If you have coated roofs within your property, then sooner or later you may need to consider the prospect of maintenance work, usally due to the effects of corrosion or erosion.The easiest solution would be to get some one in to do the work for you , but in todays financial situation more people are taking on the challenge of completing the work themselves.

This can be no easy task if you do not understand what you are doing or have no knowledge of roof coatings.

Let me give you some basic steps of what you will need to know before you take on this project.

Firstly you will need to identify the existing coating that is present on your roof, this is needed to ensure good compatibility to the roof coating your are going to apply.

Secondly you will have to identify the substrate or base material of your roof ,this will be required if you have areas of total coating loss down to the substrate.With this information you can go to any professional roofcoating supplier and get recommendations of suitable products available.When purschasing your roof coatings always ensure that you get a MTDS Manufacturers Technical data sheet,and a MSDS safty data sheet. The MTDS will state the recommended method of application and the parameters for the application of the product. This will give guide lines on mixing, tempertature, and surface preparation with with some roof coatings is critical.

I will explain why these recommendations must be followed.

Some products are based on coating formulas that require the coating to be supplied in two parts, a base and a cure, which must be mixed in the correct ratio, to enable the correct polymerisation of the product.They may also have an induction period which means that the mixed product must be left to stand for a period of time before use.This is mostly applicable to epoxy coatings.The product may also have a pot life, which is the period in which the product must be applied.The MTDS will give these time periods.

Temperature is also critical with most products,as this can effect the curing process of the coating especially in different environments, the mtds will recommend humidity levels and dew point levels which must be followed for successful application.

All products require good adhesion to the substrate and to acheive this you need of carry out proper surface praparation. the type and standard of surface preparation depends on the substrate to be coated.Surface preapration can vary enomously, from grit blasting of new steel to hand prepartion of existing coatings. Once again the MTDS with give guide lines on the recommended standard require for each product.

Please note that some roof coatings cannot be applied over old coatings, this is why i mentioned that you must identify the existing coating before you purchase you product. This will help eliminate any compatibily issues.It is always a good idea to carry out a small test patch on your roof prior to conducting a full application.