will still require maintenance. (cleaning and resealing every 3-5 years) The Eternabond might be an easier install and I think it would require no maintenance, especially if you use a termination strip at the top of the Eternabond on the aluminum siding, or even seal that edge with the Vulkem or other polyurethane roof sealant.

Just some ideas to think about.

JD

[Manitoba Bill]

Hi Hipernb,

I have lived here for 20 years and I put markers on my front addition and without frost-line footers, it has not moved more than an inch in those 20 years. Most times the 2 buildings move in unison, not on their own.
As a matter of fact in this 100 unit Mobile Park it is forbidden to have ANY kind of permanent foundation as they have to occ. haul some mobiles out and replace them.
Over those 20 years I have tried many methods to seal the joint between the buildings, from Galv. to the current 20" long Vinyl carpet runner. I attached that to the mobile roof-line and leave it "floating" over the addition's roof. This works well except for the occ. south wind which lifts the floating edge. I solved this by attaching a vinyl clothesline to hold the floating edge down.

Good luck with your Sask. winds. LOL

[Yanita]

Hi,

And just to clarify the value of frost line footers...I used to live in northern Vermont, I owned a mobile home then as well. We added a screen porch (free standing) to the back side of the home.

Totally forgetting about below frost line footers caused us alot of damage to the home. The porch rose and tilted into the home, enough to break 3 studs, cause major wall, floor and roof damage.

Below frost line footers has been an acceptable means to keep homes/additions from moving in changing ground temps. This has been the way for many, many years. Of course as a homeowner it is your choice to either do it or not.

Yes, many homes, additions, porches are not put on below frost line footers and get it away with it, many others do not.

"IF" you reside in a park, then most of them do not allow these footers for reasons mentioned above.

In closing, the choice is yours and the recommended information has been given.

Yanita

[Robert]

Unless every single inch of ground within the entire border of Canada reacts to changing temps exactly the same, then saying it is not needed is a risky statement.


It is also one that the homeowner will be responsible for if you're wrong.


The FACT is we have had posters who live in Canada and received damage and problems from NOT having footers.


As Yanita said, the choice is the homeowners, we just give viable info to help them reduce the risk of damage to their home.


Bill, I have edited your post to remove the first sentence. You can state what you have done and the results as it now reads.

Intentionally contradicting the advice and/or suggestions of a moderator, admin or member and stating it is not needed will not be allowed.

All areas differ and what works at one home may not at another.

Also consider that some people do not go the the extent that you do in maintaining and upgrading their home and as such, that can make a huge difference.

They may not have the experience, tools, health, etc.. or may not be mechanically inclined or handy with certain maintenance and/or upgrades.


Therefore, their home would not hold up as well as yours would, just too many variables to lump them all into one bucket.

If yours moved an inch, theirs could move 2-3 inches and the results would be vastly different.


Take care and best wishes,
Robert