Overview
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On many ageing metal roofs the steel sheet is still sound while the fixings have failed, because the rubber washer under each screw head perishes decades before the steel around it does. In that specific condition a rescrew, replacing every fixing and washer, is a legitimate option that costs a fraction of a replacement. It is only appropriate where the sheet, valleys and flashings are genuinely sound: where the valleys have rusted, a rescrew buys a season and wastes the money. The test is whether the corrosion is at the fixings alone or has reached the sheet and the folded edges.
Key points
- Washers perish long before the steel does
- A rescrew replaces every fixing on the roof, not the sheet
- It is only worth doing if valleys and flashings are sound
- Rust in the valleys means the roof is at the end of its life
- Very few roofers offer it, because it is a smaller job
- Ask before agreeing to a replacement on a roof that is only leaking at screws
What a rescrew actually is
Every sheet on a metal roof is held down by screws, and under each screw head is a rubber or neoprene washer that seals the hole.
That washer is the shortest lived part of the roof. Sun and heat cycling degrade it, and once it has gone hard and cracked, the screw hole is an open path into the roof cavity.
A rescrew removes every fixing on the roof and replaces it with a new screw and washer, usually one gauge larger so it bites fresh timber. The sheet stays where it is.
When it is the right answer
The condition it suits is specific, and it is more common than people expect on roofs from the 1980s and 1990s.
- Rust rings at the screws, clean sheet elsewhere
- The classic presentation. Staining radiating from each fixing while the pans and ribs between them are sound.
- Valleys and flashings still good
- These are the parts a rescrew does not touch. If they have gone, the roof needs replacing regardless of the fixings.
- Leaks that stop when it is not windy
- Water tracking down screw shanks behaves differently from a valley leak, and it often only shows in driving rain.
- Battens still holding
- A screw needs timber to bite. If the battens have gone soft, new screws will not hold any better than the old ones.
When it is a false economy
A rescrew on a roof that has passed the point of no return is money spent twice, and the honest test is what the valleys look like.
Valleys carry all the water on a roof and they rust first. Once a valley has gone, the sheet either side of it is the same age, has had the same exposure, and is heading the same way within a few years.
The other disqualifier is the sheet itself. Corrosion along the cut ends, at the ridge, or spreading from dents is the steel failing rather than the fixing, and no amount of new screws addresses it.
Why it is rarely offered
A rescrew is a much smaller job than a replacement, which is most of the reason you will not often be offered one.
It is worth asking about directly, particularly if a roofer has quoted a full replacement on a roof you were told was only leaking at the screws. The answer may still be that the roof is done, and you will have the reason rather than the conclusion.
It is also a legitimate way to buy time. If a roof is five years from replacement and leaking now, a rescrew can bridge that gap for a fraction of the cost of doing the whole thing early.
What it does not do
A rescrew does not extend the life of the sheet, add insulation, fix condensation, or address a flashing that was wrong to begin with.
It also does nothing about the appearance. A faded thirty year old roof with new screws in it is a faded thirty year old roof.
Treat it as what it is: a targeted repair of one failure mode, chosen because that failure mode is the one you actually have.
If this sounds like your roof
We will come and measure it.
Ring and describe what it is doing. If it is a repair rather than a replacement, we will say so.
(02) 9072 1993
