Mobile homes offer a cost-friendly, ready to go home. They are also one of the easiest homes to maintain. The roof of a mobile home is susceptible to damage from falling, or windblown, debris. The thin metal over your ceiling can be pierced by any number of objects. This damage can be repaired with a few tools, a couple of materials and some know-how. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Lay the corrugate aluminum sheet over the damaged area. Center the damage under the sheet. Have the ends of the sheet facing the sides of the mobile home. Use your tin snips to cut away any spaces for protrusions, such as skylights, in the roof.
2. Drill a hole every 6 inches along the ends and sides of the sheet of aluminum. Hold the drill at a 90-degree angle to the sheet and bore through the sheet and the existing roof. Be careful not to plunge too deeply and compromise the wiring or ceiling beneath.
3. Install a rivet into each hole. Slide the stem of the rivet into the barrel of the rivet gun and squeeze it gently to hold the rivet in place. Push the head of the rivet through your holes in the sheet and roof. Squeeze the gun firmly to close the rivet and break off the disposable stem.
4. Seal any large gaps in the corrugation. Open the lid of your expansion foam. Twist on the stem onto the nozzle on the can. Shake the can. Hold it upside down with the stem in the gap and squeeze the trigger. It only takes a little for each gap, as the foam expands rapidly to fill any voids.
5. Seal your seams. Cut the tip of your caulk tube and puncture the diaphragm inside with the puncture tool on your caulk gun. Slide the tube into the gun and pump the trigger until tight. Point the tip of the tube at the seam and squeeze the trigger while pulling the gun to form a smooth bead that covers the seam.
Tags: mobile home, rivet into, squeeze trigger, your caulk
