Maintenance
Maintaining Your Roof:
1. Access & Safety issues
- When maintaining the roof, care should be taken not to damage the surface
of the cladding, gutters and flashings.
- Soft protection should be placed on any equipment used to provide access,
where it impacts on the roof cladding.
- Some roofs (ie patios and verandahs) are not designed for foot traffic,
and these roofs should not be walked on.
- In high traffic areas of the roof, protection of the cladding with a
proprietary roofing system is recommended.
- When walking on unprotected roofing, soft soled shoes should be worn, and
walking on at least two ribs, as close to supports as possible is recommended.
Point heel and toe loads should be avoided.
- Avoid dragging any hard materials across the surface of the cladding, as
this may result in scratching
All relevant OH&S requirements, as well as statutory and regulatory body
requirements should be adhered to when accessing the roof, to ensure a safe
working environment.
2. Maintenance Requirements & Frequency
Maintenance should be carried out at least every four months, preferably
including the end of autumn and end of spring. In the case of extreme events
(storm, tempest or other "acts of God"), inspection should be carried out and
abnormal maintenance carried out as required.
Gutters and Roofing
(includes internal roof box gutters,
eave gutters and any other gutter situations, and all cladding not covered by
any of the other specific areas of this document)
- Debris, dust and fungal matter (debris) should be removed using the
following recommended procedure, taking care to ensure no damage occurs to the
gutter during debris removal.
- Sweep debris into a pile using a stiff, soft bristled brush (shovels or
hard tools should not be used).
- Place debris into a receptacle and lower to the ground.
- The whole roof and gutter should then be washed down with a hose,
including high ends of gutters possibly protected by overhangs, rain
heads, water spouts and overflow locations.
- If significant fungal growths are found they should be identified and
removed in accordance with the BlueScope Steel - Technical Bulletins TB-27
“Identification of Fungus in the Field and Recommendations
for its Removal”.
- Stubborn stains and dirt not removed in the hosing can be removed in
accordance with BlueScope Steel - Technical Bulletins TB-4, “Maintenance of
COLORBOND® Prepainted Steel Roofing". The application of soaps and
detergents are detailed in this document.
Downpipes
(includes the whole stormwater pipe disposal
system from the gutter to the street water table)
- Downpipes made from BlueScope Steel products should be cleaned using a pressure
water hose directed down each of the downpipes.
- The hose can then be fed into the pipe from the inlet down to the outlet,
to ensure there are no obstructions. Constrictions in the downpipe system
may make it necessary to access the pipe from inspection points
downstream of the downpipe inlet location. Any noted blockages should be removed immediately, to avoid water back-up in the
gutters.
Penetrations, Flashings & Cappings, Joints, Platforms &
Walkways and Unwashed Areas
- Build-up of debris or organic matter (debris) should be completely
removed, using a stiff bristled soft brush to sweep the debris into a
receptacle and remove from the roof. No hard tools should be used.
- The area should then be washed down with a pressure hose. Care should be
taken to ensure that debris is not lodged between sheets or the sheeting
and flashing and that water from the pressure hose is not driven
into the building.
- All unwashed areas are to be effectively hand washed using a pressure
hose.
Maintenance of Colorbond® Steel
Upkeep
Areas not exposed to rain should be hosed down
regularly. These include soffits, wall cladding under eaves, garage doors, and
the underside of eave gutters. Hosing should be carried out at least every six
months, and more frequently in coastal areas and areas of heavy industrial
fallout.
Touch-Up
BlueScope Coated Steel recommends against the use of
touch-up paint products to `hide' small scratches. The reason for this is
that touch-up paints weather at a different rate to the oven-baked finish of
COLORBOND® steel - which means over time, your small scratch treated with
touch-up paint, will become a much-more-obvious and unsightly blemish. The best
course of action for small scratches is to do nothing. Minor scratching will not
affect the life of the sheet, and in most cases won't be noticed from a
distance. If the damage is substantial, replace the sheet.
Gutters
To ensure your gutters made from COLORBOND® steel
last for years, they should be cleaned out every few months to remove
accumulated matter (ie leaves, dirt etc), which causes accelerated
corrosion.