How to Clean a Colorbond Roof?

Keeping your Colorbond roof clean is crucial to ensuring it continues to protect your home for longer. Colorbond roofing offers extreme durability, resistance to corrosion, and advanced technology that provides thermal efficiency for a home.

Due to the sleek, minimal design in combination with the many benefits of Colorbond technology, the roofing material has become a popular choice for many Australian homes over the last few years.

If you own a property with Colorbond roofing, you’ve probably come to learn that keeping your roof clean and clear of debris can be challenging. However, skipping out on essential maintenance for your Colorbond roof can put your roof at risk of developing avoidable vulnerabilities.

Cleaning Colorbond Roof materials is an integral part of maintaining your roofing structure and keeping your Colorbond performing better for longer. Colorbond roofs are notoriously durable, lightweight, resilient and sleek.

A massive drawcard for Colorbond roofing is that it provides exceptional protection and requires very little roof maintenance in comparison to other materials. However, failing to care for your Colorbond roof altogether can make the materials susceptible to preventable problems.

While other roofing materials require repainting every other year, Colorbond’s technology means that it will last around ten years without showing any signs of ageing. After about ten years, the colour of Colorbond roofing may start to dull, and you may need to have it repainted.

Colorbond materials will last longer with basic roof maintenance and regular cleaning.

Having a cleaning schedule for your Colorbond roof will keep the steel looking its best and extend the longevity of the materials.

When it comes to maintaining your Colorbond roof, cleaning helps to sustain the integrity of metal sheeting. Cleansing rids the surface of any debris that has the potential to compromise the seal of Colorbond.

The coatings and paint used for Colorbond materials are robust and resistant to damage; however, regular cleaning is what will sustain the strength of the seal for longer.

The most common causes of preventable damage on metal roofs is the build-up of particles and moisture. Airborne dirt, small sticks and leaves, pollen, and mould spore particles are the primary precipitates naturally falling on roofs.

It’s essential to remove these particles with regular cleanses to avoid compromising the roof’s drainage abilities and structure. Looking for a roof replacement? Check out Top Glaze for a wide range of roof services. 

What Is a Colorbond Roof?

Colorbond roofing is a coated steel roofing material manufactured by Bluescope steel. In recent years this roofing has been gaining popularity among contractors and business, and homeowners alike. Here are the advantages of owning a Colorbond roof.

• This roofing is perfect for buildings that have no pitch or very little pitch as water will still run off this type of roofing.
• Colorbond roofing comes in a wide variety of colours, which allows your roof to complement not compete with the colour of your home.
• Colorbond roofing gives your home a neat, modern appearance.
• It is long-lasting and lightweight.
• In many cases, this roofing can actually be cheaper than tile roofing.
• It holds steady in high winds, and rain and snow slide right off of this roofing or snow is easily removed.
• Because the colour is bonded to the metal, it doesn’t need painting as often as other metal roofing materials.
• It’s lower in maintenance than many roofing materials.
• If this roof is properly installed, it can cut down on heating and cooling cost.

• As you can see, Colorbond roofing has many advantages over other types of roofing materials, including some other types of metal roofing. However, as great as this roofing is, there are still some disadvantages to this roofing material that you need to be aware of.
• While colorbond roofing doesn’t need painting every year or every other year like some metal roofing, the colour does deteriorate around the ten-year mark and needs to be refinished.
• This roofing can also be somewhat noisy unless an acoustic blanket is placed down before the roofing is put on.
• If you decide to install central air conditioning after the Colorbond roof is put on, the roof will need to cut for the installed air conditioning unit.

While a Colorbond roof is not exactly maintenance-free, it does need less maintenance than most other roofing materials. The fact that it can save you money each year on those energy bills will probably more than pay for the refinishing this type of roof needs every ten years or so.

While most people find the advantages of a Colorbond roof outweigh the disadvantages, it really is up to each individual to decide if a Colorbond roof is right for them. Hopefully, knowing the pros and cons of this type of roof will help you to choose the right roofing material to meet your needs. Top Glaze has the best range of help if you’re looking for Melbourne roof repairs.

The Best Way to Clean a Colorbond Roof

If you own a home or business with a Colorbond roof, you know the cleaning Colorbond roof process can be challenging. However, making sure the roof looks as good as new is much easier when you’re using the right methods and products. When you have the right team on your side to clean the roof and maintain its quality and integrity, you’ll feel much better about the process. 

