Steel Roofing is increasingly popular. Why?

[Stytooner]

Not sure if I can enlighten, but a metal roof does reflect heat, but not all of it. It still gets blistering hot to the touch when the sun is shinning down on it. Asphalt does too. It still retains some attic heating properties. In my case, I have metal roof over shingles which I think at least has some r value. I do have attic gable vents and some eave vents. The heat coming out of these in the day time isn't near as hot as before the metal roofing.
I have noticed it is easier to cool the house as well. I can't tell about the heating, so I guess there is little difference.

[ironhat]

To all who have installed metal roofing, is there any air movement allowed for between the metal and the decking such as between the purloins (if that's the correct term for the horizontal 'firring' strips). It would seem that it would be a plus for venting the heat build up but, for that matter, I guess that it wouldn't matter much.

[Stytooner]

All that I have seen have ridges or peaks. These ridges would surely allow some amount of airflow. Mine are open on the eaves and meet at the ridge cap. They are however sealed at the ridge cap. I imagine they would help more with controlling condensation rather than actual ventilation.
The metal will produce condensation underneath. This is why if you use firring strips, I would suggest treated ones. Mine are installed directly over the shingles, so a little moisture there doesn't hurt anything. Any moisture is burned off pretty quickly each day. That is if the sun is shinning on it.

[ironhat]

Doh! Condensation... never gave it a thought. Thanks, Lee!

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Interesting stuff. I'll have to do a little more research to see what is entailed with a hip roof and an added gable end addition over the deck. Now I have to concoct a way to get the sons-in-law to do the heavy stuff while I drive screws. Might as well get the soffit and facia done while I'm at it. Everything needs it and anyway, it looks like they'll be carrying me out of this house when the Big Guy calls me home.

PS Does rain on the roof sound great or isn't it noticeable through the decking material?

Application in NE is a little different than for the Southern / Gulf States folks. A big issue in this area is ice. The date 02/14/2007 will live in the minds of many insurance adjusters in PA/OH/NY for quite some time as it wiped out many, many metal roofs. Most of these were on commercial roofs but residental was affected as well. Due to snow/ice freezing/refreezing it was impossible to get the stuff off the roofs. When it did come off it bent the roofs very badly in addition to shearing the screws.

I find it interesting that TX HO policy affords a discount for metal roofing given the problems with hail in TX. Metal roofs are much more likely to suffer damage from hail than a nice laminate asphalt shingle. I would figure hail is the biggest peril in TX for roofing.

[Hellrazor]

Jeffrey, new metal roofs no longer have permanently installed ice stops. They are epoxied to the roof now. I guess they didn't like how that storm ripped the roof up when they tore off.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Jeffrey, new metal roofs no longer have permanently installed ice stops. They are epoxied to the roof now. I guess they didn't like how that storm ripped the roof up when they tore off.

The 02/14/2007 ice event impacted the screws holding the metal sheets, as well as general damages to the overall roofing system due to weight of ice/snow. The 02/14/07 storm was an usual event, however certainly something that could be expected on a 10 year average.

[Russianwolf]

for those that are going metal (as I hope to one day) and have the money, Copper is the top of the line. Once the copper oxidizes (lovely blue green grey color), it becomes stable and will last 100+ years. Some buildings in europe have there original roofs from the 1700's and look at lady liberty....

Steel has an upkeep factor to prevent rust in most cases.

[Hellrazor]

I'd hate to price a copper roof with how much copper costs now.

[ironhat]

<snip>
Steel has an upkeep factor to prevent rust in most cases.

Yea, I noticed that the roof may have a 50 year life expectancy but the paint is espected to last 25 yrs. Couldn't painting one of these be a deal breaker? Can you imagine scraping, priming and painting a 100+ square roof? Maybe a HF, HVLP gun would be the answer.

[cgallery]

Yea, I noticed that the roof may have a 50 year life expectancy but the paint is espected to last 25 yrs. Couldn't painting one of these be a deal breaker? Can you imagine scraping, priming and painting a 100+ square roof? Maybe a HF, HVLP gun would be the answer.

Now that you mention it, I know of one metal roof in a commercial installation that was repainted after fewer than fifteen years.

[ironhat]

The Jiffy-Lube bought a pre-existing building and had the 3 year old metal roof color changed to red and they have had to re-paint every 5 years. I can't tell wahat condition the original color is in but one thing is sure, the paint isn't staying put. They had a large professional outfit paint it each time so I would hope that they know proper prep methods.