OT metal roofs

[parris]

It's getting to be time for us to replace the roof on our house and we're looking at options. Has anyone replaced their asphalt shingle roof with a metal roof? For metal roof owners what did/do you like or don't like about them? TIA.

[cp43]

We replaced asphalt with a standing seam steel roof.

Pros:
- snow slides off, no more ice dams. This was a big one for us, maybe not for you, depending on where you live.
- 50 year warranty. Hopefully we never need it, but, even if it doesn't last 50 years, it should last much longer than asphalt shingles.
- Easy to mount solar panels on. No holes in the roof to mount panels, they clamp to the standing seams.

Cons:
- It's noisy. when it rains, the reverberates a bit. When it gets hot, it will expand and buckle a little, and make a loud noise. The shape of the sheets accounts for the expansion, so it's not damaging, but, the noise is there.
- Walking on the roof is not easy, and can damage it. It has a max pressure rating, which is higher than the typical pressure for a persons shoe, so it can be walked on, but you do need to be careful. Also, it's much more slippery than a shingled roof. No one really needs to be on our roof very often, so it's not a big deal to us.
- It was more expensive. We did the roof as a part of a bigger project, so I'm not sure exactly the cost difference from shingles, but, it was more.

I think that's it, let me know if you have specific questions. Bottom line, we're happy with it, and would do it again.

Chris

[Climb01742]

+1 on cp43's points. It's a good list.

I'll add one more thing about snow. Depending on the roof pitch, snow can slide off slowly. Little hard to describe, but the snow on our roof slides off without falling off for awhile. Meaning it will slide as a sheet and overhang the lip of the roof for a time (and distance) before breaking off and falling. There's no issue except for two possible ones: it can look odd to have this sheet of snow suspended beyond your roof waiting to break off. And depending what's under that overhang of snow (cars? people? pets?) the moment it breaks off can be, um, interesting. My solution was to take a kayak paddle and push up from underneath (carefully!) to slice the overhang off. And be careful if there are plants and/or exterior AC compressor units under where snow will slide off the roof. The snow can be heavy. Ask me how I know.;)

But all in all, big fan of raised seam metal roofs. Love how they look.

[2LeftCleats]

We never had any problem with ours other than caring for it. We lived in the woods so lots of fall leaves. Ours had horizontal ridges above the gutter to prevent sheets of ice sliding off. The spaces between the ridge and the standing seams got clogged with sticks and leaf debris. It was hard to clear those and the leaves without getting up there. Walking on a metal roof with a leaf blower requires more caution—need grippy soles and dry conditions. Ours was laid over foam which helps insulate and dampens sound. Several years after installation a section was damaged by a fallen tree, and repair was fairly simple. If I had a choice of roof types, I’d go for metal. Not sure if there are energy tax rebates any longer, but I think we got some sort of credit when we installed ours.

[ColonelJLloyd]

A standing seam metal roof will cost 3x (sometimes/often more) than dimensional asphalt shingles. If it's installed on top of decking like you would a shingle roof then there are obviously no issues with walking between the seams. This drastically reduces any noise (the sound is desirable to some people). 22ga can be installed on lathing, but most builders would prefer decking for good reason.

[alancw3]

cp43's analysis great. I cannot stress enough, if you are a light sleeper, as I am, I could not stand the metal roof on a house that I bought. so much so that I finally had to move.

[VTCaraco]

Roofers just started a very-premature replacement for us.
We bought into the architectural grade organic shingles in 2003. Changed home insurance and the agent pointed out that our shingles looked like $#&@ in places and suggested we contact the roofer.
All sorts of class-action suits out there, but each of the 4 companies pointed a finger to the other 3, confidently declaring that (1) our shingles were DEFINITELY organic, (2) our shingles had clearly failed catastrophically and prematurely, and (3) they were NOT produced by them and it must be one of the other 3 options.
SUPER-frustrating, but they would have only covered about $2k of a $16k job.

With this bitter taste, I DID inquire about standing seam and, as suggested, the price was about 3x the price for fiberglass shingles. In many ways I like the standing seam, but they are a strong statement from an architectural point of view and may/may-not suit the home.

We're planning on down-sizing in a few years, so it's Owens-Corning for us.

[kramnnim]

I installed metal roofs for ~10 years. (not a fun job)

Power bill should be lower in the summer with metal, shingles soak up a lot of heat during the day and hold it long after sunset.

[sokyroadie]

Everyone is talking standing seam which is very expensive, a standard 26 ga. metal roof that is screwed down, is only slightly higher than shingles, at least in my area.

