Please Help Diagnose Leaking Mobile Home (New) Includes Pics

This house is 2 1/2 years old since I bought it. It's a 16 x 76 mobile home in El Paso Texas where it never rains until this summer; it's been raining for three months. Last week I had water running down through my heating unit, which I have heard turn on and off mysteriously a few times recently (I thought I was imagining the sound but I turned it off at the breaker board now).

I went up and found a small place where the wind had blown off a piece of the shingle but I don't think that's in a spot where the leak could be coming from. I'm thinking the water either blew in through the vent or, I found a place where it appears they didn't finish running the shingles all the way to the end. This is pictured by where I am lifting it up with my lighter.

Of course I have no idea what I'm talking about. I need help with understanding this because I am dealing with the manufacturer now, asking them to honor their "quality materials and workmanship." In two and a half years it hasn't rained but maybe 20 times until this summer, so of course I would not have noticed a roof that was not finished properly. I have more pictures if needed. Anything you can tell me about this situation, people, please....Viktoria

It's kind of hard to tell in this pic but I am in the area where the roof is leaking, spot on. I can lift up here but nowhere else on the roof do the shingles end like it does right here.


Now, looking down from the top of the roof, I can fit a lighter under the place where the shingles stop. Another set of shingles are there, continuing down the end of my house, but this just doesn't seem right:


This pic is taken from where my lighter is, showing the vent for my heater, where the water was coming in last night, a lot of water. Could it be the water just blew into this vent??? And I don't have a roof problem at all? I mean, it rained so hard it filled half a big rolling garbage can I have outside that has no lid.


This is just a blown off piece of shingle. Please tell me this isn't causing a flood of water into my house, because this isn't in the area, it's below the heater. The wind here is wicked. It could cause a problem though?

Oh, and here is how they finished around the vent for the heating unit where it was leaking

There are so many problems there that I don't even know where to start.

You need to get a GOOD licensed contractor to look and give you an estimate to fix these problems. Then take the estimate with you to the manufacturer. That is terrible, the lines are all off, the vent is not flashed properly, the shingles overlapping each other is unbelieveable.

Get someone there who knows what they're looking at. You'll be better equipped to deal with the problem if someone can show you exactly what's wrong.

Well thank you SO much. I had no idea. The manufacturer asked me today, "Well, did you have it sealed?"

"Sealed,? I asked. It's two and a half years old in a place with no rain until this year. If it needed sealing you should've told me but all you talked about in your sales ads were your quality workmanship and materials. Manufactured Homes only have a ONE YEAR warranty.

I am sick over this. And broke to boot. Shouldn't an inspector have inspected the roof? I wasn't here when they did it but got the seal of approval.

Here are two more pics I took today. Are these also all wrong?

All the vents on my roof are like this one black one, by the way, with shingles just laying over it like this.

Oh, dear,

I am so sorry, but that roof is as bad as any I've ever seen.
You may need to take the contractor's estimate to a lawyer and see if there is a way to make them fix the problems, or even better, pay the contractor of your choice to repair the problems.

Manufacturers shouldn't be allowed to get away with this sort of thing.
Do what you have to do. Problems like this will likely cause severe damage if not corrected.

I wish I had better news.
so sorry,
Tom

All I can say is WOW! I am sorry for you bro...... Those rain grooves are the worst I have had the displeasure of viewing in my 16 years in this business. The sad thing is that manufactured housing is really booming. There big sales pitch is that since the work is done in a controlled climate, there employees are better stationed and inclimated to do higher quality work. you may want to see about a class action suit against the company or at least talk to other owners. I wouldnt seal a dog house roof like that, you have quite the problem and please let us know how it goes. If it makes you feel better you can post the name of the manufacturer here to help others in there buying decisions.

Thanks
MTC

Unfortunately because El Paso has experienced a mild Hurricaine Katrina in the form of flooding this year (we had water flowing OVER houses), the roofer business is booming (good for roofers; bad for me). However I did not have flooding at all, just a lot of rain this year.

While I wait for a roofer, I had to go buy a freaking TARP to put over my nice new mobile home in case it rains again. I swore I would NEVER live in a mobile home but Multiple Sclerosis changed all that. Nothing bad about them, I love my house; I just grew up in one but I even like the park I live in.

I am astounded to hear the comments from you both. I thought the roof looked great, like a real house...

Here's what I think I need to do beyond get a good estimate from a licensed roofer. The problem is, some roofers I call won't even deal with mobile homes. Now I own what is supposed to be the cream of the crop of mobile homes, or maybe I did some bad research a few years ago. The name of the mobile home is Solitaire.