1.  Climb up on your roof safely and carefully. Ensure you have high-grip shoes and you have secure points to keep you from falling. Algae is slippery, and chalking is flakey, so there are many potential hazards to be aware of.
2. Clean off the debris and inspect the level of damage or staining present once the area is clear. Determine if the roof is degrading by assessing the paint for chalking (a white residue) or algae (dark or black patches), or both.
3. If the damage is small and isolated, you can clean your Colorbond roof with a sponge or soft brush, warm soapy water and a bit of elbow grease. If the damage covers a larger area, then a high-powered cleaning agent is the best way to go.
4. You can rent a pressure washer from an equipment shop or store, but keep in mind that if you are not experienced in using one, there is the possibility of causing more harm than good. If you have algae or chalking, there are particular techniques best handled by professionals. Note that any damage caused by DIY pressure cleaning may not be covered by insurance or warranties.
5. Hold the pressure cleaner approximately 30cm from the roof surface and test a small non-exposed section on the lowest pressure available. Move up to medium pressure slowly if more is required. There is a fine line between not enough pressure and roof damage. Again – if you are not experienced or at least confident that you will not cause any permanent damage, then call the professionals.

Once you have the desired pressure, start with a small area at the top of the roof and progressively moved down the metal sheets. Stand in dry or already cleaned patches to minimise the possibility of slipping on water or newly dislodged debris or algae.

Note that touch-up paint is not recommended for COLORBOND products. During manufacture, COLORBOND prepainted steel undergoes a curing process in which the paint is baked onto the metallic coated steel substrate, while other paint systems, for example, aerosol sprays, are air-dried. If you apply air drying touch-up paint, it will likely age at a different rate and look uneven over time.

Other Methods for Cleaning Colorbond Roof

Chemical Washing

Many chemical cleaning products are designed for Colorbond roofing materials. These substances will help to break down the bacteria of the grime on the roof without causing any harm to the metal sheets. Colorbond-friendly chemicals will typically be chlorine or sodium-based and are relatively mild and non-abrasive.

Pressure Washing

Pressure washing is a high-strength way of washing algae and grime off of a roof. It’s possible to rent or use an at-home pressure washer; however, the devices need to be the correct regulation for Colorbond materials. Generally speaking, an at-home pressure washer will not provide as thorough as clean as a professional roofing service will.

Solvents

Solvents are a solution to remove stubborn non-water elements that may be impacting your Colorbond roof. Stubborn marks include tar, graffiti, paint, and grease oil. Solvents are only applicable to areas where they are required, and they require careful handling. Both Petroleum and non-petroleum solvents can be quite harmful if misused.

It’s crucial for those handling solvents to be wary of the toxicity and strength of the chemicals – protective goggles and safety gear are needed. Solvent-based cleaning products have the potential to cause staining on roofing materials, so it may be best to leave it to the professionals if you have no experience with the products.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Colorbond Roofing

This style of roofing is ideal for structures that have little or no pitch since water will still run off of Colorbond roofing. The steel comes in several colours, so you can choose a hue that compliments your existing aesthetic and doesn’t compete with the colour of your residential or commercial building.

The colour is bonded to the metal, so you won’t have to paint Colorbond roofing as often as roofing made from other types of metal.

If you live in an area that gets heavy snow and rain or intense storms, the Colorbond roof material is a great choice since the elements will slide right off the roof and remnants of snow and rain can be removed easily.

This makes cleaning the Colorbond roof easier and low-maintenance. When this type of roof is installed properly, it will significantly reduce the amount of money you use for heating and cooling in your building.

While Colorbond roofing definitely has some advantages when you compare it to other roofing materials, there are a few things you should be aware of before you choose this type of roofing for your home or business. Take a look at our range of roof repairs Melbourne.

Advantages

• They’re quiet. There are a lot of roofs that make noise when waterfalls on them. This is especially true with metal roofs because they resonate a metallic sound when rain falls against them. If you apply an acoustic covering, though, you can rest assured that during the wet months, you won’t be woken up during the night to the sound of rain falling on your roof.
• They’re diverse. Previous versions of colour bond roofs didn’t come in many colours, and, quite frankly, they were boring. Still, the company has improved and now you can get your roof in a variety of hues. This way, you can match your roof to your home’s style.
• The appearance. Not only are they diverse, but colorbond roofs give your home a contemporary appearance that is much more expensive to achieve with other roofs.
• Lightweight. When a roof is too heavy, this causes its own problems. If a shingle falls, it can damage whoever is sitting outside, or it can damage the surrounding shingles. Before long, you can find yourself with a roof that needs to be repaired completely or a roof that leaks. That said, colorbond roofs are favoured among many because of how lightweight they are.
• The cost. Having a home costs enough, which is why you should try to save money wherever you can. A colorbond roof is rather inexpensive compared to alternatives like a fired tile roof.
• They’re durable. This kind of roof is more durable in high wind conditions than other roofing materials. They also allow snow to slide right off your roof, so you don’t have to worry about the extra weight damaging your roof.
• Less upkeep. While other roofs need to be refurbished every few years, these can go longer without needing upkeep and you don’t need to paint them as often.

Disadvantages 

• You might need to add an acoustic covering before you apply your roof completely. That’s because while it doesn’t make much noise, it doesn’t make noise when there is an acoustic covering applied.
• You might not need that much upkeep, you will have to completely redo your roof around every ten years.
• Most people decide to install an air conditioner after they finish their colorbond roof, but you should know that you may have to cut the roof to install your air conditioner.