roof over options

[mbt3000]

Hello. I live in Jonesboro, Arkansas. I have recently purchased a 1996 Belmont 14x70. I love it. However, there has been some news coverage in the state about trees crashing into metal on metal homes due to Ike's path into our state. One was a tragedy. On 9/14/08 I expreienced extreme high wind gusts and rain in exess of 50mph. A huge Bradford Pear limb fell on my dad's work truck that morning across town. What kind of roof over options are ther to help make it safe and more stable. I want to protect my home and most importantly my life. Any help is welcome.

[rmurray]

You probably should think about removing trees and limbs that could fall on the house..I saw a brick house cut in half by a large pine tree that fell on it last week. I doubt a roof over would have helped. Maybe other posters will have other suggestions..Good Luck

[David Oxhandler]

Mr. Murray is correct... if your home is in the path of a major hurricane the type of roof you have on your home may not be a huge factor in protecting it. On the other hand in some locations, like Florida there is no price you world not pay for some shade on your home during the summer.

The original metal roofs on homes can be very effective. I have rental homes that I purchased new in the 80s that have metal roofs. I have painted the roofs every three years and have never had any major problem. In 2004 and 2005 we had back to back to back hurricanes. I was very fortunate that the none of the trees that came down damaged my homes. The homes are in a park with great islands of trees between each home. There were a lot of big trees down all around each home. A mile down the road the owner of a block home with a shingled roof system woke up with his favorite shade tree laying across his living room and the roof smashed.

While you need to protect your home total tree removal may not always the best of ideas. I live on a small lake and we have some huge old trees along the shore line. My neighbor sold his home to some city folks who had never seen a tropical storm except in the inner city. The new guy extracted all the trees between his home and the lake, which made the view magnificent. Six months later Charlie came rolling thru our area. The wind was incredible and I'm not ashamed to tell you terrifying. The trees between my home and the lake interrupted the wind and rain blowing off the lake. Our screen porch which is built out of heavy 4x4 timbers was lifted off of its foundation and dropped in a pile behind the house. Other than that we had no damage to the main part of our home... which is a 1980's vintage Fleetwood.

The neighbors brick home was trashed.. the wind was so powerful that it pushed the rain thru a solid brick wall that faces the lake.... Tree limbs penetrated the roof, leaving the insides of the walls saturating, causing sheetrock to melt and leaving behind a mess of mold, mildew and water damage. While we had almost no erosion damage the neighbor lost a huge chunk of his yard which literally fell into the lake.

The best idea from my point of view is to take care of your shade trees. Keep the limbs trimmed back to where they wont get too heavy with rain that they droop towards the house. and never let any limbs get close to the roof.

There are a load of options for roof over systems today. If the weight of a great oak lands on the roof none would repel it, yet some could be more protective than others from lesser impacts. Read the recent article Time to do something about your Roof ? You have a lot of choices today