I have this huge old hog barn (late 1960s) on my property the roof is pretty rusted. I contemplated on painting it, painting the sides might be ok, but I don’t think painting the roof would last. What should I do with the roof?

by penelope5674

9 Comments

  1. penelope5674

    Not looking to spend a lot of money just using it as storage for unimportant items. Just mainly want it to not look so ugly

  2. Pressure wash and paint or tear it off and put new steel on. Thats it as far as I know. In my experience brushed or rolled is much longer lasting then sprayed

  3. SignificantTowel9952

    Check out roof sealant paint. It’s a rubberized paint basically like flex seal but cheaper.

  4. Own_Bluebird6815

    Do you have sheathing under those panels? Theres a few more options if you do, but assuming you don’t:

    1)Pressure wash it and paint it
    2)New corrugated roof panels. This would be your priciest option of these 3
    3) Apoc 243, found at lower or whatever, is actually a pretty decent product the homeowner can apply themselves

  5. Odd_Preparation_730

    They commonly paint old chicken house roofs with a metallic aluminum paint. In my area people come around every year or 2 offering to paint them for a few hundred.

  6. NefariousnessFew3454

    Get a couple 5 gallon buckets of oil based primer or DTM paint. Make yourself a big paintbrush out of a soft bristle broom. Go up there after it rains and just slosh it on. Start at the bottom and pull the paint up. Wear thrift store clothes and shoes you don’t care about cause it’s gonna get everywhere. That’s the cheapest decent option. You should be able to get the whole thing done in a day. Pick an overcast day after a recent rain. You don’t really need to pressure wash it you just need it to not be dusty.

    You can spend a little more on the materials and get rust converter paint. If you care.

    White paint might be too bright. Go with a light grey or light blue color.

    You can spent a little more still and get fibered aluminum roof coating which is objectively a better product, for tar and asphalt roofs usually, but if your roof isn’t leaking yet and your metal is decent then you can use regular oil paint.

  7. SpaceGoatAlpha

    While it definitely isn’t in the ballpark of ‘not spending a lot of money’ I think that this is a good opportunity for installing solar panels.   You’ll need to check the structure to make sure it can hold the weight of the panels in addition to any snow load.

    https://www.agriculture.com/thmb/ud78mtZ28YwbAeHsoXoX3ok_4so=/1500×0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Solar20panels20on20Minnesota20barn-2000-2a018bce7a96416a9c347d09c7bee950.jpg

    If the metal roof needs to be removed you can replace the roofing with just solar panels, especially in a situation like this with accessory storage where it really isn’t a big deal if there’s some leaks.

  8. UnexpectedRedditor

    Depending on location, you might be able to sell the used panels (although slowly) to recoup some cost on reroofing. I regularly see rusted panels selling around me for $20 a sheet.

    If you don’t care too much about appearance you can also just start replacing in sections as you can afford it. Replace the worst areas or sections over more important areas first.

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