Steel Roofing
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My home, a 1850s farmhouse, has a metal roof. It is probably 75 years old.
I was going to do that because my asphalt shingles need to be replaced. Roofers quoted a new shingle roof at around 12k. I asked how much more to upgrade to metal and he chuckled and said 2-3 times the cost of the shingles. Oh well.
finesse_r
Member
More expensive, but lasts much longer than other types of roofing. If you plan to live there for a long, long time it is worth it. If you may sell in a few years you will not recoup the value in increased sales price.
islandguy
Member
Steel is a sensible choice. In the wet climate where I live, I believe it is the ONLY choice. If it rains and/or snows a lot in your area, or if there are long, hot, dry summers, I think also it is the way to go. Also a bonus in fire-prone areas. Quality and longevity are worth the extra money IMHO.
Old TexMex
Member
Top quality composition shingles are thirty year. Where I live, nothing steel lasts anywhere near that long.(unless it's wiped down and Ren Waxed regularly).
Oldiron
US Veteran
My sons and I replaced my shingle roof with metal and there is not much to it. I called up the company I bought my metal shop building from and told then how many pieces of metal, how long and how much ridge and valley tin I needed. Prep the surface, start square,screw it down and run with it.
Many roofing contractors will slap you a new shingle roof over the top of the old roof and hold out their hand for money. Personally I think that 35 more squares of shingles (180X35=3+tons of new shingles on top of the old 3 tons) is more than I wanted on my house. So, I tore off the old, applied new felt and screwed down the metal. An inside valley takes a little figuring (geometry), but is not hard,
My daughter has a manufactured home and with the garbage wood and roof they put on hers, the whole roof was in danger of going. No problem. I fired up the saw mill and cut enough 1 bys to make a lath work over the entire roof and screwed the metal down to the attached lath. 12 years now and not a single problem from it.
For me I will never own another shingle roof (except the dog house) and my oldest son, who is making plans to build, is figuring nothing but metal for the roof. My $.02 Larry
Many roofing contractors will slap you a new shingle roof over the top of the old roof and hold out their hand for money. Personally I think that 35 more squares of shingles (180X35=3+tons of new shingles on top of the old 3 tons) is more than I wanted on my house. So, I tore off the old, applied new felt and screwed down the metal. An inside valley takes a little figuring (geometry), but is not hard,
My daughter has a manufactured home and with the garbage wood and roof they put on hers, the whole roof was in danger of going. No problem. I fired up the saw mill and cut enough 1 bys to make a lath work over the entire roof and screwed the metal down to the attached lath. 12 years now and not a single problem from it.
For me I will never own another shingle roof (except the dog house) and my oldest son, who is making plans to build, is figuring nothing but metal for the roof. My $.02 Larry
Old TexMex
Member
No matter what you use, tear the old one off.
Fishinfool
Member
I have re-shingled several homes I have owned in the past. Not that difficult to figure out, but a lot of work.
A couple years ago, my house was in need of a new roof. The old shingles were coming apart, and it was time for repair before water damage started. Decided to contract it out since it was winter time, my roof has an extreme pitch, and I don't heal as fast as I used to when I fall off roofs.....I priced it with several contractors, and found a rather large difference in prices, so it pays to shop around. The prices between architectural shingles and metal was not that great. I like the look of shingles, but decided metal was going to be more long term durable.
It was $6200.00, installed over my existing shingles. It would have been more if the old shingles were removed, but I was advised to leave them on, since there was no damage under them, that they would provide increased insulating properties to the new roof. Building code allows for a new shingle roof over an old one, and a new metal roof is quite a bit lighter than shingle, so leaving the old one on made sense to me.
I was worried a metal roof might be louder in a rain storm, but that has not proven to be the case. I also ignored the contractors recommendation to install snow guards to break up sliding snow. I had him come back last year and install them, as the metal roof is slicker than shingle, and the snow and ice seems to slide down in big sheets otherwise. Heating costs are down some do to the better insulation. My only real complaint is snow, instead of sitting on the roof, tends to slide right off. I have a full length deck on both sides of the house, so have to do a lot more shoveling. Overall, I think metal is a more practical material choice.
Larry
A couple years ago, my house was in need of a new roof. The old shingles were coming apart, and it was time for repair before water damage started. Decided to contract it out since it was winter time, my roof has an extreme pitch, and I don't heal as fast as I used to when I fall off roofs.....I priced it with several contractors, and found a rather large difference in prices, so it pays to shop around. The prices between architectural shingles and metal was not that great. I like the look of shingles, but decided metal was going to be more long term durable.
