During last weeks heavy rains the metal roof on the older section of my house began to leak. There was water staining on the ceiling so I called my insurance company. The adjustor came out today and did an inspection. He said that it looked like some of the rubber washers around the screws heads had begun to deteriorate, allowing water to seep into the attic.

The adjustor told me my insurance would normally cover water damage but in my case the cost to repair was less than my deductible. That sounded reasonable.

He then went on to say that the screws that anchor the metal panels to the roof should be checked every couple of years. Sometimes the screws can back out a bit and will need retightening. If the rubber seals are not sound the screw heads should be silicone calked or the screws removed entirely and replaced. State Farm Insurance won’t cover that because they consider it normal maintenance.

I wish that the people who put on the roof had told me that in the beginning.

__________________
A gun has no brain.. use yours

Don't you wish that everyone had insurance that said your covered even if something happened?

When installing screws in a location where they could leak, it's wise to put a dab of Henry's on each screw. It will double the life of the screw and washer.

__________________
Freedom isn't free.

I had a metal roof installed and the insurance was cheaper but when I filed a claim years later it went up so much I could not afford it. I have not had a washer problem but the imported screws with rubber washers will crack. Imported rubber washers and plugs will crack in a year even if you don't use them. My supplier don't stock them any more because of the quality.

Some older metal roofs have to be coated with sealer periodically or replaced to stop leaks when you get heavy rain. The roof at my old hunting lease was always a problem until we sealed it. The nice looking roof made the rest look sort of shabby though.

__________________
Hue 68 noli me tangere

My dad was a contractor and I did more than my fair share of roofing in my teens. Dad was picky, which meant he also wasn't cheap.

As noted above, you really want to apply a good sealant on the screw - both under the gasket and over the screw head and gasket. You are basically tripling the protection by ensuring there is no gap between roof and screw, the gasket is sealed to the roof, and the screw and gasket are covered and protected from weathering. And as also noted above, the quality of the hardware matters.

The downside is that it takes a lot longer to install each screw, and that increases the cost for the contractor. So in essence, you need to be clear on what you expect up front in terms of proper installation, you need to inspect to make sure it got done right, and you need to make sure the contractor knows you will be inspecting the finished roof.

----

I can't help you much on the insurance issues. They all work hard to screw you if you ever make a claim. Be sure to read your policy carefully however, because while they may claim it's a maintenance issue, the policy may say differently and it's what is in writing that counts. Don't be afraid to hold their feet to the fire.

There are several types of metal roofs. You are talking about a screw with a EDM (rubber) washer. These should be installed through a rib, but this only helps when it rains. Snow melt can leak in, and the rubber can deteriorate. Other metal roofs, standing seam and overlap metal shingles are different. Some early metal roofs used inferior screw gasket material ( they still may). Coating the screws is a PITA. Some early roofs were ring shank nails with rubber washers, can't pull them. I would use a urethane caulk, not silicone. Or, if looks don't count, there is a fibrous coating used on RV's. You will need to coat the entire roof. Mainly this would be for cabins.

I was thinking of a lean-to style structure for the hunt camp using a metal roof. I may rethink that now...

Good luck with your situation.

__________________
Isaiah 41:10

Having been a contractor for 13 years or so I dealt with roofing matters all the time. Common perceptions about metal roofing seem to be that it is indestructible, permanent, hail-proof, and maintenance-free. None of those are accurate.

I always recommended metal roof owners have the roof inspected at least every second year, with particular attention to all penetrations (vents, chimneys, and fasteners). Here in southern Colorado (near-desert environment with 320-plus days of sunshine per year and wide swings in temperature) there are a number of issues that can become concerns:

1. Temperature changes (chilly nights, warm sunny days) cause all building materials to expand and contract frequently. Metal and wood expand and contract at different rates, transferring stresses that can cause fasteners to loosen, and creating gaps through which rain and snow melt can infiltrate.

2. Neoprene washers on mounting screws will deteriorate due to exposure to sunlight (ultraviolet) and heat, with resulting cracks and openings through which rain and snow melt can infiltrate.

3. Flashings at vents and penetrations can shift position, causing gaps through which rain and snow melt can infiltrate.

All of these issues can be dealt with by experienced installers, but such inspections and adjustments (screw/washer replacement, flashing adjustment and sealing, etc) require time and materials/supplies. In addition to about $20 per hour wage for an experienced hand the contractor will be paying FICA (employer contributions totaling 7.65%), unemployment insurance (typically about 4%), and workers compensation insurance (for roofers this runs about 35-40%). So a $20 per hour employee costs +/- about $28 to $30 per hour. Travel time to and from, vehicle expense, and other normal business costs add more. And we still haven't thought about contractor profit, licensing, liability insurance, office & staff expenses, etc. Working on a pitched metal roof is dangerous, always requiring body harnesses, safety lines, etc, with one worker attending to safety while another worker attends to the business at hand.

Invariably, when a customer owning a 3000 sq. ft. metal roof learned that it would take a two-man crew about a day-and-a-half to perform a proper inspection and tune-up (roughly 24 man-hours, plus supplies/materials, associated expenses, adding up to a raw cost of $1000 or so) and the contractor quotes $1250 to $1500 for the job, Mr. and Mrs. Customer decide to pass, since there is no immediate problem to justify spending a chunk of money.

