Owning a home or commercial building with 5V metal roofing is a common occurrence in Southwest Florida. Metal Roofing is not without periodic maintenance. After about 10 years in the Southwest Florida sun, the metal roofing panels will need to be gone over. The expansion and contraction over time causes the system to loosen up. The screws or fasteners will have backed out or even become loose. We can go in and touch every screw. If it tightens, we pass. If it does not tighten, we install a new oversized screw in its place. We can also add a dab of sealant to any suspect screws.

The photos show a painted 5V metal roof system. The color is Forest Green, which is the darker green. The roof is approximately 17 years old, at this time. We were cleaning out the gutters and alerted the customer about the loose screws. Loose screws in a 5V metal roofing system can cause roof leaks, if left alone long enough. We went over this entire roof in less than a days time and now it is good to go for another couple of years.

This process should be performed periodically and can be done without physically seeing screws that have backed out. This is one of the benefits of having Sunshine Roofing clean the gutters, as it gets eyes on the roof to see things that need to be done. This periodic maintenance could be the difference between a 15 year roof and a 30 year roof.

The wind resistance of a metal roof is severly diminished when the screws are loose. Once the wind penetrates one area, the whole system becomes vulnerable. General periodic maintenance will reduce the chance of any wind uplift issues.

Another item that needs to be checked is the plumbing stack boots. We got away from using lead boots on metal roofs, due to the corrosion that would happen on dissimilar metals. Now we use plastic and neoprene boots. The plastic boots will only last so long and will start to deteriorate. If it is caught early, caulking can be applied to seal the pipe. Once it goes so far, replacement is the only option. Most of the time, a roof leak is how a crack in the plastic metal roofing boot is discovered.

The neoprene metal roofing boot is installed on top of the panels, instead of creating a seam. There are seals underneath that work together with sealant and screwed directly to the metal panels. Then there is a tight fit around the pipe with the neoprene itself. These boots get loose over time and have been known to split.

This photo shows an example on a standing seam metal roofing system, but is installed in much the same way on 5V metal roofing.

Again, the metal roofing boots are an item of concern when maintaining your metal roofing system.

Cleaning the gutters, maintaining the fasteners, and checking all penetrations will keep your metal roofing system in great shape. Let Sunshine Roofing of SW FL, Inc. handle this task. We have many regular customers we take care of on a regular basis.

Often times we will get the reaction of surprise when we quote a roof coating job. This is a result of the popular mind set of “Don’t you just roll the roof coating on? I can do that for a lot less than this!”. Well, yes! After we clean it, clean it, clean it, repair areas that are suspect. Then apply a bed coat, sometimes with fabric. Then come back and clean it again, to apply another coat. Then possibly come back for a 3rd trip to coat again. Each time, of course, with some prep work. We also use premium products. Which means that we will do our very best to follow manufacturer recommendations.

The main roof coating system that we do is a system where we embed polyester fabric on all the seams of the existing roof covering into the coating. This is called a roof restoration. It is called this because we are taking an existing roof (preferably in good condition) and restoring it with a coating and also reinforcing the seams of the existing roof covering. The photo to the left is of a roof we “repaired”. You can see the roof coating is only in specific areas. There is a reason behind it.

Roof Coatings Need to Be Looked After

The following video highlights a roof coating “repair” we did on a roof that we had previously coated one year earlier. We were expecting that the coating we applied would take on some ponding water. We followed the manufacturer recommendations regarding the roof coating restoration system, but somehow we still fell a little short. We had provided some periodic maintenance to some other coating jobs we had done before this one and found the areas where there was ponding water had deteriorated. Since we were using a premium system, we really didn’t like what we saw. So, of course, we fixed it. We applied the same process that you will see in the video to the places the roof coating really needed it. So when we then went to this job to clean off the leaves and debris and check that the scuppers were clear, we discovered that the same thing was happening to this roof coating as well. So I contacted the owner and explained that I wanted to make sure and repair the roof coating now, before we had any breakdown in the material similar to what we experienced in the other jobs. We did not charge any extra for this, as it was not the owners fault. We just needed to chalk this one up to experience. That is what you get when you hire Sunshine Roofing of SW FL, a little more.

Primary and Overflow Roof Drains

Roof drains on flat roofs should be inspected periodically by anyone capable of getting onto the roof. The inspections should be scheduled so that they coincide with the rainy season of the area. Checking them before rainy season is best, so they will perform as designed. This is important because, if they get clogged up, could cause major damage. Even with a screen or basket on the drain itself, debris can clog up the flow of drainage. Granules can get past the basket and actually clog up the pipe itself. Debris from trees can get around the basket and clog up the flow into the pipe. There are several different kinds of roof drainage that is used in different situations.

The time when the inspections will come into play is when a storm comes and dumps 8 inches of water in several hours. That is when the “performance” of your roof system and roof drainage system shows. 

Just making sure there are drain baskets on them is a good idea. Many drain baskets are plastic and deteriorate over time, and just blow away. Now larger items can get down there and block it up.

Primary Roof Drain

The primary roof drain is the drain that takes all or most of the water off of the roof deck all the time. Usually the design is for this drain to be at the lowest point of the roof. As a roof and structure ages, this may not always be the case. Also, when water penetrates the roof system, the saturated insulation can depress and make ponds around the roof drain. This is when the roof leaks start. Currently on new roofing with tapered insulation, we will design a “sump” area, which is a step down from the surrounding roof area. This way the water is channeled into the sump no matter what.

Secondary or Overflow Roof Drain

The secondary or overflow roof drain is a protective measure if the primary drain gets clogged. It is a good idea to check the secondary drains as well during inspection. Since they do not get flushed as much as the primary drains, they get clogged easier with small debris that gets past the drain basket.

Scuppers

Scuppers on a roof can serve as primary drainage or secondary drainage. Typically, if a scupper is used, it will be in conjunction with a downspout. This is not always the case, but is much of the time.

Downspouts

Downspouts are known for draining water out of gutters, but are also used in conjunction with scuppers to drain water. Downspouts are an important part of a drainage system as they direct where all this water is going once it hits the ground, or is directed into another drainage device. You can create a downspout to direct all the roof water to go onto the side yard or the back, instead of right beside the home.