It was $6200.00, installed over my existing shingles. It would have been more if the old shingles were removed, but I was advised to leave them on, since there was no damage under them, that they would provide increased insulating properties to the new roof. Building code allows for a new shingle roof over an old one, and a new metal roof is quite a bit lighter than shingle, so leaving the old one on made sense to me.
I was worried a metal roof might be louder in a rain storm, but that has not proven to be the case. I also ignored the contractors recommendation to install snow guards to break up sliding snow. I had him come back last year and install them, as the metal roof is slicker than shingle, and the snow and ice seems to slide down in big sheets otherwise. Heating costs are down some do to the better insulation. My only real complaint is snow, instead of sitting on the roof, tends to slide right off. I have a full length deck on both sides of the house, so have to do a lot more shoveling. Overall, I think metal is a more practical material choice.
Larry
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model70hunter
Member
We are trying to find a contractor to build our new home, we've been told steel will be about twice as much. Shingles are goo for 30 years, I'm 69 so it's gonna be a tie at the end.
Insurance will change out shingles when bruised by hail, not so on metal. I just built a new 40x60 ag building, that was item number one they covered. The metal basically has to be gone for replacement.
I like the looks, but cost is now the deciding factor.
Insurance will change out shingles when bruised by hail, not so on metal. I just built a new 40x60 ag building, that was item number one they covered. The metal basically has to be gone for replacement.
I like the looks, but cost is now the deciding factor.
We have the main house and seven out buildings with metal roofs. We have big wind, feet of snow, if we get hail it's the size of peas, and baking sun -- no problems.
We're in the wooded foothills of the Rockies. Our insurance company loves our incombustible metal roofs.
We're in the wooded foothills of the Rockies. Our insurance company loves our incombustible metal roofs.
twodog max
Member
We built a new house 3 years ago and had to make that decision. In the end I went with shingles. The reason was cost as metal was 30-50 percent more just materials. Yes they are more durable and all that but where we live I have averaged a new roof from hail about every 10 years so the odds are the 30 years shingles won't ever make the end of life. At our age we could pay the deductible on a roof replacement or two and still be money ahead if we live that long. If we had been 30 years old metal probably have been the choice. Also after talking to a contractor friend he told me that after going through a tornado with a metal roof on his home he was going back to shingles because of how the metal performed in the tornado. It partially peeled and the insurance folks were a PIA over the repair.
Before you decide, contact your insurance carrier to see what the savings in homeowners coverage will be. In hurricane-prone south Florida, the insurance savings alone paid for my steel replacement in three years.
Modern steel roofing material is aluminum coated steel. The downside is that it is very difficult to climb on your roof to work on antennas or dishes. You must wait until all moisture is off of the roof for safety and to avoid leaving foot marks. I have not found the roof to be noisy.
Sometimes, there are tax rebates for installing metal roofs. The most recent tax credit was for colored roofs only, not standard silver. The type of roof with exposed screws is about 25 per cent less than the folded
type that hides the screws.
In Florida, the metal roof has taken over the market. If you have been through a hurricane, you would see why.
Modern steel roofing material is aluminum coated steel. The downside is that it is very difficult to climb on your roof to work on antennas or dishes. You must wait until all moisture is off of the roof for safety and to avoid leaving foot marks. I have not found the roof to be noisy.
Sometimes, there are tax rebates for installing metal roofs. The most recent tax credit was for colored roofs only, not standard silver. The type of roof with exposed screws is about 25 per cent less than the folded
type that hides the screws.
In Florida, the metal roof has taken over the market. If you have been through a hurricane, you would see why.
When a friend of mine built his house about 30 years ago, he went with a slate roof, he did the work himself, it still looks as good as the day he did it, it was pricey then I don't know what it would cost today.
I have a metal replacement roof (installed myself over 15 years ago) and I can't tell any difference today than when I installed it other than some paint oxidation (40 year rated) but since it's a light (off white) color, you hardly notice it even when on the roof. I can't detect any noise increase, if anything it's quieter when raining. If new construction, I'd look into standing seam (no exposed fasteners) but if replacement, you're limited unless you remove the under deck, etc. which isn't practical in most cases. If your roof line is uneven (hi-lo), now is the time to shim standoffs to straighten the roof line. Otherwise, I just laid the metal over existing shingles but you might add a thin insulating thermal barrier to increase R factor. By laying the metal directly on the deck, I was able to go with a lighter weight (29 ga.) with shorter rib height which IMO made for a cleaner look. My only advice if you go with metal would be to use flashing (valley and vent) designed for metal rather than shingles and don't be chintzy on fasteners. Neither should be a concern if using a knowledgeable and reputable contractor.
