I’ve had butyl tape fail on my garage roof after a couple nasty winters—exact same issue, north side, and by spring the screws were rusting out. Switched over to a tube of that clear silicone (the stuff that smells awful) and it’s held up way better, even with all the temp swings we get here. It’s messier, sure, but I’d rather deal with cleanup than leaks. Funny how the “old school” caulks still seem to outlast the fancy tapes sometimes... at least in our neck of the woods.
- Seen this a lot after hail—north-facing metal roofs just take a beating.
- Tried butyl tape on a couple of our sheds. Looked fine at first, but after two freeze-thaw cycles, it peeled up and the screws started rusting underneath. Not great.
- Switched to that same clear silicone (the kind that stinks up the whole garage). It’s messy, but honestly, it’s held up through three winters now.
- Only downside: cleanup is a pain if you ever need to redo it, but I’ll take that over water stains on the ceiling any day.
- Funny how sometimes the “old school” stuff just works better in these wild Midwest seasons...