When (not "if", but "when") leaks start, damage to drywall, insulation, carpets, home contents, the homeowner calls their insurance company. Mr. Inspector/Adjustor comes out, evaluates the problem as resulting from maintenance issues that could have been prevented by routine maintenance, then the yelling starts!

Homeowners insurance policies are not home maintenance contracts. Insurance only covers damage caused by specific types of incidents (such as fire, windstorm, hail, vandalism, theft, etc), it does not cover routine maintenance. Even when coverage is provided for interior damages there remains the policy deductible (not unusual for deductibles to be 2% or more of the value of the home, so a $150,000 house may have a deductible of $3000 or more). There may also be specified policy limits for certain types of property (cash, firearms, precious metals, antiques, collectibles, pairs-and-sets limitations, and others).

Of course, such claims stack up quickly after major storm activity. Your call to the insurance company may result in an adjustor showing up in a week or two. Then your calls to contractors might result in another week or two waiting for repair estimates. Finally, when you select a contractor it might be a couple of months before there is an opening to schedule the work (assuming repair materials are available; not always the case after heavy storms). During that interim there may be additional damages beyond what the adjustor found and settled the claim on; then you may find that such additional damages are not covered because they could have been prevented by immediate repairs!

Occasionally, the next step in the process is hiring a lawyer to sue the contractor who installed the roof and (of course) never bothered to explain to Mr. & Mrs. Homeowner that the shiny new metal roof was neither indestructible, permanent, hail-proof, or maintenance-free. Ever wonder why a contractor's warranty is multiple pages of legalese devoted to every conceivable limitation in application?

Feel free to guess why I no longer build houses and run a roofing company! Leather shops are comparatively peaceful and lawyer-free.

I just had my home roofed with a stone/epoxy covered metal roof. It went on similar to siding, locking and overlapping, then screwed which is the hidden by the next panel. Low slope roofs will always have a problem.

For centuries tiles or shingles have used an overlapping design to cover any fasteners. This prevents them from leaking even if they do get a little less tight over time. Why don't they use this concept on metal roofs?

When I lived in Holland my house had the original slate roof. It was 300 years old. My land lord was replacing the ceiling so, I could see the underside of the roof for a period and I could actually see daylight through the shingles. It rains a lot in Holland and I never saw a single drip come through that roof.

Overlapping seems to have been a good idea.

__________________
Freedom isn't free.

This thread is liable to save some people a lot of grief and expense.

This maintenance info is good to know. I have a metal roof on my shop and one on my cabin at the lake.

I know you can also do a heavy coat of Snowroof to help seal small leaks. It goes on like paint - because that is what it is, very thick latex paint. They call it an "elastomeric" (rubbery) coating. Seems to work pretty well.

Never knew these things about metal roofs.
Sometimes one covets things, that if more were known about said object, the coveting would cease to exist.

Thanks for the education!!

I had several people tell me that if you have a shingle roof on that you need to pull it up and only use felt paper under the metal roof because it swets and will mold. Won't the same thing happen to the felt paper?


Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

When we built the log cabin and lean to for the Primitive Camp at my gun club, we decided to use metal roofing even though they aren't quite primitive. Since this was new construction and the roof was being screwed down to wood boards, we still decided to cover the entire roof surface with ice and water shield first. The nice thing about ice and water shield is that unlike tar paper or felt paper, it is like tar and will adhere around the shank of the fasteners once they are installed.

The screws that we used did have a hex head and a neoprene washer but the instructions were very clear that you did not want to install the screws too tight or too loose. Either extreme could produce a leak.

So far all is good however I wonder what affect pine sap from the pines above will have on the rubber washers?????

Attached Images

	037.jpg (184.1 KB, 78 views)
	028.jpg (188.1 KB, 82 views)

__________________
James Redfield
LM #497

From what I remember Hiawatha used pine pitch to seal his canoe so that shouldn't be a problem on your roof!

My pal just got a metal roof delivered for his small one-story barn/stable with a simple single sloped roof. Surprisingly compact package of steel, 3' wide, cut to length. The Amish crew is coming to put it on.

Could hopefully be self-sealing!

I have a long story about a metal roof screw replacement program I supervised over 20 years ago on a very large beachfront condo development near Port Aransas which I can sum up quickly - It ain't cheap.

Anyway, I have a standing seam roof on part of my house over the garage. I had it installed abut 3 years ago. Two years ago we had a heavy hailstorm with very large hail. I had my entire (new) shingle roof replaced, except for the standing seam portion. It was visibly dented, but not too noticeable except up close. And I found to my surprise that my insurance policy does not cover any damage associated with metal roofs. You might check yours for that.

Metal roofs are available that have concealed fasteners and mechanically sealed (A mechanical devise that is rolled down the entire length of each seam) overlapping seams. the seams are available with sealant inside from the factory.
This is the type of roof you want on your house.
Exposed fastener roofing is for sheds/utility bldgs and other non critical apps

I put on the standing seam metal roof mainly because the pitch was too shallow for a 3-tab shingle roof. It leaked. The standing seam roof works fine, without leaks so far. Not cheap but something else I won't ever need to worry about, and it will probably outlast the house.

Good timing for this thread and thank you Lobo for the maintenance tips.

I just recently spent the equivalent of buying a new Corvette for my metal roof. I don't want to have to deal with it again but the preventative maintenance makes sense. Best, TH

__________________
Rather be outdoors