Roof caving in (72' single wide)

Repair help for the do-it-yourselfer.
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feeeeline
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:10 pm
Location: Southern lower Michigan

I'd expressed concerns earlier about this. Someone put a shingled roof-over on this place at some point. I was sort of hoping it wouldn't be an issue. Of course, "Man plans, God laughs".

The back door of the place seemed sealed awfully tight when I first looked at it (move in day... I wasn't allowed in to inspect the place before it was given to me).

I did open it at one point. Probably not my smartest move, as getting it open (the hinges were seized pretty tightly, and the stud it was attached to was rotted to the point the whole door moved more than the hinges themselves) was not easy, and closing it again was worse.

Yesterday it flew open of it's own. Well... not of it's own, because of pressure from above, crushing the door frame and door. Looking at it I could see that closing it was going to take serious help.

Looking around it... well, that poor door and what remains of it's frame is the only thing holding the roof up. A friendly carpenter/neighbor who saw me struggling and stopped to help confirmed my fear. That roof is caving in. The siding began to visibly bow/buckle/bulge. It's not easy to get pictures without a ladder.

Ok.. so, my question (besides what in the HECK is keeping me from just tossing it all in and heading for the homeless shelter) is... where, precisely is the strongest support from below? If the flimsy wall won't support it, just how deep into the structure must I dig (the floors are not good here, and I'm assuming the framing is inadequate, or possibly even damaged). Are there diagrams of the structure of an old mobile, just so I can sort of get a feel for what's involved in this?

Not repairing it isn't an option. I've hitched myself to this disaster for better or worse. :?
Lisa: I didn't know you cared about ballet.
Marge: Lisa, have I ever shown you my shattered dreams box?
Lisa: No.
Marge: It's upstairs in my disappointment closet.
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Greg
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Posts: 5696
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

Here is a link for a basic exploded view.

http://www.foremost.com/mygreathome/ima ... m_2096.jpg

It sounds to me like you either need to get some weight off of the roof and/or do some serious reinforcing to support the weight. If they added eaves going past the walls it may not be too difficult to add support since you could work from the ground with 4x4 posts to the rafters to support the roof.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
dedou
Posts: 60
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:25 am
Location: Central Vermont

Hang in there, girl! If it were me, and I didn't have any overhang to prop things under to support the roof weight, I'd be busy for the next couple of days taking off the current roof and getting some tarps! At least it's not winter yet, right? :shock:
Devon
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When did that happen?
And how do we make it stop?
feeeeline
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:10 pm
Location: Southern lower Michigan

dedou wrote:Hang in there, girl! If it were me, and I didn't have any overhang to prop things under to support the roof weight, I'd be busy for the next couple of days taking off the current roof and getting some tarps! At least it's not winter yet, right? :shock:
:D How difficult can a caving-in roof tear-off actually be????

Must buy ladder (list of things to do tomorrow).

Actually, I'm going to try to appeal to the local agencies that help with this kind of thing (broke person with roof falling in kind of people) . I'm not sure what park rules are on living in a tarp-covered house are.

Could become a very interesting week, indeed!
Lisa: I didn't know you cared about ballet.
Marge: Lisa, have I ever shown you my shattered dreams box?
Lisa: No.
Marge: It's upstairs in my disappointment closet.
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Greg S
Posts: 541
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:13 am
Location: Kingston Ontario Canada

The home will now begin to drain your resources however there are options.
The roof is probably not new therefore the problem has developed slowly.
My advice is to concentrate only on repairing the area over the door. Most likely there is no header supporting the roof. Open up the wall around the door, replace the door framing and place as large of a header over the door opening as you can squeeze into the space.
Otherwise live with the roof as it is and hope for the best. It is likely not a serious danger.
An individual must enforce his own meaning in life and rise above the perceived conformity of the masses. (Anton LaVey)
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