In keeping with this week's theme of New Year Resolutions, I'm happy to report that we can call one of our goals officially done -- applying the coat of roof paint over the newly patched area. Last week we talked about the work we had done on the roof to stop a very pesky leak that has been coming and going for years. To do this we had to use a roofing cement that remains a bit elastic but requires a somewhat extensive cure time before covering with a final topcoat. In our case, the top coat of choice is a reflective aluminum based roofing paint.

Years ago when we first had our skylight replaced, Mike Simpson of Lyons Contracting helped me tremendously by pointing out the current shape of our roof and the fact it was in need of a coat of paint. Growing up with shingles on our roof, I was a total stranger to the maintenance items for a standing seam metal roof like we have.

Mike informed me that we have a great roof that was made with good materials, has no serious visible problems, and is perfect for a very low pitch (like our roof has), but that there are some minor maintenance items that need to be performed on a regular basis, including painting.

Since our roof is not visible from the street we didn't need to choose a color that matches the house. As a result Mike suggested we use this particular aluminum base roof paint. It does a great job of protecting the roof by creating a somewhat thick and textured surface over the metal roof. When applies properly, it keeps water off of the metal, prevents rust and corrosion, seals up all of the joints, and saves some money by reflecting the hot sun in the summer.

In our years in the house I've painted the entire roof a couple of times. It typically takes me one full day working alone and about eight gallons of paint to do it. It makes for a long day, but at about $180-$200 for paint and supplies, it sure beats the $1500-$2000 a roofing company will charge.

Although I've painted the roof in the last two years, I still had to paint the recent patch job. The patch we applied in November had fully cured and was ready for paint. I figured we wouldn't get a shot at painting until spring when temperatures got back up above 50 degrees, but we received a small window of opportunity over New Year's weekend, so I jumped on the project.