R panel rescrewing questions

Hello,
I hope it’s not a problem but I’m sort of creating a second thread to another I already had. Over a period of several months I’ve been planning a rescrew on my metal roof (R panel). I think since that thread was old and drawn out it got left in the dust, lol, so I wanted to ask a few questions here as I plan to buy materials tomorrow afternoon:

I plan to use all “long life” screws, with the one piece head. My roof is a very light gray (plus it’s faded), so I’m considering using the bare aluminum colored screws and not powder coated/painted. This is just to simply save time as they wouldn’t have to order them. If this is a huge mistake and my roof will look like polka dots please chime in lol!

So, the original roof is screwed together with #12 lap screws (where the panels overlap) and #14 short (~3/4" long) wood screws biting into 1x4’s (I have not sheathing or underlayment)… do you think the new #14 wood screws will bite not going to a larger diameter? Or do I need to step up to the #17 screws?

There are a few spots I found on the roof where I guess the installer missed the wood so siliconed the hole and moved the screw over. Should I just leave this alone? Or is there a better way to fix this?

At the roofing supply store, the guy showed me how to bend the tops of the panels up to create a dam, it was super easy with the special pliers he had, almost like a mini plier “brake” for bending sheet metal. Called a seamer. I’m going to buy a set and do this extra step like you mentioned in the older posts above. The gap between ridges in the panels looks to be just under 9" wide. Will a 9" seamer work? Or should I buy a 6" They have a combo 3"/6" (change the plates) on amazon for $60. Thought about getting that one… Made by midwest tool. But they also have the same brand for same price in a 5"/9" combo.

I have two valleys, and they have special metal piece that I’m sure you all know what it is. I assume this runs up the valleys about 12"-24" or so under the R panels. Is there any type of closure strip here I should be concerned with? It looks like he just put some sort of thin “tape” there, with nothing at the “ridges”.

I’ve decided to only replace the ridge closure strips, and not do the ones at the bottom by the gutters. I just don’t see the value there, there’s no water infiltration, it’ll only help the attic breathe better (I have 3 attic fans on the gables, and two other gable vents, with no ridge vents. The front and rear porch and rear carport have vented sophit, and each also has a large vent/register like an AC filter register vent). Most of the bottom closure is still in place anyway, so the only downside I see is there will be a few holes that bugs can get into. I don’t think this is a real big deal…

I’ve noticed my roof is very “dirty”. Somewhat faded but that doesn’t bother me. Should I somehow clean it once done with all the work? Pressure wash? Hose, cleaner, and broom/brush?

Oh one more thing, I noticed that the panel overlaps are the same, neither has a “longer” overlap and a “shorter” overlap. I noticed because I was looking at the edge by the gutters at the overlap, then was in the attic looking and noticed both ends are “short” overlap. Doesn’t really matter at this point as I’m not replacing all the panels due to this, just thought it was odd. Being that the holes are already there anyway, I don’t think I’d have much problem with the panel pushing away and not pulling tight…

Thanks in advance!

I think you should be fine with the #14 screws.

Yeah missing screws and just caulking them is hack. I will explain the only proper way to fix that imo and you will need someone to help you do it. You will need one guy in the attic and one guy on the roof. The guy in the attic will need some small pieces of scrap wood (nearly anything will do). The guy on the roof puts a screw through the hole that has been caulked over and the guy in the attic locates the screw. When he does he pushes a piece of scrap wood under the screw so it has something to “bite” into. The guy in the roof can then tighten the screw just like he would like any other. You’ll need do this for all the missed screw holes.

Its really up to you what size hand break you use as long as its not bigger than the width of the pans. The one I use for that job is only 3".

Its really up to you if you want to clean your roof. But if you never noticed it before you went up there you are probably wasting your time imo. A pressure washer would do the best job but just be aware that a wet metal roof can be EXTREMELY slippery so be careful.

I am not 100% what you are saying in your last paragraph but it sounds to me like your panels are installed a bit out of square. Technically you could snap a line and cut the entire bottom edge, however never in my life have I ever saw some one attempt that and do a good job. Better off just leaving it as is.

Thanks so much island for the additional info and advice.

I stopped and bought all the supplies I needed today. Man those screws are heavy LOL.

I intend to try and knock out all the ridge work over thanksgiving weekend then do all the other screws a few rows at rows at a time after work.

What’s the best foot wear for this roof? Tennis shoe? Work boot? I imagine I can use the screw heads as footing/grip…

oh and that last thing I attempted to explain was where the panels overlap, where you use the lap screws. One panel is supposed to have a longer leg that provides support when screwing into it from above. The overlapping panel has the shorter leg. Well, my panels have short legs on both sides. Moot point at this time, just an observation…

Hello,
I started on the roof yesterday, I did half my carport plus some, about a bag (250) of the screws that screw into the wood, and a half bag of lap screws. I decided to do all the screws first then come back and do all the ridge and gable trim and closures (as I found in the attic many screws leaking, rotting the 1x4s).

