Mobile Home Roof-Over and Roof Coating in Ocala

Our trade is leveling and anchoring, so why a roof page? Because a large share of the soft floors we get called out to in Marion County started at the roof. Rain that gets past a seam soaks the ceiling panels, runs down inside the walls, sits on the floor decking at the outside edge of the home, and eventually reaches the steel frame we would be lifting.

Fix the roof early and it stays a roof job. Wait, and the bill moves to the floor.

Start with a five-minute look yourself

Before anyone gives you a number, walk around and through the home:

• Inside first. Press gently on the ceiling near the outside walls. A spongy panel, a seam that has started to separate, sagging between trusses, discoloring around a vent, or a damp smell in one room all point up.
• Then the screw heads. On a metal roof, a brown ring around a fastener or a screw that has worked loose is the most common way water gets in.
• Then the seams. Sealant that has turned hard, cracked along its length or pulled away entirely has failed. A few weathered spots are just age.
• After a storm, look for standing water. If puddles sit on the roof once the rain stops, the roof has lost its shape, and paint-on products cannot put shape back.
• Ask how many times it has been coated. Layer on layer gets thick, heavy and cracked, and a fresh coat will not grip it properly.

What you find decides which of the two jobs you need.

Two different jobs

Coating: for a roof that is tired, not failed. An elastomeric-type coating rolls a new waterproof skin over the seams and fastener heads and bounces back a good share of the sun’s heat. On a roof that is weathered but still tight, it is often the smarter money and it is much cheaper.

Roof-over: for a roof that is past saving. A new insulated aluminum or membrane roof goes on top of the original, is fastened and sealed around the whole perimeter, and gets new trim. This is the fix for patchy rust-through, open seams, ponding, or a roof that already carries several coats.

The mistake we see most is a coat of paint on a dead roof. It looks good until the next rainy season, it locks moisture against metal that is already rusting, and the owner ends up paying for the coating and then the roof-over anyway.

What the Ocala climate does to these roofs

Around Ocala, from June through September an afternoon thunderstorm soaks the area most days, and hurricane season opens June 1. That rain finds any seam that has opened. But the damage is usually done before the rain arrives: year-round sun dries out the sealant at every seam and screw head until it cracks, and the next storm simply exposes it.

A lot of the homes we work on in the older parks, along the US 441 corridor through Belleview and Summerfield, and in the communities off SR 200 still have their original metal roofs. On those, a yearly look at the sealant costs little and catches the problem while a coating can still fix it.

Where it meets our work

When a roof has leaked for a long time, the damage stacks up in this order:

1. Ceiling panels stain and sag. Ugly, but cosmetic.
2. Wall framing along the outside walls gets wet. That is structural.
3. Floor decking at the perimeter swells and goes soft. Particleboard does not come back from being soaked, and this is the soft floor people phone us about.
4. The frame and pier caps start to rust, and now it is a leveling problem too.

So when our level check turns up a soft floor, we work out which direction the water came from. Water from underneath points to a torn belly and the vapor barrier. Water from above is a roof job, and that is what this page covers.

How we price roof work

We do not publish a range for roofs because one would mislead you. Size, the state of the existing roof, the trim, and what we find underneath all swing the figure. In general terms:

• Coating a sound roof costs a small fraction of a roof-over.
• A roof-over is a real investment, and on a home that is otherwise solid it is usually money well spent.
• Rotten decking or framing under the roof is what moves a quote most, so we look before we price.
• Sometimes the numbers do not work. If roof, floor and frame together cost more than the home is worth, we will tell you plainly rather than sell you a roof.

Leveling and tie-down prices are listed on our pricing page.

Book a look

Send us the home’s size and approximate year, what kind of roof it has now, whether it has been coated and how often, and anything you have noticed on the ceilings. Photos of the roof surface and of any ceiling spots help us come prepared. We serve Ocala plus Belleview, Summerfield, Silver Springs Shores, Dunnellon, Ocklawaha, Weirsdale, Marion Oaks, Citra, and Silver Springs.