Metal roof re-screw · Baldwin & Mobile County, AL
Backed-out screws are how a metal roof starts leaking
An exposed-fastener metal roof has hundreds of screws through its face, and every one of them is a seal that ages. We re-screw metal roofs across Baldwin and Mobile County with Lifetime WoodZac screws — here is why the originals loosen, what the job involves, and when a re-screw is not the right answer.
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Why it happens
Three ways a screw stops sealing
Thermal cycling works them loose
A metal panel grows in the afternoon sun and shrinks at night, every day, and every screw through its face rides that movement. Over years the wood fibers around the shank compress and the screw stands up out of the panel — the classic backed-out screw you can see from the yard.
The washer fails before the screw
The seal on an exposed fastener is the rubber washer under the head. UV hardens it, heat cycles crack it, and once it no longer compresses against the panel, every one of those screws is a hole in the roof the next time it rains.
The wrong screw from day one
Screws driven at an angle, over-driven so the washer squeezes out, under-driven so it never seals, or plain electro-galvanized screws that rust on the coast. A roof with the wrong fasteners leaks in rows along the purlins.
Rust streaks running down from the screw heads, drips that line up in rows on the ceiling below, or screws you can see standing proud from the ground — any one of those is the roof asking for a re-screw before the decking gets involved.
A re-screw is a one-visit job on most roofs. We count the fasteners, price it in writing, and replace every one that has failed — not just the ones you can see.
What a re-screw includes
Every fastener, not a sample
- Walk every panel and flag backed-out, rusted, over-driven, and washer-failed fasteners
- Remove the old screw and drive a larger-diameter Lifetime WoodZac screw into fresh wood on the same purlin line
- Replace fasteners at ridge caps, eave trim, and rake trim — where wind loads them hardest
- Check panel seams, closures, and pipe boots while we are up there, and tell you what we found
- Written scope before we start; photos of what we replaced when we are done
If the panels are past saving, the honest next step is on our metal roofing page — Tuff Rib and standing-seam systems installed new. Leaks at chimneys and walls rather than screw lines are usually a flashing problem.
Re-screw questions
- What does it mean to re-screw a metal roof?
- Replacing the fasteners on an exposed-fastener metal roof — the screws you can see across the panel face — with new ones. The old screw comes out and a larger-diameter screw with a fresh sealing washer goes in, biting new wood on the same framing line. It is the single most common maintenance job on a Tuff Rib or similar ribbed roof.
- Why are the screws on my metal roof backing out?
- Daily expansion and contraction of the panel in the sun, working the screw against the wood it is set in, until the fibers compress and the screw rides up. It happens fastest on south- and west-facing slopes and on screws that were over- or under-driven at install.
- Can you just tighten the old screws?
- Snugging a backed-out screw back down is a temporary fix at best — the wood around it is already compressed, so it will back out again, and the washer that failed is still failed. Re-screwing with a larger fastener into fresh wood is the repair that holds.
- Which screws do you use?
- Lifetime WoodZac screws, the fastener line we standardize on for re-screws. They step up in diameter over the original so they bite new wood, and they carry a sealing washer designed for panel-to-wood applications.
- When is a re-screw not enough?
- When panels themselves are rusted through, when the seams have opened, or when the leaks are at valleys, chimneys, and wall transitions rather than along the screw lines. At that point you are looking at panel replacement or a full metal re-roof, and we will say so rather than sell you a re-screw.