Corregated siding - Things that make a boat guy go Hmmmm.

[Flitch]

I'm curious about corregated metal siding such as I saw (from a distance) on house boats at Granville Island in vancouver last weekend. I suppose it was galvanized unless it comes in stainless? Surely if it was aluminum it would chalk up with time? Will galvanized corregated steel hold off the elements and still look good for a few years or many decades? I've seen it on walls and roofs of old buildings when it was rusty as hell.. is this the fate of the modern stuff I saw?
Flitch

[flyinwall]

in a marine environment it will be rusted out in less than a year unless it is protected from the elements

[Flitch]

This is similar to what I saw...
Only a year?
How would they protect it from the elements?
(And no I do not want to build one of these!)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2765/4519327163_1bea7a0904_o.jpg

[PeterSibley]

It's cheap ,it's easy but it's not going to last a looonnnng time .Pretty common here but the main problem seems to be using the double wall stuff with insulation bonded in between the layers .It is a great product but not on house boats . ...maybe mobile homes and cold rooms .When it starts to go you through everything away .

If you build so that the sheets are easily removeable and replaceable it can be very good .The "colorbond" material seems better near salt water than zincalum ...which is the current alloy coating in Australia .

Pretty normal in houseboat construction ...10 years at least for the "colorbond " .

[OconeePirate]

We can't live on those here. :( I would if I could. Looks like something from my '50s ID books.

Are you sure that is metal siding? There is also the fiberglass composite stuff that has the same look.

[Roger Cumming]

Corrugated sheets are available in many metals including stainless steel, painted aluminum, plain aluminum, painted galvanized steel, epoxy-coated galvanized steel, the latter has been used in offshore oil rigs. The paint coatings ("Kynar" is one) can be guaranteed for 20 years. The coatings are tested in S. Florida. The sun does most of the damage. The sheets can be used for walls or roofs although a through-fastened corrugated roof is not really leak-free as it depends on the neoprene washers at each fastener (self-tapping screw) to keep the rain out.

[PeterSibley]

Corrugated sheets are available in many metals including stainless steel, painted aluminum, plain aluminum, painted galvanized steel, epoxy-coated galvanized steel, the latter has been used in offshore oil rigs. The paint coatings ("Kynar" is one) can be guaranteed for 20 years. The coatings are tested in S. Florida. The sun does most of the damage. The sheets can be used for walls or roofs although a through-fastened corrugated roof is not really leak-free as it depends on the neoprene washers at each fastener (self-tapping screw) to keep the rain out.

The last type you mention sounds very much like the standard roofing material in Australia . Well done it is very good ...and doesn't leak !:D

[Tom Freeman]

Tested in S. Florida is a good idea. How did it fare in the hurricane season. :)

[RFNK]

Corrugated iron walls and roofs are very common in Australia and many houses located right on the beach have them. The steel sheet normally has a powder-coating or a zincalum coating. There can be few environments harsher for housing materials than an Australian surf beach as the air is constantly laden with salt spray but this material commonly lasts many years in such environments. Rick

[PeterSibley]

As well as anything Tom ...we have cyclones too and know how to build for them ...but it doesn't mean they're always survivable !

[Tom Freeman]

While I live in Seattle now, I grew up in Florida and then lived in Texas for 13 years. The hurricances and tornados give you a new appreciation for the forces of nature. So far, no big earthquakes or volcanos here. :)

[Kevin G]

Metal siding is used a lot in Iceland. It appears to be painted iron. Maybe someone else could chime in on its use there.

KG

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

The "colorbond" material seems better near salt water than zincalum ...

I built a small storage shed out of zincalume about 35 years ago (in an almost-non-marine environment) and it's still going strong.

I agree with you that Colorbond probably provides a longer-lasting surface. But it seems to be made from lighter-weight sheets than the older zincalume and even older gal iron (which last, let's face it, is the material that made Australia the country it is today....) :)

Mike

[44xt]

It is a litle hard to tell from the picture but this is most likely a "Galvalume" product. Galvalume is a coating comprised of 55% aluminum, 43.5% zinc and 1.5% silicone. It appears as a rich bright finish with a much finer chrystaline structure then traditional galvanising, which is why us architects like it so. It can stay bright for 25 years, maybe longer in almost all environments including coastal. You may have seen it used on large grocery stores or Big-box stores in your area. It is a very popular and low-maintenance finish. Google "Galvalume" for articles on the building science of this product.

[Flitch]

Thankyou 44xt. My research continues on Google. Now that i am watching for it, I am seeing many marine applications (ie. boat houses, house boats and like you say, modern architecture) for this material and I am going to try some myself.
Flitch

[Tumzara]

At first glance I thought it was probably an aluminium/polyethylene/aluminium sandwich product that here we call Alucobond but on closer inspection it does not appear to be a good enough finish, so it is probably just a powdercoated sheet steel.
As stated above colorbond should be good for 10-20 years and easy enough to replace when it goes.

[jonboy]

I built a car port with square section corrugated galvanised steel sheets twenty years ag, ok not a harsh environment here but 45º C in the summer..... cannot get anypaint to stick longer than a year so it looks awful.
I've tried every type including acid etch preps and stuff specially for painting galvanised.....any advice out there?

[b_tampa]

I just put a metal roof on a house we're remodeling. It's a stone's throw from Tampa Bay. The product I used was a 5v crimp pattern - to give it a more traditional look - coated with something called "Ceram-a-star 1050" which is some sort of paint that is warranted for 40 years. Because it was close to salt water, they recommended the stainless capped screws instead of zinc - but the heads of those are painted too.

The only thing I can tell you so far about the paint finish is that it's remarkably pliable because in discussing the manufacturing process, I learned that my supplier receives the stock as a large roll that is prepainted. They then run it through a series of rollers to get it to the desired profile. I was impressed that paint - or whatever that stuff is - could be bent that much after it was already applied and cured.

Someone above mentioned hurricanes - and there is a way to apply this material that meets the Miami-Dade standard for wind loading. It's not terribly difficult. It just requires 1/2" or greater roof sheathing with 1x4 purlins spaced at 12" on top of that - and a LOT of screws.

That was probably more than anybody wanted to know - but now you know!

[Uncle Duke]

I built a car port with square section corrugated galvanised steel sheets twenty years ag, ok not a harsh environment here but 45º C in the summer..... cannot get anypaint to stick longer than a year so it looks awful.
I've tried every type including acid etch preps and stuff specially for painting galvanised.....any advice out there?
I'd suspect that you are dealing with extremes of expansion and contraction, and that the paint can't keep up with that. You might try one of the "rubber" swimming pool paints - they have a lot more 'give'. You should be able to contact one of the manufacturers for advice.
Just a thought.