Pressed Metal Tiles - Decramastic, Decrabond, Colorshield & Gerard

Pressed Metal Tiles (Decra) have been around for many years and are still available today. The concept is simple, provide a light weight roofing material that looks good.

Decra tiles are no different to Concrete Tiles in that they suffer from weathering, hail damage and careless foot traffic. Decra tiles can readily be repaired and refurbished.

1 - WEATHERING

Overall natural weathering is characterised by general chip coating loss. The following pictures are of a typical restoration process of a roof suffering from natural weathering. We completed this job about 1985.

An overall view showing the bands of chip loss typical of weathered tiles. Note the difference here to the hail damage type chip loss. Here loss is general and not confined to specific impacted areas. It shows in "bands" (see photo above).

The stone chips are be distributed by hand into wet binder.

2 - HAIL DAMAGED STONE CHIP ROOFS

This is typified by specific area chip and coating loss (or loosening). It is confined strictly to areas actually impacted by hail and is almost always repairable. A different pattern of chip loss can be caused by smaller hail that is driven by high wind but this is fairly rare.

After cleaning, the true extent of the surface damage is obvious. Here distinction can be drawn between Decramastic and Decrabond roofing. On Decramastic roofs, the chip loss is usually associated with coating (bitumen) loss resulting in bare galvanised iron being exposed. On Decrabond the chips can be dislodged but the coloured binder (in lieu of bitumen) usually remains. To recap: Decramastic roofs loose chips and coating, Decrabond roofs loose just chips (usually).

Shows the same roof after localised re-chipping and finished binder. Note the two types of marks that are still showing where the repair was effected.

(A) Light spots - where the newly applied chips are absent, less dense or where the binder is thicker and fills the texture of the chips somewhat. This causes the low gloss of the binder to better reflect the light and shows as 'shiny spots' on the finished job. These dull as the material weathers and looses its gloss.

(B) Dark spots - these occur where re-chipping was carried out and is caused by chips sitting 'deeper' or 'proud'. They cast bigger shadows and these show as darker patches. As the roof gets dirty with weather and pollution fallout, the filth shows darker. The repair is harder to see. While re-chipping is designed to minimise patchiness by creating a reasonable texture match, it does create an early unevenness of its own.

Often the true extent of the damage is inconspicuous. Picture 1 shows the roof before the cleaning and Picture 2 shows the same roof after extensive surface preparation.

These pictures are of interest for two reasons. (1) It explains why we need a fixed price rate. We really do not know for sure how bad the damage is until after the water blasting. (2) It shows how badly damaged a roof can be but still be repairable.

3 - OTHER DAMAGE

Denting cannot cause rusting. The cathodic protection afforded steel by zinc cannot be compromised in this way.

There are two distinctly different types of denting on hail damaged metal tiles.

(1) Caused by careless pedestrian traffic - this is 'V' shaped kinks bending down tiles and not related to the obvious hail chip loss i.e. you will see a kink without associated shiny spot. Picture shows tile damage caused by careless pedestrian traffic. Note also the scuff marks on the tile noses and high edges. These kinks can be easily popped up, but we recommend against it as the tile splitting sometimes (seldom) occurs.

Click here for information on how to walk on Pressed Metal Tiled Roofs.

(2) Denting caused by hailstone - these look like the dents in the bonnet of a car, and are always associated with specific shiny spots where both chip and coating loss is obvious. As a general rule the re-chipping and mottling procedures render them quite inconspicuous.

DECRAMASTIC/DECRABOND ROOFS - REPLACEMENT NEEDED?

This season's storms have seen certain insurers pay for replacement of `Decra' and Decra type roofs because `they were dented' &/or `too much stone chip loss'. The original manufacturers in New Zealand routinely refurbish these roofs with up to total (100%) chip loss, rusted tiles and dented tiles.

We carry out this work regularly ourselves. Should you find yourself in a dispute about the replacement of this product, please feel free to contact us for technical information and manufacturer's case histories &/or our Australian case histories

Click here for an over view of the Decrabond process.

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