Holes in barn/arena roof-repair ideas needed.

[Calvincrowe]

Our boarding barn has leaks. Not just a few, but many. It was dismantled and reassembled in its current location a few years back. They numbered the walls, but not the roof, so now, it has leaks where the screw holes did not line up. (hard to avoid that, anyway, but…zoiks! it’s like it’s raining in there at times!)

Anyway–we need some low-cost solutions for the worst of them. None are larger than the hole made by the screw (I don’t think). Could we give them a squirt of silicone sealant or something similar? Cover each one with a strip of “material” of some sort and “glue” it down with roofing tar or something similar?

Anyone with experience or clever fixes??

[wsmoak]

The first thing that came to my mind is roofing sealer, like this: http://www.interstateproducts.com/roof_ba.htm

[Sparky_Boy]

I’d love to know too. We have a few leaks in our barn roof from old nail holes. Drives me nuts. I’ve got buckets scattered around the hayloft to catch the drips!

[pj1]

We had a hay shed that was leaking.
Went to Lowe’s and got a product (can’t remember the name of it) that you roll on the roof. Looks like tar and was very very inexpensive. I did the whole roof and ten years later there is nary a leak.
When it’s dry it’s kind of like super hard rubber.
When I got through I looked like tarbaby but my roof doesn’t leak.
They had the same thing in white but it was pretty expensive.

[Calvincrowe]

Yeah, that white stuff is mucho dinero. These holes are just that, holes–some products I’ve found online are for “leaks” and I just don’t think those products would seal a hole that ranges from 1/4" to 1/2" in size.

Sigh. One is really causing a problem in our arena–the footing is staying quite wet and a “bog” is developing there. Of course, it is on the rail!

Keep the ideas coming.

[shortbusgeek]

There’s a few different options you can go with. My inlaws recently replaced their barn roof (because of a much larger hole that appeared out of nowhere one day and insurance paid for it… we suspect it was a piece of hail, as we never found any evidence otherwise), but the barn was built with used tin, and they had sealed the old nail holes with silicone caulk. I would think that if you sealed the holes with silicone first and then used something along the lines of what pj is talking about you should be fine. Just to make sure all the seams between the silicone and metal are totally sealed.

[Bluey]

I tell you what we have used for tens of years in the old metal barns that were framed with wood.
Those are now defunct, all we have left are metal framed, metal clad barns.

We bought those gallon containers of “roofing cement”, that is a black paste like stuff we applied with a small board, piece of wood shingle or a metal caulking spatula.
You can also get cheap plastic gloves and use your fingers.

You go along the roof and put a dab on the nail holes that leak, if there is a nail still there or not and smooth it a little.

That is an ongoing process, takes some time every time you notice some leaks, but it is cheap and those rarely leak again for many years.

We used that same black goey stuff inside metal tanks, when they had a small hole or crack and it also kept them from leaking for long time.

That “roofing cement” is stuff roofers use with a plastic mesh to repair holes in roofs, like around vents and such.

[Calvincrowe]

That’s what I was looking for, Bluey! I figured there was a simple “red-necky”, practical, economical kind of fix for this situation. Now…I just need to get our barn/farm manager’s butt up a ladder, onto the roof and on this job. I’ll even go up there! (my SO is afraid of heights–and this is much higher than our barn at home, so I respect that).

[Bluey]

I think that stuff also comes today in caulking type cartridges, so you don’t have to get a whole gallon.
I saw someone use it to seal roofing tar paper and lines on the tar mopped flat roof.

[Tom_King]

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=6739&engine=adwords!6456&keyword=sikaflex-227 it comes in different colors

I think that’s the right Sikaflex. They have so many different ones for different applications that I can’t keep them straight. You might want to do a bit of research yourself. This is the stuff that the metal roofing manufacturers sell to be used with their products. It maintains its bond many times longer than silicone or roofing cement that most people are used to seeing. Roofing cement corrodes some of the newer metal roofing coatings and manufacturers recommend not to use it.

Get the best quality caulking gun from Lowes or Home Depot to use it in. The good guns offer a lot more control and are easier on hands than the cheap ones.

Just shoot a little dab into each open hole. Have someone looking up while the operator is on top to make sure you don’t miss any holes. Hold the tip of the caulking tube a little bit above the hole and shoot it down and through. It only takes a little dab. By holding it a bit above the hole it allows it to spread out a bit above the hole instead of most of it just going through.

I do have personal experience doing this since our hay shed has recycled metal on top. It does work and it does last.

You might want to poke around here to find just the right one. Some come in colors to match different roofing colors too:
http://www.sikaconstruction.com/ind/ipd-components.htm

[system]

You can use sealant for the holes of the roof, if they are not too large to seal. But if the holes that causes the leak are bigger than usual, I guess the best thing to do is to replace the roof. You can ask for an estimate first to know how much it will cost. Roofing Companies

[Bluey]

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