[Ralph]

As a kid growing up in a rural area on a farm in SW NC.....have fond memories of going to sleep to the sound of rain on the tin roof.

Where we currently live....My HOA will not approve a metal roof in our subdivision. Something to check out in you live in a community with HOA.

[redir]

I lived in an old farm house built in 1920 and I loved when it poured rain outside. I've been thinking about getting metal for when we need to replace the roof on the new house. Our outbuildings have metal roofs and they are great and last forever. The problem with the new house is that the roof is so steep we have had painters tell us they would not even consider painting if we had metal roofs.

[zap]

We had standing seam metal roofing installed on additions to our house in Maryland. The first was for our outdoor room and the metal roofing kept the much used outdoor room cooler in the summer.

The second install was for our rather large front portico addition. This time we went with a pencil rib design so the panels were thicker 24 gauge. This helped reduce the amount of waviness in the panels.

[unterhausen]

my neighbor had a metal roof put in last year. It's the cheap kind. Looks okay. As far as snow sheets, I though most places would require you to have something to keep them from sliding, because that can be deadly.

I put a metal roof on my shed. Still haven't quite finished the center cover on top because it's too slippery to walk on. My neighbor said it should be no problem, but I don't want him to come over to show me, because I'm pretty sure he would fall off.

[ColonelJLloyd]

I put a metal roof on my shed. Still haven't quite finished the center cover on top because it's too slippery to walk on. My neighbor said it should be no problem, but I don't want him to come over to show me, because I'm pretty sure he would fall off.

Clean roof (rinse the pollen/dust off the night before with a hose) + warm day + athletic shoes

[Climb01742]

I think metal roofs are like marble or soapstone countertops. The aesthetics make the argument, not the economics. And that’s so personal. I’d do a metal roof again in a heartbeat but never again soapstone countertops.:no:

[el cheapo]

Decided not to go metal when I found out it would ruin my free over-the-air rabbit ear antennae TV reception.

[Louis]

I considered going metal, but that quickly ended when I compared the cost to asphalt shingles. As I recall, it was a factor of ~ x3

[R3awak3n]

I considered going metal, but that quickly ended when I compared the cost to asphalt shingles. As I recall, it was a factor of ~ x3

I wanted metal, wife doesn't but was talking to @adampaiva who just put a nice metal roof on his cabin and I was not aware how much more expensive they are. Looks like I will have a shingles roof, say it lasts 20 years, I will be long gone from here by the time it needs to be replaced.

[parris]

Thanks for the info so far. We live in Upstate NY so snow and ice are part of life. I'm just starting to look into the different systems of metal roofing so thanks for bringing up the standing seam roof option. When we do put a new roof on the house we're going to have to strip the old roof. My wife is totally on board with the metal roof idea and we've seen several houses lately that have them in the area. I also like the thought of being able to possibly increase insulation that looks to be possible with at least some of the systems.

One of the things that I didn't mention is that we're looking to put a porch on the front of the house at the same time as well as some other outside work and figure that it makes sense to get it done at one time. I also want this to be the last roof we have to put on the house if possible. We're looking to retire in the next 7 years or so. When we do retire we don't look to stay in the area due to no family and stupid NY taxes.

[adampaiva]

Here's mine, installed last fall. We installed over top of the old asphalt shingles with 2x4 spacers and plywood, then the standing seam roof. That was $14k.

https://live.staticflickr.com/4840/44338178260_d76e4a3676_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ay1KFj)20181202-Dec 02 20185-04 PM_1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ay1KFj) by Adam Paiva (https://www.flickr.com/photos/adampaiva/), on Flickr

I'm very happy with it. There's no noise with the way it was installed. Mostly aesthetic for me but I think it was an improvement for the cabin in multiple ways. Now just have to get to the rest of the exterior.

I'm in Catskills btw, so depending on how upstate you are, send a pm and I'll pass along my roofer's contact. His price was significantly better than the other two quotes I got.

[parris]

Adam thanks for the photo. I'm in the Binghamton area.

[CNY rider]

We had Fred Hall and sons do our roof 2 years ago.
Fantastic professionals.
I’m about 90 minutes northeast of you so I’m not sure if they go out your way.
We intended to get a metal roof so it would shed snow.
Unfortunately we have a multi peak roof with a north face that gets no sun for about 6 weeks of the winter.
He told us to forget metal because ice would just jam in the valleys and the snow wouldn’t slide.
So we had them do shingles and they did a great job at a fair price. They are true professionals.
They told us the date work was to start and said they would be there at 0700.
I looked out the bedroom window at 0705 that morning and there they were starting to pull supplies off the truck.

