A finish the sun has chalked out
The coating on a metal roof is a consumable. When it powders off in your hand, the metal underneath has lost its protection and its reflectivity, even though the panel itself is fine.
Metal Roof Coating and Restoration
A sound metal roof that looks tired does not need replacing. Cleaning, rust treatment and a reflective coating can buy it years. A failing one needs replacing, and we will tell you which you have.
Metal roofing specialistsOne trade, done properly
Tucson and Pima CountyValley floor to the foothills
Free on site assessmentWe get on the roof
Written estimatesScope and exclusions on paper
01Support service
Coating is the most oversold service in roofing, so let us start with when it is the wrong answer.
A coating is a liquid applied membrane. It renews the surface, it seals small imperfections and it puts reflectivity back onto a roof that has lost it. What it does not do is fix a roof whose fastener holes have elongated, whose panels have corroded through, or whose flashing details have failed. Coating over those problems hides them, and the water carries on doing exactly what it was doing before, only now nobody can see where.
Here is when it is the right answer. You have a metal roof that is structurally sound. The panels are solid. The fasteners are holding. But twenty years of Tucson sun has chalked the finish to a dull powder, the colour has gone, there is surface rust starting at the cut edges, and the roof no longer reflects anything like the heat it did when it was new. That roof does not need replacing. It needs cleaning, treating and coating, and doing that will meaningfully extend its life for a fraction of a replacement.
The reflectivity part matters more here than it does almost anywhere. A roof surface that has chalked and darkened is absorbing heat it used to reject, and in a city where the cooling season runs most of the year, that is not a cosmetic issue.
We coat metal roofs only. We do not coat foam, built up or tile roofs, and we will not quote on one.
02What this solves
What this solves
Surface rust that has not gone through
Cut edges, fastener heads and scratches are where rust starts here. Caught while it is still surface deep, it gets treated and sealed. Left long enough, it becomes a panel replacement.
A roof that has stopped reflecting
A dull, dark, dust filmed roof absorbs heat a clean reflective one rejects. On a Tucson house with a long cooling season, restoring that surface has a point beyond appearance.
03The first visit
What the first visit covers
We establish whether the roof is a candidate at all.
Sound panels, holding fasteners, intact details. If it fails that test, coating is the wrong purchase and we will say so.
We check the fastener line and the details first.
Coating goes on after repairs, never instead of them. Any fastener or flashing work needed gets identified and priced separately.
We assess the existing surface.
What is already on the roof determines what will bond to it. An unknown previous coating changes the preparation and sometimes rules the job out.
You get a written estimate.
Preparation method, any repairs required first, the coating system, the number of coats and what is excluded. On paper.
04Our process
How a restoration runs
Assessment and honest verdict.
Is this roof worth restoring. If the answer is no, you get that answer and an estimate for what it actually needs instead.
Repairs first.
Fasteners replaced, seams reworked, flashings reformed, rusted sections cut out and replaced. Every one of those has to be right before anything is coated over it.
Cleaning and preparation.
The roof gets washed down and the chalk, dust and loose material removed, because nothing bonds to a powdered surface. Rust gets treated. This step is most of the work and it is the step that gets skipped by people quoting cheap.
Priming and detail work.
Seams, fastener heads, laps and penetrations get treated individually, usually with reinforcement at the joints, before any broad coat goes on. The details are where a coating fails first.
Coating application.
The system applied at the specified thickness, in the number of coats it calls for. Applied too thin, a coating fails early and it is not visible that it has been until it does.
Walkthrough and honest expectations.
We tell you what this bought you. A restoration is a defined extension of life, not a new roof, and you should hear that from us plainly.
05Why us
Why us for a restoration
We will tell you not to coat it
The failure mode of this service is selling it to somebody whose roof needs replacing. We would rather lose the job than take money for a coating that will not hold.
Preparation is where we spend the time
Cleaning, rust treatment and detail reinforcement are the job. The broad coat is the easy part and it is the part everybody photographs.