Get this: on my one year WARRANTY it lists the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. I believe they signed off on this thing and they have a recovery fund up to $35 Grand. So I am now looking at a form I downloaded and the nice lady told me to fill it out with all the information and they will send someone out to inspect my house. She didn't seem to KNOW if it was inspected, with the rest of the inspection, initially.

the form to complain is asking me for ONE MASTER LIST of complaints. I wouldn't even begin to know how to make a list, in list form, it says, of what to say except: "water coming in through my heating unit from above."

Thank you all so much. I am freaking out over this tarp thing. Is putting a tarp on my roof going to seal in all that good moldy wetness?

Any ideas of what should I put on the list? Or should I wait several weeks for the roofer? (BTW, I am a girl. )

Print the pictures that show the tabs that are not centered, the heater vent, the plumbing vent with the short tab to the left side, the roof vent with the shingles cut too high..
Write directly on the pictures. The vertical lines are what we call rain lines. They need to be offset from each other.. centered over the next shingle down. NOT lined up with each other.

The offset is critical, this gives the roof more opportunity to shed the water. If they are all lined up, erosion will cut away the lower shingles and will cause a leak.

The roof vent;

The shingles are cut too high to keep the water out. A breeze against the roof during a rain could push enough water up over the vent flange to leak.

The heater vent;

Well, that thing is just wrong.
See the sides at the bottom? The shingle rain lines should NEVER line up with the edge of the flange like that. Water can just flow in sideways there.

Water leaks follow 3 S's.. seep, soak and saturate. Then there are open flow situations. You probably have all of these going on. The small leaks can actually draw water uphill by seeping in through the small holes, the wood soaks up the water and it spreads, saturating everything it finds. When the wood is saturated and can't hold any more, it will cut loose and start dripping on whatever is below, all the while, mold and mildew is taking the place.

You pull up some of that roof and find mold, you have a lawsuit. That roof is evidence of gross negligence on the part of the manufacturer and the inspectors. Seriously, speak to a lawyer, this is your home and it CAN become an unhealthy situation, especially when you put a tarp on over water damage.

I sincerely hope you can get some help with this situation..

Anyone else have any observations?
Vik needs our help here.

That should be Very helpful, Tom. Will just print that out and include it in my complaint form if you don't mind? If you do, I'll change the text to my own. Actually, the pics print out just fine in black and white and I can write over them what you said. Whew. Thanks this is most helpful.

I just went up on the roof again and the thing is, except for at the very edges of the house, the rain lines are fairly centered. It appears that when they got to the area of the heating vent something went wrong, and wrong it stayed. Like I said, it looks like they didn't finish the row or something. I took more pictures of how messed up the vents are to write on for my complaint form.

To be very clear, none of the shingles are centered, many of them are 1/3 to 1/5 centered thoughout the rest of my roof. It seems like they are only messed up in this one leaking place, which is good, right?

More photos of my Solitaire home roof:

Here is a shot of just about all of the vents running across the 78 ft of roof.


It looks like the shingles are nicely tucked under the vent, and they are. I had to pull this one out, and I pulled it out easily.


BUT look what is happening. I don't know if they use glue or what but the vent itself appears to be becoming unglued from the roof of the house. It's blurry, I know, but I'm just touching it here, not lifting. There is about an inch of space between what should be on the roof and the roof itself.


I'm allowed four pics per post. This is a shot of another potential problem I see with what I am learning may be rain lines? Is this another problem area?
This is the crown of my roof.

Square Eye said:

Water leaks follow 3 S's.. seep, soak and saturate. Then there are open flow situations. You probably have all of these going on. The small leaks can actually draw water uphill by seeping in through the small holes, the wood soaks up the water and it spreads, saturating everything it finds. When the wood is saturated and can't hold any more, it will cut loose and start dripping on whatever is below, all the while, mold and mildew is taking the place.

You pull up some of that roof and find mold, you have a lawsuit. That roof is evidence of gross negligence on the part of the manufacturer and the inspectors. Seriously, speak to a lawyer, this is your home and it CAN become an unhealthy situation, especially when you put a tarp on over water damage.

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I already have mold in my second bathroom in the same area. Not in any area that has plumbing but at the crease where the wall meets the ceiling over the toilet so it's not related to plumbing. I sprayed about a six inch by four inch patch of black mold with a solution of clorox and water and it was so soggy there that the sprayed-on ceiling (you know those speckled-spackling stuff they put on ceilings) came right off and I could see a problem). That's last week when I took a pair of binoculars and thought I spotted a place where the shingles didn't finish all the way to the end on my roof. Ah, I put off borrowing my neighbor's ladder until yesterday when the water came in like a faucet. I think the water must have been building up all this time, somewhere inside my roof in with all the 30-rated insulation they claim on their website.

