Metal Roof. Orangish coating + Footprints from Santa? Rust or Oxidation?

Roof Cleaning
1

A family member asked me to look at doing some pressure washing at one of their rental units. When I was out looking at the townhouse, I noticed the metal roof over the front “porch”. I didn’t have a ladder with me so I didn’t get up there and do a finger test but it looks like rust maybe or oxidation. Any of you guys come across this? I did a search but didn’t see anything similar for metal roof discussions.

They didn’t ask me to clean the roof but figured if I could knock it out real quick while I was there for them. I would.

Notice the footprints on the roof. I figured a kid or something was crawling out the window and walking on it, but when I looked around the neighborhood almost every other house has a similar looking roof over the front porch and they pretty much all also have footprints like that. So I’m thinking that somehow those footprints are from the installation and there was something on their shoes that is affecting how that rusts or oxidizes. I’m honestly baffled because I don’t really see how that’s possible. But like I said almost every roof has the same look and same footprints :joy:

1000024953
10000249531920×1446 314 KB

1000024957
10000249571920×1446 255 KB

2

Here are some ideas- It’s oxidation, not rust. There are some products that claim to remove oxidation, some you spray on some you brush/agitate.

The foot prints could be from a window cleaner?, cleaning gutters? Or someone who was on the that roof and “disturbed” the oxidation. A finger test (rubbing the metal roofing) would yield the same results.

3

Looks like oxidation to me. In my area, we have several developments that have shingle roof roofs for majority of the house, but small little accent pieces over the front porches that have metal roofs just like this one. You can probably get it off with just a house wash mix, but you will likely have to scrub it or apply pressure. I normally just hit them with a soft bristle brush like the green 270° one that I use for gutter brightening. Be sure to cool it off really well first that way it’s not hot in the Summer sun. But don’t do it last, as you want to ensure that once it dries it all looks uniform, and that you didn’t miss any spots.

1 Like