People who have metal roofs have to repair them differently than people who have shingle roofs, so you should keep that in mind when making a purchase of a mobile home. However, if you already have one with a metal roof you’ll probably have to do some repairs at some point. You want to inspect your roof periodically for leaks and problems even if you don’t find water in your house, because you can often stop problems before they get started. If you do have a water leak, remember that water can travel. Just because water is dripping in the bathroom doesn’t mean that’s where the roof leak is. It might be coming from somewhere else and running down a truss or the edge of a wall.
If you can’t pinpoint the leak you may have to re-do the entire roof, so finding that leak is very important. When you get up on the roof, look for obvious problems such as holes around vents and pipes and along seams. It’s also possible that there is just a hole in the roof itself somewhere, so look for damaged areas. When you find a gap around a vent or pipe it can be sealed up with a special kind of caulking made for roofing applications. When you find a hole in the roof or a problem along a seam, they have to be treated a little bit differently.
For a hole in the roof you’ll want to clean the area very thoroughly and get any dirt, debris, or loose roofing material away from the hole, taking care not to make it bigger or damage the roof any further. Then you’ll use butyl tape to make a square perimeter around the hole. After that, use a cut piece of galvanized metal to cover the hole. The edges should lie on the butyl tape. Using metal screws, attach the new piece of metal through the tape and into the existing roof. Do not screw into the trusses.
You’ll want to seal the edges of the repaired area with caulking, let that dry thoroughly, and then cover the entire area with a roof coating. For an opening along a seam you’ll use a glass membrane fabric over top of roof coating and then coat over the fabric to form a tight seal. For damage to large areas of metal roofing, it’s often better to replace the entire roof rather than try to do a lot of smaller patches.