To re-screw or not to re-screw

Been spending a bit of time on the roof of late...attaching gutters, gutter guards and the like...

I've already earmarked about half a dozen colorbond sheets that I need to replace....But generally the roof looks in reasonable nick for 25 years or so....I intend to paint the roof - probably with a roller....

As part of being up there in the rare air I've noticed that a the screws are rusting....some more than others......so my question is....

1. Should I replace the screws.
2. Do nothing...
3. Hit them with a bit of rust guard and then paint with the roof.....


Any advice considered, especially if its good!

Roof screws have come a long way in 25 years. The coatings that are used now to protect against corrosion were not invented then, also much tecnology has gone into the seal, to keep it resillient for longer.

Back 10 or 20 out from various parts of the roof and have a good look at them, if there is any reason to replace these then you should probably do the lot, a box of screws is fairly cheap in the scheme of things.

I just noticed you are in FNQ, are you prone to cyclonic conditions, if so make sure that you use the correct screws with the correct plates for the roofing profile.

About the painting, Bluescope have certain recommendations for prep of CBond for refinishing, you may want to check their website for details.

Let us know what you decide, if you want to post a pic of the rusty screws and the samples that you remove we could no doubt give better advice.

Apparently when the screws rust they can rust out the roof sheets so I'd replace all the screws.

Just be careful to re-screw with a bigger gauge or in another location.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DvdHntr

Just be careful to re-screw with a bigger gauge or in another location.

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Good advice, standard roof screws are 12g but all cyclone assemblies are 14g.

The easiest way to tell which is which is a 12g screw will have a 5/16 AF head size but a 14g screw will have a 3/8 AF head size.

Downside is cyclone assemblies are a fair bit more expensive than std screws but if they are needed they could save the building.

Heres a story from my past.

I built my first workshop when I was around 19 years of age and used corrugated iron sheeting on metal teebars.

I thought the weight alone would hold the roof down, well we had a storm 50 years ago, yes the roof blew off in the middle of the night and went through my neighbours spare bedroom window. So I always screw roofs down now.