# 9 of 101 tips on house painting and building maintenance - temporary leak repairs

Sometimes you are just too busy to get that leak fixed
so in this case I will recommend a quick temporary repair.(just this once)
Here are a few quick building maintenance tips that will get the leak repaired until a professional building maintenance contractor or house painter can sort out the problem.

Silicone.
Uses- any dry solid surface, gaps and cracks up to 15mm
Choose a paintable product such as MS(modified sealant) Fix All or Blockade,
There is nothing worse than having to remove silicone residue for your house painting to be effective.
Mask the area first so you don't make a mess and have some turps and a rag handy.

Builders Foam
Uses - pipe penetrations and any gap over 10mm wide
Any brand will do, just get a small can as it does not keep well.
Once you have used the product don't touch it again untill it is hard ( 2 hours ) Then trim with a box cutter knife.
You can apply a layer of paintable silicone if you like or just paint over directly during your next house painting schedule, as it is waterproof and stable.

Plumbers Tape
Uses - roofs and gutters, clean and dry surfaces
If you get through this list and haven't solved your problem then call your house painting or building maintenance professional.
Happy home maintenance
Andre

# 8 of 101 tips on house painting and building maintenance - corrugated iron Roof repairs

The trusty old corrugated iron roof is synonymous with New Zealand architecture and of course they aren't all made equal. Along with the various gauges (or thicknesses) there are quite a few options in materials, coatings and colours. Like house painting do your research

Now by now you know I'm going to say -  buy quality.

In my experience its not worth going a mid priced job, you either do the whole job properly using quality long lasting products or you get your building maintenance company to perform roof repairs or house painters to sort out your roof.

A good  roof painting job will give you 10-20 years extra life where a re roof using at thick gauge galvanised steel, will give you at least 50 years if not more depending on the material used and how well the building maintenance is carried out.

The below list covers some of the corrugated roof range in New Zealand

Corrugated galvanized steel.
The original product  was wrought iron– sheet steel  zinc coated, then roll formed into corrugated sheets. This product is still commonly used today in New Zealand. Modern architecture and "green" thinking has made these products popular again.

Zincalume and Galvalume

A blend of zinc, aluminium and silicon-coated steel,  Sometimes left in the raw zinc finish, but more widely used as a base metal under factory coated colors and sold as Colour steel. No house painting required

Metal tile sheets.
These are usually painted or stone-coated steel. Previously sold under the name Decromastic

Stainless steel.

Available for harsh conditions and/or as a distinctive design element. Usually roll-formed into standing seam profiles; however, shingles are available.

Aluminum.
One of the longest-lasting metals, but somewhat expensive compared to steel products. Aluminum roofs are very lightweight, corrosion-resistant, have high natural reflectivity and even higher natural emissivity, increasing a building's energy efficiency. Aluminum products with Kynar paints easily last over 50 years. The newest innovation is anodizing of the aluminium coil stock for use in architectural details and standing seam panels. The anodized layer is intimately bonded the metal and is not normally subject to weathering and wear.

Copper.

Expensive for a roofing material. Usually used for flashing or smaller, highly detailed areas such as entrances of historical buildings and churches.

Stone coated steel.
Panels made from zinc/aluminium-coated steel with acrylic gel coating. The stones are a natural product with a colored ceramic coating.

Inverted Box Rib, Trapezoidal or IRB.

A low-cost corrugated square-fluted iron roofing material used mainly in the commercial market. It can be commonly found on anything from industrial sites to low pitched roofs.

In Short

A metal roof graded "AG" or "Utility" will need re coating (roof painting)once the factory finish wears off, or corrosion will occur. These paints are commonly acrylic or polyester based. Roof coatings are the preferred material since they are able to stay elastic and withstand the thermal cycling that occurs in metal roofs.

Roofing materials made from stainless steel, zinc or copper will rarely require maintenance over their lifetime. Any required maintenance is usually due to design or installation mistakes. Otherwise, these materials commonly last over a century.

Metal roofing with long life polymer coatings like Kynar should not normally require maintenance until the coating fails. These products have been used for over half a century now in the U.S. and few installations have failed. They should be considered lifetime products.

( Note some excerpts from Wikipedia)

Andre

#7 of the 101 best House Painting and Building Maintenance tips - Steel Fastners

The lesson to be learned today is that quality is not too expensive, especially in my game of Building Maintenance, House painting and roof repairs.

All too often we see cheap and inferior building practices and materials with a planned obsolescence designed into them.
This is, of course, so more products and services can be sold to you when replacement time comes up.
Often we find good quality products will only cost 30 % more but last 200-300% longer.

Using Quality Steel materials such as nails, screws, hinges, flashings etc is as important as the quality of the house painting and roof repairs

However  deciding on "the correct materials" is not so easy, for instance stainless steel is not necessarily stain-less and comes in various grades depending on the recipe of the product.

In many instances hot dipped galvanised bolts, nuts and screws will last just as long as lower grade stainless steel when kept dry and painted, also the galvanised steel is 'softer', more flexible so performs better in areas of large temperature differences.

I have made a list below of a few facts to help you with your decision making when tackling building maintenance and roof repairs.

Make sure you use the same type of metal fasteners as the metal in the product you are using, otherwise the different metals create a very weak electric charge which will corrode the less noble metal

Zinc-chromate (This is a yellow/gold plating often seen with a pink and green rainbow effect visible on the plating surface. Items with this coating are first plated with zinc, then treated with a dichromate coating which gives it the yellow/gold appearance. )

Low cost fastenings, good for mainly dry areas where it may get wet or damp only occasionally, ie windows,framing, skirting, architraves where filling and painting.

Best suited for interior/sheltered exterior, screws, nuts, bolts, hinges

Zinc (electroplated) shiny silver in colour

Low cost fastenings, good for mainly dry areas where it may get wet or damp only occasionally, ie windows,framing, skirting, architraves where filled and painted

Best suited for interior/sheltered exterior, screws, nuts, bolts, hinges

Zinc (Galvanised Hot Dipped) dull silver colour with a crystal pattern on larger sheets

Medium cost fastenings and should be a minimun standard of rust protection for all exterior fittings and fastenings.
Best suited for exterior fences, roofs, structural beams and gate hardware

Note- when you are painting make sure you use a special primer if the product is new. Some corrosion takes place naturally and the product needs weathering or priming before house painting.

Stainless Steel(316 and 304 grade)

It is also called corrosion-resistant steel or CRES
For building and maintenance if you are going to use this product you may as well pay for the marine grade 316 steel,
Best suited for window hinges, exterior fastenings and hardware.
Stainless steel fixings are required by your local council if you live within the sea spray zone as laid out in the building code of New Zealand.