resealing roof

[Old girls]

I am resealing the roof of my MH and around all the vents, etc. Do I need to scrape off ALL the previous stuff or can I remove (with a putty knife) just the stuff that comes off fairly easily?

The plan is to remove what I can, use pro-flex caulking along the seams and then apply "quick roof" aluminum over that. I really don't want to redo this in the near future, so your help will be much appreciated. Thanks! Teri

[fleamarketer]

There are two roof systems to consider while using a roll-on type of sealer.One company is Snow Roof Systems and the other is Cool Roof Systems both owned by Dupont.You need to clean the surface with T.P.S. and yes scrape off all the old stuff.You need to caulk all the seams and tape them as well.You primer wet-tape-primer all the seams/complete roof twice and let each step dry at least 24 hrs in 50 degree no rain weather.Then coat with Snow Roof Systems(which is the better of the two) twice leaving at least 48 hrs between coatings to cure.The Snow Roof Systems you can get at Pratt and Lambert paint stores.Not all the stores carry it and if you find one that tells you they don't carry it,ask them to find one that does.Cool Roof Systems is available at Lowe's Home improvement.This process is covered in my thread"my roof repair".

Now this is for my type of roof which is a aluminum roof without a rubber membrane.You might want to post the details of your Motor Home and see if other members chime in with advise.

It is important that you do what ever mods to the roof before hand(I.E.skylights) so you don't end up destroying the work you have done on the roof.

Eternabond is the tape you want to use for the seams.Follow the directions for that part of the job.

[fleamarketer]

The other thing to consider while doing a roof repair is damage to the ceiling will travel a long-long ways from where the leak is.I started with mine to thinking I was going to replace only a small section of the ceiling and ended up tearing down the complete ceiling which meant removing all the cabinets,taking out the frig stack,stove hood,etc.This part of the job is a major amount of work compared to just rolling on the roof sealer.I have stripped all the insulation out of the ceiling and all the luin as well.Given that fact the motor home is a 1981 yr,it has all these yrs to have the glue cure that holds the ceiling in place.Yet it needed to be removed.The insulation acts like a sponge,so once it gets wet,it gets the luin wet and after awhile the luin dry rots.

[Old girls]

Hi, Fleamarketer and thanks for the reply! In re-reading my post, I realized how unclear it sounds. I forgot to include that my roof is aluminum and although I do plan on covering the entire roof with Kool cote (or your suggestion of Snow Roof), I'm really trying to spend my limited time getting the roof buttoned up and not take chances with leaks.

Couple of clarifications needed. First, I can scrape off much of the previous years layers of caulking, but whoever did some of it really spread it out around the seams, etc. It's very thin and pretty much part of the roof now and other than using some kind of chemical, I doubt that I can scrape that off.

Secondly, and forgive my dumbness here, but what kind of tape do you mean over the seams? This "quick roof" stuff is self adhesive (black, sticky stuff) with aluminum and I was hoping that in addition to the caulking and then a layer or two (or three) of the clear pro flex over that, that I could avoid leaks at least for a couple of years. Should I use eternabond instead?

Lastly, is luan the plywood underneath the veneer?

My main objective with using Kool-Kote (or Snow Roof) was to add a layer of protection from the sun on the roof and perhaps hope for a bit of insulation from cold/heat at the same time. There is nothing on it at all now.

I did replace one vent and a Max-air cover and have one more to do. Before applying anything over the entire roof, I want to take off the air-conditioner shroud and check that the gasket (or whatever) is still in good condition and won't need replacing for awhile.

I hope this post is more clear than my first! And thank you, once again, for your help.

[fleamarketer]

Read threw my roof repair thread too.

[Old girls]

My gosh, Gary! I'm only on page 4 of your post on roof/ceiling/everything repair. What a job! At one point, a few years ago, I contemplated redoing the back wall paneling as it had some tears in it. Reading your post and others, me thinks that will stay on the back burner for awhile.

I don't see any ceiling damage at all except for one small area in the overhead bunk and I had that looked at when I first bought the MH. In that instance, they replaced the overhead window and the whole section of wood surrounding it. It seems that I am pretty lucky after reading of all the dry rot problems others have had.

I am looking forward to continuing the read on your repair and learning much as I go! Thanks for all your help so far, and I'm sure to have more questions as I go along.

[fleamarketer]

I will do what I can to help out as I stop in from time to time.You will see that Lorna had a lot of good info to tell me about this kind of work.

[Lorna]

Stick with the "Snow" stuff. Temp change was fantastic. You can also get the Snow Roofing product thru ACE Hardware. You may need to get them to order in all the parts (seat the fabric tape into wet primer, then primer over all, then coat with topcoat). I used Henry's elastometric caulk (Home Depot) to seal the big crack & flashing gaps. Do not use ANY of the Black stuff. That is what I scraped off my aluminum roof (and used every solvent we had... including some that only professional cabinet shops use... to get the crap off). Use an "elastometric" caulk only on your roof. Read the roof repair thread... print it out if you need to. Lots of good info there.

[Wallaby Dan]

O goodie...Someone else is having roof issues besides me... I have to redo the back corners and the left side on the rear I need to pull the rubber roof back again. Ya know...If i had to do it all over again, I would have junked the coach and got another trailer!! New, Not Used!!!

[fleamarketer]

Originally Posted by Wallaby Dan

O goodie...Someone else is having roof issues besides me... I have to redo the back corners and the left side on the rear I need to pull the rubber roof back again. Ya know...If i had to do it all over again, I would have junked the coach and got another trailer!! New, Not Used!!!

Now-now Dan........

[Old girls]

Lorna, thank you. I was looking at their website and see that they have several different products in that line. They have one called "Mobile" for use on RV's. Do you have any knowledge of it? Since I'm still scraping old stuff off the edges of the roof, etc. it looks like it will be a little while until I can apply this.

Dan, not to worry. At least we have something to keep us busy!

[RedneckExpress]

I use a combination of two products to seal any protrusions through the roof.

Colormetric Caulk, which I use in place of Butyl Tape, and Dicor Self-leveling Sealant, to go over the edges and the screws.

I then level the whole roof off with a few gallons of KoolSeal and reinforce any areas where there are seams or vents with polyester seam tape (which you embed in the koolseal as you apply it with a paint brush).

Roofs been water tight ever since.

[Old girls]

A few gallons? Applied in several coats, I assume? MH needs to be level? Do you pour a gallon on the roof and then smush it around or split it up for a thin, even coat and repeat?

[Lorna]

I coated my 22 ft Class c with a little less than 5 gallons (that was 2 coats). Put it on with a roller on an extension pole.

Prime with Snow Roof Elastoseal. Coat with Snow Roof. Use the Lightweight Polyester Seam Tape for Smooth Surfaces where needed.