Honestly, silicone under every screw seems like overkill to me. I've had metal roofs on two houses now—one in a pretty harsh climate—and never bothered with extra sealant. Just replaced washers every decade or so...no leaks yet.
Gotta say, silicone under every screw does sound a bit like wearing two raincoats just in case one leaks. I mean, sure, extra protection never hurts, but there's a point where you're just making more work for yourself.
I had a metal roof on my old place out in the sticks—talk about harsh weather. We got storms that'd make Dorothy and Toto nervous. Anyway, when I first moved in, the previous owner had gone silicone-crazy on every single screw. Thought he was being smart, I guess. But after a few years, the silicone started cracking and peeling from sun exposure and temperature swings. Ended up trapping moisture underneath instead of keeping it out. Ironically, the "extra protection" caused more headaches than it prevented.
Eventually, I stripped all that gunk off (not fun, trust me) and just replaced the washers with good-quality neoprene ones. Never had another leak after that, even through some pretty epic downpours and hailstorms. Honestly, regular maintenance and decent washers seem to do the trick just fine.
Not saying silicone doesn't have its place—maybe around tricky flashing or vents—but under every screw? Nah, life's too short for that kind of drama...
Haha, silicone-crazy...been there, done that. When I bought my fixer-upper a few years back, the previous owner had a similar obsession—only his weapon of choice was roofing tar. Seriously, it looked like he'd tried to frost a cake up there. Thought he was sealing leaks, but all he did was create a sticky mess that cracked and let water sneak in anyway.
Ended up scraping off buckets of the stuff (talk about a weekend I'll never get back) and replacing shingles and flashing properly. Like you said, good washers or proper flashing usually do the trick without going overboard. Sometimes simpler really is better.
Glad you got your roof sorted out though—nothing worse than lying awake at night listening to drip-drip-drip and wondering what fresh horror you'll find in the attic come morning...
"Thought he was sealing leaks, but all he did was create a sticky mess that cracked and let water sneak in anyway."
Yup, seen that a lot—people underestimate proper flashing and think more goo is the answer. Good job tackling it head-on; scraping tar is no joke. Proper install always beats patchwork repairs in the long run.
True, proper flashing is key, but have you considered that sometimes the issue isn't just installation quality? Maybe it's also about material compatibility—especially with green roofs, where moisture retention and drainage behave differently. Seen some solid installs fail because of overlooked details like that...