So, if I had mold where I could see it lord knows where else I have it where I can't see it. I've been wondering why I haven't been able to breathe through my nose all summer without nasal spray....

If the rest of the roof looks considerably better and isn't leaking, then yes, that is good. You may be able to just patch/repair the one area.
The pictures look like exactly what you said, they just lost their place somewhere and messed up royally.
The rain lines should really be exactly centered, but as long as they have 4" or so one way or the other, you'll probably be OK, it will just look bad.

Use whatever you can from me or whoever. Just please don't quote me as having looked at it personally. They can see the same pics I have seen. It would still be wise to have a pro to look at it and write up an estimate.
They could easily see problems that I can't see from here.

Good luck with it, I hope you get all of this resolved soon! Winter's coming!

There should be a vapor barrier between the ceiling and the insulation.
If the insulation is saturated, mold can get in it. I have taken a knife and poked through the ceiling in a house before and had water to run down my arm. If this is the case, you may have MUCH more damage than you can see.


Have you talked to your insurance company yet?
I don't know if they can help you or not, but they may see a claim there.
just a thought

Hello Vik:
Just a few extra words to solidify a court case, if it goes that far. I would contact the local chapter of The Home Builder's Association; they certify builders and remodelers in their specialties. They even have a Master Builder certificate and a Master Remodeler Certificate. Short of taking an architect to court with me for an expert witness, I think the Home Builder's Association would be the most effective.
Glenn

Square Eye said:

There should be a vapor barrier between the ceiling and the insulation.
If the insulation is saturated, mold can get in it. I have taken a knife and poked through the ceiling in a house before and had water to run down my arm. If this is the case, you may have MUCH more damage than you can see.


Have you talked to your insurance company yet?
I don't know if they can help you or not, but they may see a claim there.
just a thought

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I can't thank you enough. I feel like I really learned something today so that when I was talking to a friend I could at least do so halfway intelligently. I put up the tarp since it is possibly going to rain tonight. I have it rigged so I can open it up when it is not raining.

I will not use this website or anyone's name or username for my complaint, but I certainly did use your words, so thanks again.

I'm just thinking that it has been raining here all summer. Why all the sudden did water start pouring in so that it was coming out my heating system so that I could obviously see and hear it now. That's the only reason I suspect something must've been building up although it didn't smell funky or look dirty, it looked like clear water coming in.

And as soon as I can GET a qualified roofer to look at this I will. Until then I will go ahead and file the complaint because they will send someone out to inspect the roof. I also want to fix the one area where the shingle has been obviously damaged. I will poke around and see if maybe I should do that at least for now. I feel like this could take some serious time before it gets fixed, like at least a month and it's still raining here.

Edited to add: It IS raining tonight, again. It is like living in the tropics here this summer. All summer it's been like this! In El Paso...

glennjanie said:

Hello Vik:
Just a few extra words to solidify a court case, if it goes that far. I would contact the local chapter of The Home Builder's Association; they certify builders and remodelers in their specialties. They even have a Master Builder certificate and a Master Remodeler Certificate. Short of taking an architect to court with me for an expert witness, I think the Home Builder's Association would be the most effective.
Glenn

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Since this TX Dept of Housing is actually listed on my warranty I'm wondering if they aren't the governing body for mobile homes. But I will definitely check into this Home Builider's Association by calling them on Tuesday.

I really have to agree with the poster who said that the people who are building these homes are doing so indoors in nice clean environments and so, heck, they should be doing at least as well as the people working outside on steep inclines, etc. I can see now what happened, and they just messed something up near the heating vent and it didn't get fixed quite right on this home. They just should've taken some steps back and redid it. It would've been a major hassle, but my house wouldn't be leaking like mad right now after only one year of rain.

Thanks for the lead on the Home Builder's Association!

Here's a little update. I cannot even GET a roofer to come out to look at my roof. Every single one of them is booked. I think I have called every one of them. Mobile home people will not look at shingle roofs and many roofers don't want to be bothered with mobile homes, even when I do get someone on the phone. The lines are busy.

IF ANYONE NEEDS ROOFING WORK, COME TO EL PASO AND GET THE WORD OUT YOU ARE HERE. You'll have plenty of business, I would imagine.

I think the continual rain, plus the fact that FEMA is now giving away money for repairs due to the recent flooding and damage, even in my area is part of the problem.

I guess now I have to figure out how to keep warm and pray for the wind to stay low so the water doesn't blow in under my tarp.

Vik check your PM box I have sent you a message that may help your situation. Sorry to all for posting this in the forum but I am not sure if Vik is aware he has a PM box.

Sorry,

MTC