Roof Repair recommendation

[vader1701]

My son owns a 1984 Nashau home and the roof will need cool sealed this summer. What is recommended before you cool seal particularly the roof edge that meets the siding.

Any advise will be helpful

Thank You
Bob

[Greg]

Bob, the major key it make sure it is clean. There are really no tricks, just follow the directions on the can. as for the edges you may want to put an extra coat or two, and use caution not to slop it on the siding.

You can look for other posts on this subject also. I am sure that JD our roof expert will add to this. Greg

[JD]

As Greg said, clean is very important. Also, I would remove any coatings that is cracked, loose or lifted up showing a gap or crack on the bottom. I would only coat over coatings that are well adhered and in very good condition.

Removing the old sealants is difficult work. I use a 9" grinder with a braided wire cup brush. I really can't imagine cleaning and entire roof edge without one. There is an alternative to removing slight to moderately cracked coatings. Many roof coatings companies make a trowelable caulk that can be used to fill cracks to smooth them out. They can then be covered with the polyester roof tape and coatings. Filling the cracks and using the tape is important to keep the old cracks from continuing to crack and tearing the new coatings. I use my grinder and not this method, but that is what the caulk is made for and how the instructions describe how to use it.

I primarily use Ames Research Products. Below are links to the caulk, tape, undercoat and tops coat.

Blue Max Trowelable Caulk
http://www.amesresearch.com/bluemax.htm

Seam Tape, Peel N Stick and non-adhesive light weight
http://www.amesresearch.com/seamtape.htm

Elasto-Barrier undercoat
http://www.amesresearch.com/roof_coatings.htm#seb

Maximum Stretch top coat
http://www.amesresearch.com/roof_coatings.htm#mx

There are several similar products at the Ames Research web site. I use and recommend the products above.

JMO
JD

[JD]

I would also like to add that I use both Peel N Stick and the plain non-adhesive seam tape. The non adhesive is used in conjunction with Elastobarier or Maximum Stretch to make it stick. It is great for ridge caps, roof edges, seams and straight runs on vents. The Peel N Stick is a different fabric with crazy pliable stretch ability, good for curves like around the base of vents and such. It is like 4 times as expensive, so I use the non-adhesive tape when possible. For a DIY doing a single roof, the Peel N Stick may be the best way to go. It is easier to work with and would only add another $100 - $150 in cost.

JD

[AaronT]

JD, I have looked at the Ames products online and they look excellant, but I can get the KST Snow Roof & Elastoseal for about $50 less per 5 gal. & not have to pay shipping also. Have you tried these products and are they similar quality? The Ames wesite is much better & their products seem somewhat better but I am on a fixed income & don't want to pay for more than I really need. Any input would be appreciated.

AaronT

[JD]

Hi Aaron,

I have sealed mobile home roofs for over 20 years and have tried a lot of products over the years. In the beginning, I was an employee just doing what I was told. We used Snow Roof and other acrylic latex products like Snow Seal (also an Ames product), Henry's and other locally available products. I was never impressed with how long the product would last in the Fresno sun. It does work, and many people use it. After researching what is available, I used Liquid Rubber and EPDM rubber product, which may be the best there is, but the cost was very prohibitive. Also it is a two-part product requiring mixing in the catalyst just before using, which left a margin of human error. I then used Conklin Products for a long time, but also ran into a similar cost factor. I settled on Ames Maximum Stretch as my premium top coat because I felt it performed as well as the other more expensive products. I do see a big difference in application and lifetime of the product between the Ames Products and the less expensive locally available products.

Basically, the less expensive products are acrylic products with an approx 300% elongation factor. The better products will contain rubber in the formula. Ames Maximum Stretch has a 700% elongation factor. Ask them for a sample and stretch the heck out of it, you will see what I mean. I am also very impressed with the Elasto-Barrier base coat product. It can be used as a top coat, but Max Stretch has much better UV protection. But Elasto-Barrier is formulated to be excellent in water ponding situations. This is a big deal on metal roofs, because I have seen white products flake and crack prematurely when left in standing water. Ames recommends Elasto-Barrier to seal concrete ponds and water features. Then when Ames has other excellent products that out perform most other products, they make an excellent one-stop shop for me. Their Peel-N-Stick tape is excellent! You can mold strips of it around the base of round vents to where it almost looks painted on. Try that with the KST seam tape and you get nothing but voids and wrinkles. The Blue Max trowelable caulk is very similar to the Conklin's product which is more expensive. Conklin products are excellent, but I think the multi-level marketing program increases the retail and wholesale prices. They also have this same pliable seam tape.

So there it is, that is my personal experience and opinion of elastomeric roof products. That being said, Snow Roof is a good product, but I think you get what you pay for for the most part. There is so much labor involved in a proper roof service, that I will not skimp on the materials I use. The added cost is actually minimal to the price us contractors charge for a complete job. This same thinking applies to DIY too. With that much work involved, wouldn't it be nice to get more years between roof services?

I will have to stress that the main factor in the lifetime of your roof service is in the application, more so than the product. Prep is everything. I mechanically buff and solvent wash key areas before applying sealants. I also pressure wash the roof before I do anything to keep dirt from contaminating my work areas and to get a better look at what I am dealing with. So Snow Roof done properly will outlast the more expensive products done poorly.

I hope this helps.

JD