Replacement
Metal Roofing
Does this roof suit metal?
It lasts two to three times as long and it's far less forgiving of a detail done badly. This page is what that trade-off actually turns on.
Not what you are looking at? Roof Inspection, Roof Repair.
Where metal earns it
Where standing seam is worth what it costs.
Metal costs more up front and lasts two to three times as long. Whether that trade works out depends on the roof far more than on the budget.
- Long uninterrupted runs with few things coming through them
- A pitch shallow enough that shingle would be working against gravity
- An owner who'll be there long enough to see the second half of its life
Where it's the wrong answer.
Metal is less forgiving of poor detailing than shingle, and a complicated roof is exactly where that shows.
- Many hips, valleys and penetrations, each one a detail that has to be right
- A roof that will be cut into for an addition within a few years
- A budget that would go on the panel and be saved on the flashing, which is backwards
What decides whether it lasts
Thermal movement is the whole discipline.
A twenty-four foot panel grows and shrinks roughly a quarter of an inch between a summer roof and a winter one. Every clip, every penetration and every termination has to allow for that, or the fasteners work loose and the panel oil-cans.
- 01Clip type and spacing set for the panel length rather than kept the same throughout
- 02Penetrations detailed so the panel can still travel, not sealed rigid
- 03Eave and ridge terminations that let the panel move
- 04Dissimilar metals kept apart, because the contact between them is what corrodes
The work itself
What Metal Roofing involves.
Standing seam or metal panel systems. A longer service life and a different detailing discipline, particularly at penetrations and terminations.
What you are left with
Panel gauge, coating, and the warranty that follows them.
Metal warranties are written against a specific gauge and a specific coating system, so the paperwork only means something if it names them. You get the product data alongside the photographs, and the finish warranty registered in your name rather than ours.
About this job
What people said after metal roofing.
Came out to look at a metal roof two other companies had quoted without going up on it. Explained the pitch problem in a way I actually understood, and did not push me toward a full replacement.
Demonstration account. The reviews above are worked examples, not this company’s own customers. They are here to show what this section contains once a real company fills it.
The next step
It's a thirty-year decision.
Worth an hour of somebody's time on the roof to be sure the geometry suits it, because the detailing is where metal is won or lost and that can't be judged from the ground.
Frisco · Plano · McKinney