Three Mistakes To Avoid When Washing A Metal Roof


If you've recently had a shiny, new metal roof installed on your residence, you may need some time to get used to how different it is from your old asphalt shingling roof. One of the things that's different about metal roofs is that they have different needs for care and maintenance. In fact, you can probably do more harm inadvertently while cleaning your metal roof than you'd do by simply never washing it at all. So here are three easy mistakes you could make while washing your metal roof and how to avoid them.

1. Standing on the roof

A metal roof may seem strong (after all, it's highly wind resistant and, well, made out of metal!), but that doesn't mean it's designed to be walked on. In fact, you should never walk on a metal roof unless you stick to the spots that are most supported from underneath. Otherwise you could easily dent the roof or, if you're especially unlucky, you might even cause it to collapse beneath your weight, allowing you to crash to the ground (if, for instance, you were walking too near an unsupported edge). In addition, because metal roofs are quite slick and often steeply pitched, it's probably safer to stay off the roof altogether.

2. Using strong cleaners

You should only use water and at most a gentle cleaner formulated for metal roofs. If you use stronger, industrial-strength cleaners, you could "clean" the protective coatings right off of your roof's surface or at least damage them, which at best would mean you'd need to then have the roof re-coated and at worst would mean (if you didn't get it re-coated right away) that it would develop unsightly rust and potentially even leaks.

3. Spraying it with a strong hose spray

If you stand on the ground and spray upwards at your roof, you're forcing water to approach it at the opposite angle that rain comes from. Your roof was built to withstand rain, not hoses. So, if you're unlucky or not a very experienced hose-wielder, this activity could result in getting water up under the eaves and causing water damage or (if you're particularly unlucky) might even manage to force water in between the roofing panels. So if you do spray the roof with water to clean it, use a gentle spray, avoid concentrating on the seams, and aim for the top (allowing water to run down the roof from the peak) rather than turning the spray to the areas near the eaves.

These three rookie errors are easy to make, but you can avoid them if you know what to watch out for. For more information, check out a site like


27 January 2017

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