Repair Small Holes or Bad Seams in Shipping Container Roofs With a Good Quality Coating

The Container Roof, a Weak Link

Shipping containers have generally lived an active life by the time they are retired from overseas service work. Many shipping containers are retired after a single ocean crossing but others may end up traveling the high seas three to five times before reaching their golden years. It’s at this point they are purchased and begin a new career in the storage business, or they are modified into a home or small business or else they get buried and become a storm shelter. One item that is critical for a shipping container to continue to perform in any of these areas is the condition of the roof.

Shipping container roofing is simply corrugated sheet metal with a slight side to side pitch to drain water. The steel is a special formulation called Cor-Ten Steel which protects itself by forming a rust layer and then the deterioration stops. If water puddles in a particular spot the roofing will continue to deteriorate and you may encounter small pin holes in the container roof. A simple Google search will provide you with many repairs for this condition that you can choose from and I would like to add another one here for your consideration.

In addition to storage containers, I have spent 20 years selling and leasing mobile offices. Newer mobile offices are commonly constructed with a commercial rubber roof system but many of the older ones are constructed with a galvanized steel roof. The galvanizing was only a coating and not hot dipped so it would wear out over time and like containers we would experience small pin holes in the roofing system. To repair this condition we experienced a great deal of success using a product called Kool Seal .

If you find a large tear or other kind of opening in your roofing material during your inspection then you will need to repair that with patches or do a complete tear off and replace the roof, but if you just have a deteriorating roof condition then look into Kool Seal reflective roof coatings. The Kool Seal Elastometric roof coating product forms a thick rubber-like blanket of protection that protects against moisture and expands and contracts with your roof. It remains flexible from -10F to 160F. Once you have applied Kool Seal it will last for many years, I can’t think of an occasion where I have had to re-coat a container that was coated in Kool Seal. Simply follow the manufactures application directions and you will have a long lasting and efficient roof system on your shipping container and you will seal up any small pin holes that may have formed. Kool Seal is available at many big box home improvement and at mobile home part retailers.