On just the little bit I did yesterday, there were 12 holes that the guy missed and caulked or where the wood was rotten and wouldn’t bite. I had my brother go in the attic with small pieces of plywood and I patched them up. Man I hope the guy had better aim through the rest of the house…

My goal right now is patch up all the holes and leaks, then when I’m all done with the roof I may come back in the attic and cut out any rotten 1x4s and scab new pieces in, but I don’t know that it’s really necessary. If the leak is stopped, does it really matter to cut out the rotted wood?

I don’t know how people do this for a living, I’m not in that bad of shape and it’s killing my knees, arms, and back lol. When I first stepped onto the roof I thought “holy crap I’m going to fall off at some point for sure”. But as I went on I got more and more comfortable being up there. Just need to move slow and be careful. I’m also using an impact driver (lithium 18v) that I bought specifically for this job and it is way better than a regular drill as far as “feeling” the torque.

One thing slowing me down is the driver heads are different sizes between the old and new screws, so I am constantly changing the driver.

I am going to take a few pictures today while I’m up there, I have a few questions on so of the laps he did were gables tie into ridges, some flashing/lap questions. Will post tonight or tomorrow. I think I’ll have about half the screws done by monday…

Sounds like you are off to a good start. As long as the wood solid enough for the screw to “bite” into you are fine. If its too rotten for that then yes it will need to be replaced. Yeah just post the pics whenever and we will be happy to help :slight_smile:

So if the wood is rotted at a certain spot, but the screw sticks through the wood and can bite into a piece of “patch” plywood and seal, would you still recommend replacing the rotten wood? I mean I don’t like the idea of having rotted wood, but if it’s too hard to get to is the hill really worth the climb. In other words, is the rotted wood going to hurt anything? (mold, insects, etc)?

I didn’t take pics yetsterday, but I got a lot done, by end of today I will be about 75% complete with the screws. Will get the pics today for the questions I have.

Honestly I wouldn’t bother replacing the rot you are describing as it sounds very minimal. It sounds like much more work than its worth imo. As long as your screw is biting into the patch below it you should be fine.

Ok thanks!

Here’s what I have for questions… I’m about 75% done with the screws right now:

I have a spot on top of a ridge where he has two holes right next to each other, I can’t fit two screw heads next to each other. My inent was to put a small patch piece on top with butyl tape around the edges, but right before I installed it I started thinking this wasn’t the best way. I’m now thinking I should cut a piece similar to how I did in the picture below, but wider so I can screw it down on the lower portions, not the ridge. Thoughts?

Here’s some of the laps I was questioning:



I also have some spots around the lower edge of the roof where he missed and caulked, that I can’t access from the attic. How do I go about these??? Hard to see in the pic below but basically right in the center of the pictures there’s a gob of grey caulking, just above the bottom screw.

Here’s just some overall pictures of the roof, the back half of the house with carport is done (other than ridges, gable trim, and along the gutterline)


As for the ridge (rib is the proper term) with the two holes close together I would do it the first way you described, but still put a screw in the rib section of the patch.

Yeah some of those flashing details aren’t exactly the best but if there are no evidence of leaks I would recommend you just leave them be. Those would be very tricky details for a diy to do and equally as difficult for a roofer to describe the proper way to a diy lol.

For the missed screws on the bottom edge of the roof you will need to remove enough screws that you can peel the sheet up enough to get a block under the sheet. Them once you get your patch screwed in place you get the sheet back into place and you screw it back down.

Ok, so I was planning to put two screws in my rib patch piece, one at the top and one at the bottom. I just felt (once I actually put it in place) that the “sides” of the rib would remain “loose”. I guess I’m overthinking…

I would like to fix the two spots where the ridge cap runs into the gable trim (in the one pic above, I have two spots like this). I will look for some pics on google of how to do this, if I can find any.

Thanks for all the advice, I will see what I can do with the bottom holes that were missed. Unfortunately sunday while on the roof I noticed that my truck decided to dump all the coolant under the front end, so I now need to replace the water pump. Luckily it’s not a difficult job on my truck, just bad timing. Going out of town tomorrow for my anniversary, then driving a 1500 mile road trip (in the currently not running truck) for xmas/new years. Will finish the roof when I return.

I’m still at this job, just about done with the screws and all the patches. Holidays, work, etc have taken a lot of my time. I should finish the screws by the end of this weekend and have all the holes patched as well. There were probably ~30 holes that needed patched in all. I figured out how to remove the soffit, sort of a pain as I have to unscrew and remove the entire length of soffit but oh well. This way I can put wood under and patch the ones that aren’t biting near the edge of the roof.

I’m not very happy with how I had to patch these holes at the gutter line, but it is done at least. I screwed the scraps up from the bottom that way if I ever have to pull the roofing screws out I won’t have to pull the soffit again.

It took me all day to pull the soffit down, cut out some of the rotten wood, patch all these pieces in, and put the soffit back up. I’m thinking now I should probably have just replaced the whole board, but hind sight is 20/20. If I ever have to do it again I’ll cut out the whole board ~8 ft long and replace it. The only hard thing with that is cutting the screws that tie it into the joists, but a grinder would solve that problem. The boards are odd sized, thicker than a 1x4.