All Play And No Work Make Josh A Lazy Boy.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Although I do enjoy having some time to relax and kick my feet up, too much down time makes me restless.  I gotta keep my hands and my brain busy, otherwise I start to go a little crazy.  So what project did I decide to tackle now…?  Replacing the roof on our trailer!

Yeah, this was a pretty big undertaking. I knew what I was in for, I just had to muster up the…let’s say…enthusiasm…to start, because once you commit to ripping the roof off of your house you can’t just simply put it back together when you’re in the mood.  Gotta commit!  Especially when there was a possibility of rain in the forecast.

First up was demo.  This was certainly the easiest part.  It’s kinda like Christmas, but a Christmas where you don’t want to open your present because you know for a fact that after you reluctantly tear off that first layer of worn out, deteriorating, dirty wrapping paper there is going to be a turd waiting for you.

I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty but thankfully it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.  A little dry rot here and there but most of the damage was on the wood that was going to be replaced anyhow, so on I went.

Next was insulation.  I had found that most of the insulation was in decent shape but being that I had everything opened up I wanted to make it count, so I opted for all new fiberglass insulation and a layer of Reflectix insulation to act as an additional heat barrier.

As for the sheathing I went with 3/8” plywood instead of the original 3/16” luan board to give the roof a bit more strength if, and when, I do have to get up there and make future repairs.

Next was gluing down the new rubber roof membrane.  It went on fairly easy, although it was tricky getting everything smoothed out nicely after rolling on the layer of glue.

Reinstalling the roof components was next.  And a big thanks to our neighbors for helping me get our a/c unit off and on the roof with the use of their tractor.  Sliding it down the ladder with ropes just didn’t seem like a good idea.

To finish things off I reattached the trim pieces, applied caulking and self-leveling sealant and the job was done.

After 10-12 hour days for seven days straight my task was complete.  It was a pretty tough job for a novice but the satisfaction of accomplishing such a daunting task while learning something new made it worth it.  And after being about $1500 dollars in on this project it was way better than a estimated $5-8k to have someone else do it for me, so I got that goin for me…which is nice.