Why does my metal roof keep leaking around the screws?
Exposed fasteners on metal roofs frequently fail and cause water to leak into the same locations repeatedly. Fixing these recurrent leaks often requires expensive screw replacements or extensive structural repairs, leaving homeowners to face high contractor costs over and over again.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- People have been saying this in most months since September 2026.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Why does my metal roof keep leaking around the screws?
- 1Replacing screws with thicker onesDid this help you?
- 2Using a high quality urethane based sealant or silicone to caulk around every screwDid this help you?
- 3Calling the roofing contractor back to report the ongoing leakDid this help you?
- 4Inspecting brickwork and mortar gaps for alternative points of water ingressDid this help you?
- 5Replacing the loose screws with larger rescue screwsDid this help you?
- 6Finding a smaller handyman operation instead of a roofing contractor to avoid being upsold to a full replacementDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“water ingress and the state of the roofing, £2.6k later roofing removed back to rafters, refelted, new timbers, new dry verge, removed and replaced old lead with new code5 apron and flashing.”source ↗
“my parents reported water dripping again (same location, near top of the extension roof).”source ↗
“Not a roofer but dealt with similar on my place. The screws backing out after 20 years is pretty normal, the thermal expansion just works them loose over time.”source ↗
“Now I have a leak and they are telling me the screws need to be replaced with "long life" screws. they want $1000 to replace the screws along the dormer where the leak is or $5000 to do the whole roof.”source ↗
“Long story short I have continually had screws back out over time.”source ↗
“I've had a few leaks in the last few years I've managed to fix by using #14 rescue screws.”source ↗
“my experience with this is that the few companies I have reached out in the past most want to just go straight to quoting a new roof.”source ↗