Metal only
We do not coat foam, built up or tile roofs. That means we have no incentive to talk you into a coating because it is what we happened to be selling that week.
Next step
Find out if your roof is worth restoring
We will get on it, check the panels, the fasteners and the details, and tell you honestly whether a coating is money well spent.
06Proof
See it for yourself
We would rather show you a roof than a quote from somebody you have never met. Ask us for an address in your area and go and look at it.
Ask for an address near you- A finished roof near you. Stand on the pavement and look at the seam lines, the eave detail and how the flashing meets the wall.
- Photographs from your own roof, taken during the assessment. Yours to keep whether or not you buy anything from us.
- A written scope that names the panel system, the underlayment, the flashings and the exclusions, so you can hold it against anyone else line for line.
07Questions
Coating and restoration questions
How much does it cost to coat a metal roof?
It is driven by area, how much preparation the surface needs, how much repair work has to happen first, and which coating system is specified. The preparation is usually the variable that moves the price most, because a heavily chalked and rusted roof takes far longer to get ready than a merely faded one. We put a written number on your roof.
Does coating a metal roof stop leaks?
It can seal very small surface imperfections, but it is not a leak repair and treating it as one is how people waste money. If the roof is leaking, the leak gets found and fixed first, then the roof gets coated. A coating applied over an active leak traps water under the membrane and makes the eventual diagnosis harder.
How long does a metal roof coating last?
It depends heavily on the system, the film thickness applied and the exposure, and Tucson exposure is at the harsh end of the scale. It is a period of years rather than decades, and it is a renewable surface, meaning it is intended to be recoated again later. We will tell you what the specified system is rated for and we are not going to inflate it.
Will a reflective coating lower my cooling costs?
A light, clean, reflective roof surface absorbs less solar heat than a dark, chalked, dust filmed one, and less absorbed heat means less heat driven into the building. That mechanism is real. What we will not do is put a percentage on your bill, because it depends on your insulation, your ventilation, your ducting, your equipment and how you run it. If you want to look at utility programmes, Tucson Electric Power is the place to ask, and you should confirm anything current directly with them.
Can you coat a rusted metal roof?
Surface rust, yes, after it is treated. Rust that has gone through the panel, no. That section gets cut out and replaced first, because a coating over a hole is a coating over a hole. The dividing line is whether the metal still has thickness left, and that is something we check on the roof rather than from a photograph.
Is coating cheaper than replacing a metal roof?
Considerably, when the roof is a genuine candidate. That is exactly why it gets oversold. The honest comparison is not coating against replacement, it is how many years each one buys and what it costs per year of service. On a sound roof, restoration wins that comparison comfortably. On a failing roof it loses badly, because you spend the money and still need the replacement.
What is the difference between coating and restoration?
Coating is the material going on. Restoration is the whole process, which is mostly repair and preparation with a coating at the end of it. If somebody is quoting you a price that only covers spraying a coating on, they are quoting the last step and leaving out the job.
08Service areas
Where we restore roofs
Tucson, Oro Valley, Marana and Vail, and everywhere between them. Sahuarita, Green Valley, the Catalina Foothills, Corona de Tucson, Catalina, Rita Ranch and Three Points.
Areas we serve08Related
Other things we do
- Metal Roof RepairFasteners, seams, flashings and panels. We trace the leak to where it actually enters before anything gets sealed, and we tell you when a repair is the wrong purchase.
- Metal Roof ReplacementTaking off a roof the sun has finished with and putting on one built to outlast it. Layers counted and deck repair priced before anything starts.
- Standing Seam Metal RoofingNo screws through the weather surface, and clips that let the panel move as it heats and cools. The expensive answer, and usually the right one on a Tucson house.
09Get started
Ask about restoring your roof
Tell us what the roof is doing. We will get on it, look properly, and put the answer in writing. If it does not need work yet, that is what the estimate will say.
Or call(520) 555-0100Mon to Fri, 6am to 3pm. Early hours are not a typo. Summer roofing here starts at first light and comes off the roof around midday.