Sheeting & Cladding

Roof Sheeting & Cladding Experts You Can Trust in South Africa

Sheeting and cladding look simple from the ground — sheets of metal fixed to a frame. They aren't. The difference between a roof that stays weathertight for decades and one that leaks, lifts and corrodes within a few years comes down almost entirely to who installed it, and how. At Sicon Group we pride ourselves on being South Africa's roof sheeting and cladding experts — here's what that expertise actually means in practice.

Why Sheeting Is More Technical Than It Looks

Fixing a sheet to a purlin is easy. Doing it so the roof stays watertight through years of Highveld storms, hail and thermal movement is not. Every one of these decisions affects whether the roof performs: the profile chosen for the pitch and span, the type and placement of every fixing, how far the sheets lap and whether those laps are sealed, how much room the sheeting has to expand and contract, and how every ridge, valley and penetration is detailed.

Get any one of them wrong and the roof will tell you — usually in the first big storm, and usually somewhere expensive.

The Mistakes That Cost You

We're regularly called out to roofs that failed early, and the causes repeat:

• The wrong profile for the pitch — on a low-pitch roof, water backs up under the laps instead of running off
• Fixings in the wrong place — driven through the pan instead of the crest, so every screw sits in the water path
• Over- or under-tightened fixings — crushed washers that leak, or loose sheets that lift in wind
• Insufficient or unsealed laps — the single most common source of a slow, hard-to-find leak
• No allowance for thermal movement — sheets buckle, fixing holes elongate, and the fixings eventually fail
• Sloppy detailing at ridges, valleys, flashings and penetrations — where roofs leak first
• Cutting sheets with an angle grinder — the hot swarf embeds itself in the coating and rusts, leaving a roof speckled with corrosion spots within months

What Real Expertise Looks Like

A specialist installation gets all of the above right as a matter of course:

• Correct specification — profile, gauge and material matched to the pitch, span and exposure
• Correct fixings, correctly placed and torqued — in the crest, sealed, and tightened to the right point
• Proper laps and sealing — sized and sealed for the roof's pitch and conditions
• Room to move — allowance built in for the sheeting's thermal expansion and contraction
• Meticulous detailing — ridges, valleys, flashings and every penetration finished properly
• Clean cutting methods — no grinders on coated sheeting, so no swarf and no rust freckles
• The structure checked first — purlins and fixing points inspected and repaired before new sheets go on

Cladding Isn't Just Roofing Turned Sideways

Wall cladding has its own set of demands. It fixes to different substrates, has to stay weather-tight at every junction with the roof, windows and openings, moves vertically with temperature, and — because it's the face of the building — has to line up straight and look right. Cladding done by someone who only understands roofs tends to show it: uneven lines, poor junction detailing, and water finding its way in behind the sheets. Doing both properly, and making them work together as one envelope, is a specialist job.

What to Expect from Sicon Group

Sicon Group installs roof sheeting and cladding across South Africa, with certified, insured teams and guaranteed workmanship. Every job starts with an honest assessment of the structure and a specification matched to the building and its climate — not a one-size-fits-all sheet. Whether it's a full re-sheet, new cladding, or both as a single envelope, the aim is the same: a roof that's still doing its job in twenty years.