An unpleasant discovery on the roof

A year or two ago there was an unpleasant incident when a vandal made their way onto the hood of the bus. It seems they also made it to the roof as the roof vent has clearly been stamped on. No wonder there's a leak! Fortunately I have a new roof vent.

Today I set to, wire brushing the sides of the roof of the bus and the gutters. The elastometric paint just flew off in great big sheets for the most part. In some places the wire brush couldn't shift it. After a while though it was time to retire the much used Harbor Freight wire brush.

It had a good life and was used on both sides of the bus, the back wall and the hood. The new one should easily be capable of completing the roof and the front parts of the bus.

So, after scraping one side with the brush, during which it was discovered that rust had formed beneath the silicone caulk that had been applied 6 years ago in order to stop leaks. Maybe that's why there's still a bit of dampness inside?  Pulling off the loose silicone caulk, the rust was treated and then when the rust-killing spray had dried, the whole side of the roof and gutter that had just been brushed with the wire brush was brushed free of debris. Having done that, the whole area was wiped down with a rag soaked in mineral spirits.  Finally some fairly well thinned white primer was painted on using a roller.

Having done the one side, it was time for a repeat performance on the other side. That went fine until it was time to put on the primer. There was insufficient white primer to complete the operation. Thus a trip to the store was needed.

Well, at the store the white primer shelf was vacant. It seems there has been a massive run on primer. In the end I got some brown primer. It'll do the same job and even works on rusty metal though it'll probably mean I need more than one coat of topcoat. Thus I got a second can of white topcoat. As daylight was rapidly receding I also picked up a big spray can of primer.

The sum of today was that I did get time to spray the new primer onto the unprimed area of the roof but did not have time to put any topcoat. Tomorrow is going to be topcoat day. With any luck the topcoat should dry fairly swiftly, allowing me to climb onto the roof and treat the areas that still need to be treated with the wire brush, ordinary brush, thinner, primer and paint. Meanwhile it is imperative that more caulk be applied in order to keep the forecast rain next week out. If I can get all that done then I shall be ahead of schedule.

While I am up on the roof, I'll see about taping over the damaged vent in the hope of stopping more water ingress. Maybe the summer heat will dry the bus out a bit more. Replacing the vent will happen but not this weekend - perhaps next. 

One of the things to be achieved on the back end of the roof will be to make sure the paint on the back end of the roof is very stable. That way if I want to I can tape a flexible solar panel down. A single 10W panel generating power at 10W most of the day should provide ample power on its own.