Roof Painting in Tauranga

Painting Buys Time. It Does Not Buy a New Roof.

Let us be straight about this, because plenty of people will not be. Roof painting is an excellent thing to do to a roof that is structurally sound and has faded, chalked or gone patchy. It is a terrible thing to do to a roof that is rusting through, has failing fixings or is at the end of its life - all you get is an expensive coat of paint on a roof you have to replace anyway in three years.

So the first thing we do is get up there and tell you which of those two roofs you have. If it is the second one, we will say so and point you at re-roofing instead, even though painting it would be easier money.

When Painting Is the Right Call

• The steel is sound - no rust through, no significant corrosion at the laps or fixings.
• The colour has faded, chalked or gone blotchy, particularly on the north and west faces.
• There is surface rust at a few fixings that can be treated properly rather than covered.
• You want to change the colour of the house without replacing a perfectly serviceable roof.
• You are selling, and the roof is the thing dragging the property's appearance down.
• The roof is concrete tile and has lost its surface coating but the tiles themselves are intact.

The Process, and Why Preparation Is Most of It

Roof coatings fail for one reason far more than any other: they were applied over a surface that was not properly prepared. Paint does not stick to chalk, to moss, to salt or to loose rust. Most of the work on a good roof paint job happens before any colour goes on.

1. Inspection first

   We get on the roof and check the substrate, the fixings and the flashings, and tell you whether painting is worth doing at all.

2. Repairs

   Failed fixings replaced, rusted flashings dealt with, cracked tiles or damaged sheets sorted. Painting over a fault hides it, it does not fix it.

3. Wash and treat

   The whole roof is washed to remove chalk, dirt, salt and lichen, and treated for moss and mould so they do not come straight back up through the new coating.

4. Prime

   The correct primer for the substrate and its condition. This is what the topcoat actually bonds to, and it is the step that gets skipped on a cheap job.

5. Topcoats

   Two coats of a roof-grade coating, applied at the specified spread rate rather than stretched to make the tin go further.

6. Clean up

   Gutters flushed out, downpipes checked, overspray dealt with, site left tidy.

Salt, and Why Coastal Roofs Chalk Faster

Roofs at Mount Maunganui, Papamoa, Matua and Waihi Beach lose their colour noticeably faster than roofs in Bethlehem or Pyes Pa. UV does part of it, but salt does the rest, and the areas that never get rained on - under eaves, under carports, sheltered faces - hold salt permanently. Those areas need the most washing before any coating goes near them, and they are the first place a poorly prepared paint job lifts.

What It Will Not Fix

Paint will not fix a leak, will not restore a rusted-through sheet, will not stop a fixing that has let go, and will not add strength to anything. If a roofer tells you a coating will solve a leak, get another opinion. Leaks are a roof repair job and they need to be dealt with before painting, not instead of it.