Flat roof question

[Sharon Northeast]

I know JD is the expert here on roofs, and I'll welcome any ideas. The addition on my MH has a flat roof and it's metal. Every year I have gone up there and applied the silver rubber roof coating, as I was told to do. When shoveling snow off the roof last winter most of it got scraped off. This roof is about 16' x 20' roughly. Someone told my husband it's not a good idea to be on it allot due to the stress of the metal could cause damage at some point??

Anyway he was told there is some sort of rubber membrane panel that can go on it. Just wanting to know where I can look for this as I'm tired of putting on the stuff out of a can and want something permanent. I really don't want to deal with leaks. Product, Cost, Good, Bad??

Your thoughts?

[Greg]

Hi & welcome. I am sure that JD can advise you on the roof issue, but I would Make a suggestion to use a roof rake rather than a shovel. They are much easier on the roof and you can work from the ground. Greg

[JD]

Excellent suggestion Greg. Also, if the sealants you are using are cracking (to be able to come off) then the type or method of sealant needs to be changed. Not many can applied sealants will stand up to serious shovel and tool abuse, and standing on frozen or very cold acrylic sealants will crack it. A rake, as Greg suggests can be used from a ladder without needing to stand on the add-on. I also only suggest standing on a flat add-on roof only when absolutely necessary. The wood framing will not take much of this standing either. It will end up bowing the roof which creates ponding problems which will compound all roof problems.

For an actual rubber sheet type product, you can look at the product at Mobile Home Advantage.
http://www.mobilehomeadvantage.com/sku. ... 122/ID/24/
You would need to fasten down a layer of 1"-2" foam, tape the seams, and then lay the rubber sheet our over the top of everything, attaching it to the add-on and flashing area of the mobile home with "termination bar", also available at the link above.

Another idea may be to use liquid products that can withstand freezing and stay flexible when walked on. I would recommend a Liquid Roof coating (EPDM rubber) over the top of the roof, prepped with Ames Research roof fabric applied into Elastobarrier base coating. For the very best results, remove all old sealants, prime the roof with Ame's Super-Primer (roofing primer, not paint) and maybe fill cracks and seams with Ame's Blue Max trowelable caulk. Yes, this will add up to a fair sum of material costs, but you will end up with a roof that will last the lifetime of you home. The coating will need some maintenance over the years, the first time being 8-10 years down the road, probably.
http://www.amesresearch.com/roof_coatings.htm
http://www.liquid-roof.com/liquidroof.html

The same process as the above performed with standard acrylic Kool Seal or Henry's Elastomeric type products may last 2 to 5 years, and once it starts coming up, it is much harder to service properly.

Just the opinion of a guy that has done hundreds of roofs. Maybe not an "expert", but I appreciate the confidence in me.

JD