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A Guide To Metal Roof Repair

Friday, January 30th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

There are many metals such as stainless steel, steel, copper, aluminium, and zinc alloys that are used as roofing materials. Each material has its own advantages and disadvantages and offers properties that affect its durability and appearance.

Steel is most commonly used material for metal roofing as it is sturdier and heavier as compared to other metals such as aluminium. Various coatings are available to protect steel from corrosion and rust. Usually, zinc is used for coating to provide sealing and corrosion protection. Stainless steel roofing is quite expensive but at the same time, is quite durable. Aluminium is very lightweight and is quite commonly used in metal roofing for residential houses. It does not rust but needs coating or painted to look attractive. Copper also does not rust but is also quite expensive.

Metal Roof Repair

Metal roofs are usually quite durable but they need repairs occasionally. As general maintenance, you should pull out the loose nails and re-nail them, seal up the leaks and take care of any signs of deterioration as preventive measures.

Some of the common issues that call for metal roof repair are metal rust, flashings and seam leaks. Corrosion or rusting occurs when the galvanization of the roof wears out exposing the bare metal underneath. Most of the leaks in metal roofing are caused due to bad flashing design along the penetrations.

Before you start metal roof repair, few things that you need are roofing cement, pliers, wire brushes, all-purpose cleaners, sandpapers, tin snips, solder and soldering guns/irons.

To start metal roof repair, identify the metal of the roof and get the piece of same metal so that patch can be made. You need an all-purpose cleaner to clean the damaged area and then allow it to dry. Clean all the debris using a wire brush. Measure the damaged area and then cut the patch at least 2 inches bigger than that. To cut the corner, use tin snips. Edges must be folded carefully and then use the sandpaper till these folds are shinier than rest of the patch. Put this patch on the surface being repaired and put a brick or cinder block to weight it down.

For metal roof repair to work well and be effective, solder the entire patch carefully with the help of a soldering iron. Make sure there are no open spaces left and then cover the roof area with the roofing cement. Put the patch over the area being repaired and then apply one more coat of roofing cement.

If you are dealing with mobile home roof repair, it does not cost much and is not time consuming. Small leaks can be fixed with the help of roof coating but if the holes and rustic spots are big, you can use the same material patch to cover it up. However, if there are many holes especially the big ones, it is advisable to replace the entire roof.

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