metal roof? (roofing, vinyl, springs, heat)

[poconoproud]

Looking for input on metal roofs from those who have them.

Pros & Cons?

[BlueWillowPlate]

Well, I think it looks great, but it's kinda loud when it rains.

[TKramar]

Originally Posted by poconoproud

Looking for input on metal roofs from those who have them.

Pros & Cons?

I have a metal roof...I live in a trailer.

If you've put on a metal roof, you can, as of 2007 at least, get an energy credit on your home, which will lower your tax bill. Unfortunately, there's a limitation on the size of the credit, and it doesn't help if you have no tax liability...

anyway, just throwing that out there...

[Coldjensens]

they use them a lot in the south. They supposedly last a long time with little maintenance. I always wondered what it was like in a hail storm?

[wordsmith680]

I researched metal roofing because of a 50' slope on the north side of our home. The roof will sag if over 4' of snow and shoveling is not my favorite thing. Metal, standing seam will shed best, but metal shingles should also be better than asphalt. I haven't done metal and have experience with traditional, so as a matter of economics that is the way I am going. Metal $125 - 170/sg vs 45/sq asphalt. Life of metal is longer but after another 25 years it won't be my issue......Also, many times a tear off of the old roof is not required for metal, but I decided it was critical in my case. (shingles are like hazardous waste,expensive to get rid of) If your home is properly insulated noise should not be a big issue. (roofing is all subject to hail damage....metal has a rating system of sorts)

[poconoproud]

Thanks for the responses! What I really am curious about, is if 1. it drives people nuts when it rains, 2. gets damaged easily with hail 3. lowers energy costs 4. snow slides off in an absolute avalanche?

[southernnaturelover]

I own three houses and two of them have metal roofs that myself and a friend installed ourselves. They are popular along the gulf coast now because of hurricanes. People got tired of hurricanes blowing off their shingles. If you leave your asphalt shingles in place and install the metal over them, the noise is not an issue, it's actually fairly quiet. The existing decking and shingles will buffer the noise. You will have to use 1x4 lathing boards under the metal to provide "breathing" room. Don't screw the metal directly to the decking. Also, screw the lathing boards down, don't nail them. All of the metal roofs I have seen blown off were because the lathing boards were nailed down and not anchored well enough. We don't have snow here, so I can't comment on that.

[Cosmic]

Thinking about building a new house at some stage. Been thinking about metal roofing, you see a lot of it here in S.E. Ohio. I especially am thinking of the standing seam.

Not that many con's AFAIK. Cost used to be one of them but with the cost of oil, it is starting to appear metal might actually be cheaper. Was at a trade show recently and found one supplier that was quoting about $56 a square for heavy guage galvanized metal with a color coating in a lot of different shades.

You will be hard pressed to do the better quality asphalt shingles for that money now in this part of the country. The metal might be cheaper installed plus you can custom order it for a particular house, panels that fit exact.

My area does get some good hail storms on occassion. Peeps are saying, the metal roof usually doesn't get any damage, not so with most others. Even one big storm a few years back damaged vinyl sidings but my insurance guy was telling me they had almost no claims for the metal roof. Slate and metal seem to be the best hail resistent type of roof.

I sort of like the sound of rain on the roof. Don't know if it is a problem. Some of the government type building have it here. Can't hear nothing when it rains. Probably depends on the insulation and how the structure is built.

I think the energy aspects of it more depend on things like having a good under roof air flow design system. Same for just about any other type roofing. You do need to think out the roof venting a lot more careful. Some buildings have a lil peak structure designed it for that purpose.

The snow does tend to slide off but part of that also probably comes back to a properly designed under roof air flow system. With that you don't get the interior heat involved so much in the melting process. One health building here has a beautiful metal roof and they just let the rain drip off the edges, also say snow slides are not much of a problem but we don't get major amounts of snow usually.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by poconoproud

Thanks for the responses! What I really am curious about, is if 1. it drives people nuts when it rains, 2. gets damaged easily with hail 3. lowers energy costs 4. snow slides off in an absolute avalanche?

We had a long torrential downpour last week; I can't say that it really drove me nuts, but we do have an upstairs, and our main living area is on the main level--so there is a bit of space between. When it is a gentle rain, it *is* kind of a nice little tinkly sound. Supposedly, our metal roof is very eco-conscious, but I don't know the construction details. I could ask.

I've been living in north Florida for 2 and a half years and while we do get winter, I have not seen hail yet, so can't comment on hail damage here.

I had a friend who lived in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where they get their share of snow (and possible hail), and it seemed live everyone in town had a slope-sided metal roof there. Don't remember seeing any damaged ones, though.
Hailstorms in Denver are not uncommon,I've seen the dents on cars and even one of our doorknobs--I suppose, in terms of metal roofs, the only worry is whether those dents could eventually become holes.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Okay, it's raining here now.
Wow, that storm last week must have been even more intense than I thought.
It was quite loud on the roof a week ago.
We're just having regular rain now, and I can't really hear it that well.
So I went upstairs to see how loud it was there, and it's still fairly light, rather pleasant.
So that's the weather report from this metal roof.