Repair help please??

[Jack Emmons]

It's not real clear in the pic but after 45 years the 2X2 has sagged. It's in good shape so replacing it seems unnecessary. Hesitant to mess with the roof, thinking of adding a straight rafter beside them. Don't know the term for what I see as adding something on top of the rafter to tighten up the aluminum roof

[brian leibow]

its called "sistering" and its done all the time when repairing boats,the wooden kind.go on line or find a wood boat repair book,lots of good info for you there.

[Jack Emmons]

Thanks for the term Brian, I'm an electrician but I have some woodwork to do in the future.

I went to a page to learn the structural wall terms. Fortunately and surprisingly I have good top plate all the way down the sides so I didn't want to pull the rafter out risking all kinds of damage.

I do want to figure out what to put potentially over the rafter to put an arch(for lack of a better word) in the aluminum roof to prevent the water from pooling on the flat roof, lucky for us we don't get all that much rain up here. I've also seen where a lot recommend not driving in the rain to prevent or minimize underside exposure.  thx

[Russell E Johnson]

My 2 cents worth: our 87 MH has a pooling effect where the front AC unit sits and thus water has leaked in the AC unit and ruined 2 of the ceiling panels. I am going to replace the 2x2 wood rafters on each side of the AC unit with 2x2x1/4 square steel tubing. It will push the fiberglass roof back into position and support the weight of the new AC unit better (yes both AC units died within 3 days of each other, they just don't make things to last any more, 28 years and they just quit working LOL). The rear AC unit does not have as big a ceiling span as the front so there is not a birdbath problem with the rear unit so I am going to leave the rafters there alone.   Just food for thought about your rafters.

[Jack Emmons]

Thanks, ya this is just a gravity issue, just weight of the roof after 45 years.

My A/C will be a tiny 5K or less window unit above the front window.

I've seen a lot out the rear but the plan is the futon sleeping room in front.

I saw couple folks mention using the roof as a deck of some sort,

not my intention ever, just keeping the sun and rain out.

Just would like to put something above the rafters to form a slight arc,

maybe even just stuffing salvaged FG insulation above them

[Russell E Johnson]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but won't the rafters continue to sag even more with pressure on them trying to hold the roof up in an arch? Granted you don't have the weight of an AC unit, but gravity is still going to be working and now that they are sagging I would think that the sagging would just continue to get worse, thus the need for at least sistering in a new board in to pull the old one back into position.

[Lakota Wolf]

Russ has a vital point,, It will raise the roof some, But the same effect will eventually happen again. It might hold for a little while, till you can,some time in the future replace it. It would be a temporary quick fix.

[Jack Emmons]

I certainly appreciate your points, so of these are things I'm going to do, some are just ideas floating thru this old man's head...after all it's already 45 years old, minimal money I'll invest as it's my first.. Besides, the 2 inch white home depot foam sheets I'm replacing the old fiberglass might take care of the issue anyway..And I'm not paying anybody to do any work on it under any circumstances. Couple years down the road I might trade in the Scion and buy a trailer in the $6-8K range.. then again I'm not going hog wild on this, sort of a 12 ft "living room" on wheels with a stove and fridge, the point being to lighten it up as much as possible..