Bus Roof Repairs

I've been desperately waiting for a good weekend, and last weekend we had a lovely sunny forecast.  Sadly I lost Saturday to the Bake Off, but it made me even more determined to make good with Sunday.

The lovely chaps at the MET Office were informing me of a chance of rain, so I didn't really fancy the idea of getting the welder out.  With my schedule slipping I decided to look ahead to see what I might be able to do, and decided to start prepping the new roof for the roof swap.

I've wanted to get to attending to the roof for a long time.  The whole reason for acquiring the roof was due to how poor the gutters are on the existing roof.  There was surface rust on the new roof, and the last thing I wanted was for the gutters to start rotting away on the replacement. 

 

And so my plan for Sunday was to get the gutters cleaned up, treated and POR15'd.  This will leave a waterproof coating that I can lay primer and paint over when the time arrives.

First up I gave the roof a rinse off, and then cracked out the grinder, drill and sandpaper.  Shortly afterwards the rain came and I was forced inside, my tail between my legs with me now wondering if I had been a little over optimistic.

Thankfully it turned out to be just a shower, and although the sky was somewhat overcast I was able to carry on.  It was clear there were some areas that needed more than a tickle with a wire brush though.

 

However the hammers and chisels soon had everthing back into place.

 

It took flippin' ages to clean it all back, and I was more than a little annoyed to find the rear O/S corner is going to need some time being taught a lesson from Mr Mig.
 

I immediately treated the gutters with POR15 metal prep - this would kill any rust I might not have been able to get out, and also leave the perfect surface for the POR15 to adhere to.  Whilst I left that to work its magic I did have a quick play with the welder.  I managed to plug a couple of small holes, but that corner section is just too thin and needs replacing properly.  B*gger.

This is how the roof was looking all treated.

I decided I would have to leave the roof as it was with holes exposed as time was ticking and I needed to get the gutters POR15'd and give it some time to dry.  By now its about 4 o clock, so I really was getting tight for time.  All was good though, and this is how it now looks.

 

 

 

Im very pleased to have the gutters protected, but mighty frustrated to still have to do metal repairs.  Thankfully it all dried in time, and its been exposed to the air to harden properly over the past few days.  With some rain now forecast im going to shrinkwrap the back end of the roof to keep the rain out, and just let it run off into the gutters happy in the knowledge the can now do their job without Gods tears causing further chemical reaction.