- Today on Metal Roofing 101, we talk about seven common
problems of a metal roof. (upbeat rock music) Welcome to the Metal Roofing Channel. This is Metal Roofing 101. I'm Thad Barnette with Sheffield Metals. I've got Dave Stubbs with me. Today, we're talking about
seven common problems of a metal roof, how to avoid them, how to fix them, and what they are. So, Dave, first, we're gonna
talk about oil canning. What is oil canning? How does it affect a roof? - Well, oil canning is
obviously in these areas that kind of define and shadow out. You can really see the
waves in the material. You can see the waves of the roof, and I'm only saying
that because it could be the material itself, it
could be the roof condition that depicts that oil canning, so there's a lot of different scenarios that build its case
for oil canning itself. - [Thad] Is oil canning
completely aesthetic, or is it gonna damage your roof somehow? - [Dave] It's completely aesthetic. The roof is still gonna perform. There's no degradation in the material, so the roof is still of high standard. - So, Dave, is there any
way to avoid oil canning or eliminate that possibility? - Well, there are some
processes that can mitigate some of the oil canning that you see, striations in the panels,
pencil ribs, clip relief, and those are all instrumental
in the field of the panel, like you say, to mitigate
some of the oil canning. Most of our manufacturers are actually executing a waiver form that if you really do
want a flat in the panel, you sign a waver form
and you can have that, but we really, really
ask that the customer use a striation or pencil rib in the panel just to sort of mitigate the condition. - Right, and that's in the
flat part of the panel. Why does that make a difference when it comes to oil canning? - It really just relieves the eye and puts a little bit of
stress in the base of the panel or the flat of the
panel to sort of migrate the oil canning to the ribs, and visually, you can barely see the oil canning. - Right. So, if you wanna learn
more about oil canning, Dave was on a Q&A episode,
along with Tom Sutherland, and you can check that out, so the next topic we're
gonna talk about is leaking. Dave, how does a roof leak? Why does a roof leak? - Well, several conditions can happen that cause your roof leaking. It could be a bad installation. It could be a major weather event. You know, sometimes you
get some rain storms and your roof or your
condition is just overwhelmed with the amount of water. - What are some common
problems that happen with an install that can lead to leaking? - The most common one I
see is unfinished business, whether they just have not
finished the counter flashing, one area got forgot, or the installer didn't quite get there, or maybe their day ended
and they didn't finish up. The other one is, on
a face fastened panel, the screws themselves. These are really common, and the biggest problem with this one is the neoprene washer is
unprotected from UV, so it will deteriorate very fast. Same way with this one. This side's gonna be
protected from the UV, and this is gonna be
exposed and deteriorate. - So you might have a roof installed and be okay for a little while, but then, eventually, you're
gonna start seeing leaks where these fasteners are, you know, under-driven or off-center. - Absolutely, yeah. I mean, your underlayment
is always your last hope that water doesn't
infiltrate your structure or your home or your business. We want this to be properly installed from the very beginning. - So, the third common problem
that we're gonna talk about is scratching and scuffing. How does this happen and how
does it affect your roof? - Well, scratching and scuffing can be caused by the installer. They obviously, for the most part, have to step and get onto the roof to finish out the flashing. Traffic is a huge portion of it, so if you can limit the traffic, the less scratches that
can possibly happen. Also, tools. You know, when the guys
are trying to install, they're probably trying
to be very careful, but inevitably, gravity does take effect and tools will drop and
possibly scuff the roof. - So, if you notice that
your roof is scratched or you see scuffing, what
are some ways to remedy that? How do you fix it? - Well, I definitely recommend getting a manufacturer paint pen,
definitely from the manufacturer, to try and fill these areas in with
the paint pen themselves. If you don't remedy it with the paint pen, it can lead to corrosion and
degradation of your material. - So, there are a few different things that can cause your roof to corrode. What are those things? - Well, improper cutting,
using the wrong tools, any sort of an abrasive blade will definitely cause corrosion. The handling of the material, if it gets gouged, scratched. As we spoke before, any time we scratch, we definitely wanna in
fill with the proper paint from the paint manufacturer. The other part is different
environmental conditions, and especially, I seriously recommend a preventative maintenance schedule. Like we say, once or twice
a year, check out your roof. See what's going on up there. I mean, you've made the investment on an expensive metal roof. You should maintain it and make sure that it's in good shape four seasons a year. - So, let's look at a
couple other examples of metal roof corrosion, and
this is galvanized steel, so what are we looking at here? - Well, this originally was a scratch, and this is a galvanized
material substrate, and what has happened here is we have corrosion that's
spreading throughout this scratch versus a Galvalume substrate that will do a whole lot less of the spreading. - So, let's look at a
