A Light And Tight Roof

All deck and frame pieces were coated with linseed oil mix on top of this trailer. Water still seeped through the exterior grade plywood. In February 2006 the seams were fiberglass taped and the roof was painted with a professionally recommended oil base paint. As the stains here show, the rain and snow melt still managed to seep through, dripping like the bottom of a wet sponge.
It became routine to brush away snow before the melt and puddles after a rain, though nothing could be done while we were away. After a year of mulling over ideas, I bought these Suntuf panels at Home Depot and layed them on top, immediately solving the problem. A month later I went to work on it by first destroying the 'removable' gate that I had so painstakingly made a year before.
Cutting the 3 panels to 9+ feet to allow for a 1' overhang at the bottom. They have to be cut carefully to obtain an even and smooth edge. The width of the overlapping panels, not so much the width of the trailer top, will determine the precise width of the wooden frame.
Fitting the roof frame and the sills.


The sill with screws is prepared and a bead of silicone sealant is laid to assure that no wind driven rain will find its way in there. The sill is attached. This distorted composite shows an overall close-up of the frame.
Close-ups and interiors ...


Half of the first panel has been screwed down, the other half weighted down, after laying a bead of silicone along all points of contact. The panel is firmly glued and screwed through a closure strip. Each screw 1st passes through a steel washer and a rubber washer. The ends of the closure strips are clamped until the silicone hardens.



Cutting and fitting the T1-11 siding.


Treating the T1-11 siding with Behr Water Proofing.



Cutting and fitting the trim.





These boards are not warped; this results from merging 2 images using the University of British Columbia's free Autostitch research tool.









There is a cat in this picture.

















Copyright © 2007, Van Blakeman