The Roof Is Different.
So Is the Structure Under It.
A mobile home roof is not a small house roof. The framing is lighter, the spans are longer for what they carry, and on a lot of older homes the roof has been leaking quietly into it for years. We have replaced mobile home roofs in Huntington Beach and Diamond Bar and coated a metal one in Ontario, and the thing every one of them had in common is the thing we want you to hear before you get a bid from anybody, including us.
Most of the time we do not know the strength of the structure until the roof is off and some of the sheathing comes up. From the top it can look fine. From inside the ceiling hides it. Once the old roof is off and we pull a few sheets, we find out whether the rafters under it are still doing their job, and in our experience they often are not: we often have to replace rafters on a mobile home before anything new goes on. That is not a surprise we spring on you. It is written into the scope up front, with a rate for it, so the number you sign already knows it might happen.
Two Ways We Roof a Mobile Home
Full replacement. Old roof off, structure inspected with the sheathing open, rafters sistered or replaced where they are done, new sheathing where it is needed, then a roof system that suits the home and the park: a low-slope membrane, or shingles where the pitch allows and the park permits. This is the right job when the roof has been leaking, the ceiling is stained, or the home is older and has never been opened.
Silicone coating. On a metal roof that is still sound, a silicone coating goes on as one continuous membrane over the whole thing, seams and vents included, so there are no laps for water to find. Metal roofs on mobile homes move constantly with heat, and the seams and penetrations are where that movement shows up first; a coating that bridges them is the repair that holds. The white surface also throws off a lot of the sun instead of holding it, which you feel inside in August. This is the right job when the structure is fine and the metal is just tired. The Ontario job on the silicone coating page is what it looks like.
Parks, Permits and Access
Most mobile home parks have their own rules about contractors, hours and what the roof can look like, on top of the state's rules for manufactured housing. We deal with the park office before the first truck shows up. Materials go up by crane where the spacing between homes leaves no room for anything else, which is the photo at the top of this page. And the same things that are true on every GAX job are true here: a written scope before we start, an owner on the job, and the same person answering the phone afterward.
We can, and we do, for everything we can see. What we cannot see is the framing. Most of the time the strength of the structure is unknown until the old roof is off and some sheathing comes up, and we often have to replace rafters. So the scope names a rate for that work up front, and you only pay it if we find it.
If the metal roof is sound and the structure is fine, a silicone coating is the cheaper repair that holds. If the roof has been leaking into the ceiling, or the home has never been opened up, it is a replacement, because coating over rotten framing is money down the drain.
Yes. We clear the park office first, work their hours, and bring a crane where the spacing needs one. Huntington Beach and Diamond Bar were both park jobs.
Usually yes, and the process is different from a site-built house because manufactured housing is regulated by the state. We handle the paperwork and tell you which permit applies before we start.