Galvalume substrate now. This is steel, and it's Galvalume, so what are we looking at here? - Similar scratch. Similar scratch condition, but what happens is the corrosion starts and then it subsides. It doesn't keep spreading like it would on a galvanized substrate, and that's really the
advantage to Galvalume. - Yeah. So, if I notice corrosion on my roof, what's my first step? How do I fix it? How do I remedy this? - Well, identify it, and then get with the metal manufacturer. Don't delay that process. They'll definitely lead
you in the right direction, come up with a remedy and
potentially save your roof from some sort of catastrophe. I mean, the roof can completely fail. - So, this is kind of an
interesting topic here. Number five on our common
problems is dissimilar materials. What does that mean and how
does it affect metal roofing? - Dissimilar materials, wide range. Steel doesn't like a lot
of different materials, for instance, copper, aluminum is considered a dissimilar metal, some stainless steels is
considered dissimilar metals, so you're opening a window to a huge range of dissimilar materials. - And what we're talking here is, when those materials come into contact with the dissimilar material, that can potentially lead to
corrosion or other problems with the material, right? - Well, here's the caveat to that: they don't have to be in contact. They can just be sort of
the environmental condition. - [Thad] Okay. - We've got some great
examples of that coming up. So, for this example, we actually have a pre-finished metal roof, but
it has copper gutters in it, so what was suggested is
the problem here is that the copper gutters, water gets in there, and the splash is actually
creating corrosion throughout this entire lineal design, and that material is failing. Water splash, run off from a copper pipe, all those things can lead into
dissimilar metal corrosion. - So, here's a closer shot
of the copper gutter here, but what are we seeing here? - Well, you're seeing
dissimilar metal corrosion throughout this entire line
of pre-finished material. You can actually see where
it's completely gone. It's just dissolved. - The next problem that we see happen with metal roofs sometimes
is chalking and fading. What does that mean? - As you can see in this visual condition, it's degradation of your paint. It'll chalk and fade, and this condition can be
measured scientifically by the paint manufacturer
to either warrant it or assess where the
warranty stops and finishes, once again, via your paint manufacturer and the metal manufacturer as well. So, this is a prime example
of chalking and/or fading. So, this is a newer roof than the further back condition here, so you can see there is
the potential for fading. - And we have a Q&A episode
about chalking and fading with Rob Haddock about this topic. We talked for 30 minutes
or something like that about how chalking and fading is measured, what causes it, what are
warranty claims like, how does your paint manufacturer and your metal manufacturer
deal with these issues and I think we saved the best for last, installation error, number seven. Tell me a little bit about this. What happens with installation error and how can if affect your roof? - Well, this is the biggest
problem that I, of course, run into as a technical rep, installation. It's the thing that we
can't necessarily control. We can teach. I can instruct. I can spend a lot of
energy on all those things, but when you get a bad install, and I think it's fairly obvious, but we have a valley condition that the edge of the panel is wide open. We have some flashings that
are not installed properly. You spend a lot of money on a metal roof, and you get a bad install, and it's one of those
things where it's too bad, but you can try to protect yourself with recommended installers, properly trained people, properly trained by the
manufacturer as far as the install. This is the part that I really enjoy, is to instruct people on how to install, and it really educates
the entire industry. - So, if I have a metal roof on my house, how do I know if it's a
good or a bad install, and what do I do if I
notice it's a bad install? - Well, I think we need
to take a step back and you need to, if you're gonna make that big investment of a metal roof, you definitely wanna do
your research beforehand. You want to take a look
at the installers' details that they're gonna be installing versus what the manufacturer recommended. Make sure that those things
marry up, and identify the things that don't
necessarily look the same. So, if it is after the install, you definitely wanna work it out with the roofing contractor. I think if you can get resolve there, that's the better way to go. - Yeah. - If you can't get resolve, potentially, a roof consultant can be called in, and hopefully, you can get
resolve from that direction. - So, these are seven common
problems of a metal roof, but there are many other problems that could potentially affect your roof, and some problems lead
into other problems, so if you wanna learn more and you're looking to buy a metal roof or you have a metal roof on
your house or building already, check out our free ebook. It's called the Metal
Roofing Buyer's Guide From Deck to Finish. It's 120 pages of information. We go into great detail
about all these topics, plus we have some videos on
The Metal Roofing Channel here, so definitely subscribe and
you can check all of those out, again, covering these topics. Any questions, you can
comment below this video. Thanks to Dave for hopping
on the episode today, and anything else, visit
SheffieldMetals.com, and we'll catch you next time. (upbeat rock music)