[redir]

Decided not to go metal when I found out it would ruin my free over-the-air rabbit ear antennae TV reception.

Is your antenna in the attic? I never had that problem with one mounted outside along the roofs facia board close to the metal roof but fully exposed.

[cp43]

Thanks for the info so far. We live in Upstate NY so snow and ice are part of life. I'm just starting to look into the different systems of metal roofing so thanks for bringing up the standing seam roof option. When we do put a new roof on the house we're going to have to strip the old roof. My wife is totally on board with the metal roof idea and we've seen several houses lately that have them in the area. I also like the thought of being able to possibly increase insulation that looks to be possible with at least some of the systems.

One of the things that I didn't mention is that we're looking to put a porch on the front of the house at the same time as well as some other outside work and figure that it makes sense to get it done at one time. I also want this to be the last roof we have to put on the house if possible. We're looking to retire in the next 7 years or so. When we do retire we don't look to stay in the area due to no family and stupid NY taxes.


FWIW, if you're going to stay in the house for ~10 years or less, it might not be worth it to get a metal roof. A big part of it for us was that we plan to stay in the house longer than a shingle roof would likely last. A good shingle roof should last you 10 years easily, consider letting the next owner worry about the roof after that.

[Climb01742]

Here's mine, installed last fall. We installed over top of the old asphalt shingles with 2x4 spacers and plywood, then the standing seam roof. That was $14k.

https://live.staticflickr.com/4840/44338178260_d76e4a3676_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ay1KFj)20181202-Dec 02 20185-04 PM_1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ay1KFj) by Adam Paiva (https://www.flickr.com/photos/adampaiva/), on Flickr

I'm very happy with it. There's no noise with the way it was installed. Mostly aesthetic for me but I think it was an improvement for the cabin in multiple ways. Now just have to get to the rest of the exterior.

I'm in Catskills btw, so depending on how upstate you are, send a pm and I'll pass along my roofer's contact. His price was significantly better than the other two quotes I got.

Cool cabin. Gotta say, when I think of cabins in the Catskills, yours really fits the bill. Can't say why for sure (maybe it's because I lived in Woodstock for a year) but when I think of Catskills cabins, I always picture a funky 60s vibe, a cool, simple place to chill in the woods. Yay you.

[chiasticon]

Cool cabin. Gotta say, when I think of cabins in the Catskills, yours really fits the bill. ... Yay you.agreed! awesome spot!

[rwsaunders]

Standing seam metal roofs are usually reserved for commercial projects because of the cost and in some cases, they are required by zoning ordinances for aesthetic reasons. Metal roofs definitely cost more than composite shingles and their life cycle is beyond our lives, with the exception of the paint, which is why metal roofs aren't standard on most houses. You pay for the material, labor skills and longevity.

On our home's front entrance which has a barrel vault shape, I opted to install flat seam terne coated stainless steel panels...20 years and looking awesome, but the average American only owns their home for 8.7 years, so why build for the next buyer, right? Because we thought that it looked way better and would perform better than other options.

If you live in an area of extreme climate conditions like Charleston, SC or Ludlow, VT, a metal roof might make sense. Other than that, like bikes sometimes, it comes down to personal preference. BTW, green building standards have helped develop metal roofing options like "cool" roof paint finishes. Worth looking into if you're in the market for a metal roof.

[Red Tornado]

I wanted metal, wife doesn't but was talking to @adampaiva who just put a nice metal roof on his cabin and I was not aware how much more expensive they are. Looks like I will have a shingles roof, say it lasts 20 years, I will be long gone from here by the time it needs to be replaced.

The wife and I have discussed metal as our shingle roof is 18 y/o (same age as house). A friend who does roofing told me the shingles are in good shape for their age, but probably next 6-8 years in his opinion, we will need to replace them. In eight years from now I'll be 60 and our big question, like you, is how long will we remain in this house? We probably have one more move we're willing to do, so if we wait until the roof NEEDS replaced, might not get the full value out of a metal roof while still there. I really like the looks of them though and the way they keep some of the heat out of the attic area.

[smontanaro]

One further (maybe) point. We are in the process of deciding what to replace an old asphalt shingle roof with. As it's in a wooded (often humid in the summer) area, we have some moss issues. I am told this is not a problem with steel roofs.

[parris]

CP43 Thanks for that post! I hadn't considered that we'd actually be out of the house before needing to replace the next roof. This may change the direction we're thinking about going.