As a Merrillville metal roof coating contractor, we find the loose screws, open laps, and rust on your building, repair them, and coat the panels.
Merrillville metal roof coating work starts with what the roof is already showing you. These six conditions, each tied to the weather or use behind it, come up most.
Snowmelt
Heat
Age
Hail
Drainage
Foot Traffic
Most metal roofs we see land in one of three columns below. Where yours lands decides whether we coat, repair and then coat, or recommend new panels.
| Roof Detail | Coat It | Repair, Then Coat | Replace It |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panel Steel | Firm, with surface rust only | Firm, with a few rusted-through spots | Soft or holed across large areas |
| Screws And Washers | Tight, washers aging | Many loose or stripped | Pulling through rotted purlins |
| Laps And Seams | Closed, sealant dried out | Gapping along long runs | Panels shifted or torn at the laps |
| Insulation Below | Dry when probed | Wet in small, marked areas | Wet across most of the roof |
| Drainage | Water clears within a day | Ponding near clogged gutters | Deck sagging into low bowls |
Every roof we coat follows the same five steps in the same order. Coating over one missed step, such as a split washer, only buys a season.
We walk every panel run, check each curb and skylight, probe for wet insulation, and photograph what we find. You get the repair list before any price.
Pressure washing strips chalky old paint, grime, and bird droppings so primer and coating grip clean steel. The roof dries fully before the next step starts.
Loose rust comes off by wire brush or grinder down to firm metal. A rust-inhibiting primer then covers each treated spot before it can flash-rust again.
Stripped and backed-out screws are swapped for oversized fasteners with new washers. Each head and every side and end lap then gets sealant or fabric-reinforced mastic.
Coating goes on in passes, sprayed or rolled, with wet thickness checked by gauge as the work moves. Laps, curbs, and eaves take an extra pass where water works hardest.
Leaks around HVAC curbs and skylights are the most common reason owners call. Tell us where the water shows up inside, and the roof walk starts right above it.
Pick the roof you manage below. Each panel shows which coating system fits that roof and what we check before it goes on.
Screw-down steel roofs on warehouses and shops get the rust treated, every fastener sealed, and a coating built up over the laps in one continuous layer.
Silicone keeps working under water that sits for a day or two after rain, so it suits low-slope sections and roofs whose drains never quite clear.
Acrylic is a water-based coating for pitched metal roofs that shed water fast. It goes on in mild, dry weather and is simple to recoat years later.
Spray foam adds a continuous insulating layer over the deck or the old panels, and a protective coating on top keeps sunlight off the foam.
Worn shingles that still lie flat and hold their granules can take a coating made for asphalt, once broken shingles and flashing are fixed.
Here is the same roof before and after a coating job, condition by condition, from the eaves to the rooftop units.
We coat commercial metal roofs in Merrillville and five nearby towns: Crown Point, Schererville, Hobart, St. John, and Cedar Lake.
Outside these towns? Call us or send us a message.
Seven questions owners ask most before a coating job, answered in plain terms with the local facts that apply.
Surface rust is fine to coat once it is treated. We grind or wire-brush it back to firm steel, prime it, and seal the screws and laps. Panels with holes or soft, flaking steel get replaced first, because a coating bridges small gaps but cannot rebuild missing metal.
Look for thin coating at the laps, chalk that rubs off on your hand, fine cracking, or bare steel showing at screw heads. Many coated roofs reach that point at 10 to 15 years. A spring roof walk each year spots it early, so the recoat goes on before rust starts again.
Large distribution and storage roofs are where coating makes the most sense, since the screws and laps fail long before the steel does. We coat in sections planned around dock schedules, so trucks keep loading and the racks inside stay in use.
Retail strips with metal roofs, or metal sections over the stores, coat well. We split the job by tenant space, seal the curb under each store's rooftop unit, and keep the work above the ceiling, so shops below stay open while we move along the roof.
Plan on roughly $2.50 to $4.00 per square foot to coat, against about $5 to $8 per square foot for new panels. Your price is set after the inspection. Rust treatment, the count of screws and laps to seal, primer, coating thickness, and roof access move it up or down.
Snow bands off Lake Michigan can reach northwest Indiana and leave deep snow that melts slowly. Meltwater creeps into laps and around screws, freezes overnight, and pries joints open. Sealed laps and fasteners under a coating close those entry points, and clear gutters let the melt drain away.
Check with the Merrillville Building Department before work starts. The Town reviews projects for code compliance and requires contractors to be licensed with it, and commercial buildings fall under the Indiana Building Code (675 IAC 13). Whether a coating job needs a permit comes down to its scope.
Tell us about the roof, or run the ballpark estimate to compare coating against new panels.