Has your tiled roof seen better days? Could be time for a roof restoration. After years of exposure to the elements, most tiled roofs tend to look a little worse for wear with a build-up of grime, moss and lichen. Colours fade. Ridge capping cement becomes brittle and breaks away. There may even be a cracked tile or two, causing hidden, yet damaging water leaks.
The good news is that most tiled roofs can be easily restored to their former glory, and with the use of modern coatings, can often be better than when they were first installed.
The benefits
Add value
A tiled roof is often more than half the visual profile of a home, so when the roof looks great so does the rest of the home. There is strong evidence that a roof restoration increases the appeal of a home to potential buyers, and also its value.
Capture an era
If you own an older home, a roof restoration is a great opportunity to change the colour of your roof to match contemporary colours and styles. Alternatively, you may want to retain a traditional look that is in keeping with the age of your home.
Make it last
Just like any part of a home, repairs and maintenance ensure a long life, and a roof is no exception. A professional roof restoration will add years of functional service to your roof.
Stop leaks
It’s important to stop leaks before they cause serious damage to your home. Unfortunately, the first signs of a leak, such as a stain or patch of mould on the ceiling, don’t appear until significant damage has already been done. As part of the preparation for a roof restoration, we replace broken tiles and re-bed and re-point ridge cappings, ensuring a water tight roof.
Clean, fresh water
Many homeowners enjoy the fresh, pure taste of rainwater collected from their roof. Unfortunately, rainwater collected from an old roof isn’t always so clean with an unsavoury collection of contaminates including pathogens, pesticides and heavy metals. All these contaminants are removed and treated during a roof restoration. The new coating also helps to create a self-cleaning action due to the sealed, smooth new surface.
More efficient heating
Damp tiles have a tendency to keep the roof cavity of a home cold and humid, adding to the costs of keeping a home warm. The membrane coating used in a roof restoration completely water-proofs the tiles, keeping them dry, and making them more effective at absorbing and retaining heat from winter sunshine.
The process
There are no shortcuts when it comes to completing a professional roof restoration. The following steps are critical if the restoration is going to stand-up to the extremes of baking sunlight and pounding rain, and the corrosive effect of air-borne contaminants.
1. A thorough inspection is done to check the structural integrity of the roof. Any broken tiles are replaced during the inspection.
2. The roof is then thoroughly cleaned with a 4000psi high pressure cleaner to remove any dirt, lichen and moss. This is an important step to ensure the coating bonds to the tiles.
3. The ridge capping is then removed and the old mortar is chipped away to create a clean surface. Adhesive cement is then laid in a bedding frame and the ridge capping is re-seated into position.
4. We then use a flexible compound to point the ridge capping, carefully filling all crevices to ensure that there is a bond between the ridge cap, new cement and the roof tile. The pointing process also creates a neat professional finish that looks great from the ground.
5. The entire roof surface is then sprayed with Mould Rid to kill bacteria, and moss and lichen spores.
6. Once the roof is dry, we coat it with Primerbond, which is a high quality bonding and sealing agent that ensures a strong bond between the tile and the coating membrane.
7. We then apply two coats of the coloured membrane you have chosen, providing a durable, permanent surface that will last for many years.
Heatproof coating – Keep cool; save energy
If you are planning a roof restoration, and would also like to reduce your summer energy bill, then a heatproof coating could be the perfect solution.
Most of the heat that enters your home on a hot day is transferred through the roof into the roof cavity. As the roof cavity heats up throughout the day, heat transfers easily through the ceiling into the rooms below. This constant heat transfer is like having a gigantic heating system in your roof, which is why air-conditioning systems work so hard to combat the heat.
The most effective way to minimise this cycle of heat transfer is at the original point of entry, the roof.
While pigments of any colour normally absorb heat, heatproof coatings use technology that reflect a large percentage of the radiant heat from the sun, creating a noticeably cooler environment in the roof cavity. A cooler roof cavity means a cooler home, and lower energy costs.
For obligation free advice about a Roof Restoration, talk to one of our Roof Technicians today on 1300 736 773.