Is it safe to sit on the roof?

[trigurl]

Hi there, I am new to owning a trailer. I climbed onto a ladder to wipe the dirt off my roof with some water and a damp sponge. Also to understand what I was dealing with up there.

Here's the picture of the roof before I wiped off the dirt. Most of cleaned up well but there were 2 patches of cement (as you can see in the picture), so I went ahead and scraped it all off thinking I would find something bad underneath. To my surprise, there are no holes. Just the aluminum. I wonder why there were cement patches on the roof to begin with? Also, the roof looks like it had been painted with rubber paint - I was able to peel some of it off and under neath was just the metal. I went over the roof and wiped it down with a sponge and it looks to be in decent shape...no holes. Right now I have a tarp over it. So it looks like I can get away with just painting the roof and putting some sort of protective sealant over it. Is that what I should do?

So my question is, is it safe to climb up on a ladder and paint the roof of my compact while sitting on top of the trailer? I am 115-120 pounds.

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[Bob]

I wouldn't. If it has roof coatings and patches, then it had leaks. If it had leaks, then it probably had some rot. Even if the roof never leaked, they're only built to support their own weight. You'll dent the roof in and then it'll be difficult to pop it back out.

[trigurl]

Yes I did notice that there are dents on the roof where the concrete was....I wonder if they put it there because water was collecting. I went inside my trailer and poked around looking for soft spots and water damage. The wood looked fine...Well, it's a 50 year old trailer so I feel that painting rubber on it might be a preventative measure. I think I will do that in the end. Thanks for your thoughts!

[vikx]

Coating/painting the roof is never a good idea. First of all, coatings are meant to reflect sunlight and insulate, not seal against leaks. They in fact cause metal damage. When aged, the cracks allow water to seep underneath and rot the metal.

From the pictures, it looks like the edge trim is in serious need of new putty. The gaps are leaks waiting to happen if not already active.

It is possible to access the roof by laying a board or piece of plywood from edge to edge. 5/8" ply would support around 150 pounds; 3/4" for more weight.

[trigurl]

Can someone send me a photo of what the edge trim is suppose to look like? The lady that owned the trailer before me went caulk crazy...like all the edges are caulked.

[vikx]

Sorry, but the caulk should come off... ugh. Not a fun job. The edges should be tight to the body. When installing, the new putty should ooze out at each screw. A rubber hammer helps seat the trim against the body. If you can see gaps at the edges, that's where water can get in. It's hard to get a decent pix of edge trim.

[vikx]

Here's one of the putty oozing at the screw points.

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[vikx]

And the smooth tight line at the edge....

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