We were looking at replacement roofs around 8 or 10 years ago. Steel and metal (more on that in a minute), were a lot more expensive than shingles, with one quote being $35K. I can and do a lot of work myself, but roofing isn't one of them, as I don't know the first thing about it. It seems there are different types of metal roofs. The straight steel roofs that have been around for many years, and a newer aluminum product that mimics shingles or slate. According to sales people (yeah, I know), metal can and will rust, especially on the ends or anywhere the paint coating gets damaged. And while it could take decades for the rust to become bad enough to leak, it's unsightly. Aluminum on the other hand can oxidize but not to the point where it can cause leaking, and only where the coating wears off. Again, all these gems of knowledge come from sales people with obvious motives in mind.
In the end, we went with a shingle that has a 50 year warranty. At my age, I don't think I'll have worry about it, and I have no doubt that the company offering the warranty will be out of business anyway.
I can and do a lot of work myself, but roofing isn't one of them, as I don't know the first thing about it. It seems there are different types of metal roofs. The straight steel roofs that have been around for many years, and a newer aluminum product that mimics shingles or slate. According to sales people (yeah, I know), metal can and will rust, especially on the ends or anywhere the paint coating gets damaged. And while it could take decades for the rust to become bad enough to leak, it's unsightly. Aluminum on the other hand can oxidize but not to the point where it can cause leaking, and only where the coating wears off. Again, all these gems of knowledge come from sales people with obvious motives in mind.In the end, we went with a shingle that has a 50 year warranty. At my age, I don't think I'll have worry about it, and I have no doubt that the company offering the warranty will be out of business anyway.
DWalt
Member
I recently has a small (about 200 SF) problem roof area covered with Galvalume standing seam roofing. Galvalume is steel sheet coated with an aluminum-zinc alloy. Looks good and lasts essentially forever. But it is expensive. Installed, it cost me about $3K. Would probably have been much cheaper on a unit cost basis for a larger area. It just went through a very severe hailstorm two nights ago with no damage. Not so one of my cars.
bearman49709
Member
I had a steel roof put on in 2012, just over $1000.00 more than shingles.
Anyone telling you it cost a lot more is trying to rip you off, unless your going for the fancy stuff.
December 20 2012 we had a wet heavy snow storm knock down the top forty five feet of a white pine tree on my roof.
Both the roofer and the insurance adjuster told me if I had shingles it would have put a hole in my roof, with the steel roof it just poked a small hole in the steel and didn't touch the boards under it.
Insurance paid everything for five 22' and three 8' sections to be replaced.
Anyone telling you it cost a lot more is trying to rip you off, unless your going for the fancy stuff.
December 20 2012 we had a wet heavy snow storm knock down the top forty five feet of a white pine tree on my roof.
Both the roofer and the insurance adjuster told me if I had shingles it would have put a hole in my roof, with the steel roof it just poked a small hole in the steel and didn't touch the boards under it.
Insurance paid everything for five 22' and three 8' sections to be replaced.
Metal roofs are cheaper material wise but the labor is a little more...I find the cost to put on lifetime shingles {40 year} is about the same as a good standing seam metal roof. Roofing companies try to charge more just because it's different and they can. many times the unsuspecting homeowner just pays them.
There is no comparison to how much better metal is over shingles and how much longer it will last. I live in southern Maryland and the summer sun here is brutal...don't know why, but it gets just like Florida here in the summer. What ever year rating is on a given shingle you can pretty much cut that in half and that is what you will get out of them.
One thing that can drive the price of a metal roof up is if you have a stepped roof or dog houses. Any place where there is siding above the shingles will have to all be removed and rehung for the metal.
Standing seam metal roofing is the only way to go if you intend to stay there. Union roofing has a coating called "Galvalum" which is the ultimate in energy conservation. It's silver so it reflects the suns heat great and it's tough and stays on the metal.
There is no comparison to how much better metal is over shingles and how much longer it will last. I live in southern Maryland and the summer sun here is brutal...don't know why, but it gets just like Florida here in the summer. What ever year rating is on a given shingle you can pretty much cut that in half and that is what you will get out of them.
One thing that can drive the price of a metal roof up is if you have a stepped roof or dog houses. Any place where there is siding above the shingles will have to all be removed and rehung for the metal.
Standing seam metal roofing is the only way to go if you intend to stay there. Union roofing has a coating called "Galvalum" which is the ultimate in energy conservation. It's silver so it reflects the suns heat great and it's tough and stays on the metal.
