Metal Roof Protective Covering

[Don Jackson]

I inspected a home today that had a metal roof, yet was covered by what looked like a "sprayed" on protective covering. Several areas were damaged or bubbling. Does anyone know the reason for this covering? Is it truly for protection against, I guess, heat and rust?

[chris mcintyre]

Looks like "kool seal" or a similar product has been sprayed/rolled on the roof. My guess would be the roof started leaking so the put the coating on to stop the leaking, but if the metal was not cleaned properly or had started rusting the product could not adhere properly.

It is hard to tell from that picture, do you have any others?

[Jerry Peck]

Looks like foam sprayed on ... not good at all.

Time for a new roof.

[Don Jackson]

I called it an aggregated covering just because I am not sure what it is and why it is in place. I suggested it was applied because the roof is steel. I don't know if it is galvanized steel, or just steel because of the covering. Maybe they covered it because it is just steel to prevent early corrosion and rusting?

[Jerry Peck]

Don,

It was probably a galvanized steel roof which was rusted severely and, instead of replacing the roof, they got a roofer to spray the foam roofing on it, and, because it was a roofer who did that type of stuff, they also did not apply the foam correctly nor did they apply the top coating correctly.

[Frank Suchodolski]

I hope that it's not on a house that people live in, cause it looks like a barn roof, exposed fasteners too I suppose. Any kind of Spray Foam will more than like kill the metal roof faster if it was not installed properly, by keeping it wet longer. PUF (Poly-Urethane Foam), if that is what is, needs very meticulous prep and installation techniques.

Frank Suchodolski, RRO