There has been a huge amount of hail damage to roofing in our area, it's like the wild west of roofers here.

I fortunately had no damage, but I heard something very odd (to me)the other day. A woman who had asphalt shingle damage asked her roofer about the option of a metal roof. The company told her that they do install metal roofs, but they do not recommend them for residential because they need an overhaul every 10 years. Replacing the felt and fasteners, I think they said. This was a well established, local roofing company, not a fly-by-night.

Why would anyone have a metal roof if that was the case? The main selling point of metal roofing is the lifespan of 2-3x of asphalt, or more, correct?

 

Maybe they were talking about a corrugated roof like for barns and outbuildings? Not a residential standing seam roof?

Does seem odd though....

Maybe they don't recommend them because they won't get that customer back for 50 or 60 yrs if the job is done right? Unless they buy into the "maintenance needed" theory?

 

I've never heard such a thing

 

Unless I'm mistaken, most of the painted metal roofs being offered today come with a lifetime coating guarantee. I don't know how good the warranty is. I do know that most of those types of roofs start to show signs of fading in 10-15 yrs. I suspect they'd need repainting within 20 yrs.

Even the old galvanized metal roofs would last a long time. 50yrs isn't unheard of providing they are painted as needed. The older metal roofs would need to have the nails inspected [added if/where needed] from time to time. I don't know if that would be an issue with the new metal roofs since they generally use screws. There is a difference in quality between suppliers as some metal will be a heavier gauge than others.

I suspect that company either didn't do metal roofs.... or didn't like to installing them.

 

That's what I thought. Maybe they had a lot of asphalt to move. I wrote above it was a local company, but I was mistaken, they are more of a southeast regional company.

 

I'm not that familiar with metal roofs, but I worked in a shop that had a corrugated metal roof. Each panel was nailed on and there was a rubber washer under each nail head to seal out the water. Well those rubber washers disintegrate over the years. when they do, they let in a hella amount of water. The roof leaked live a seave.

 

Ya, the nails used to have lead heads but they changed to a rubber type washer 15-20 yrs ago. They seem to hold up ok when they are painted before they're 5-10 yrs old. I can see where they would deteriorate, probably quicker in some climates than others That could be an issue with the factory painted metal roofs. A new screw/washer and a little silicone should fix it though.

 

Yeah, but for some reason my boss kept putting it off. He probably didn't like the idea of spending all that money on silicone.

 

Yep, the rubber washers deteriorate, they get brittle and crack with age. When I was working I looked at two metal buildings that had leaky roofs and it was the rubber washers that were the cuprit. In one case we installed new screws and washers and that resolved the leaking. In the other case the Owner wanted a more permanent solution, so we screwed down a layer of plywood over the ribbed metal roof and installed a fully adhered 60 mil EPDM membrane.

Keep an eye on those rubber washers. I am also of the opinion that thermal movement of the metal roofing can tend to slightly loosen of screws and/or hurry the deterioration of the washers. That's just my personal opinion though.

 

For some reason I couldn't edit my post above, so...

My post above was refering to an exposed fastener metal roof system. If a good quality concealed fastener system is used and properly installed with ice & water and felt underlayments over a properly sloped structure, it will far outlast any other roof system I know of. That's the metal roof system we used on our commercial buildings we designed. It's also a lot more expensive.

Well isn't that interesting! Edit post showed up here, but not in the post I made yesterday. The edit post option must time out

 

The older nailing/(sometimes lead)washer system is passe for the most part. They are nailed on the ridge and the washer was to keep out water. Being nailed on the ridge, in theory, allowed the water to drain off fast with minimal leaking. More modern installations are screws with neoprene and metal washer heads, and they are screwed on the flat. Last much longer and seal tighter.
Standing seam is absolutely the best IMO, but $$$.

 

Bruce: yes, the edit times out - I think you get 20 minutes and then the post is permanent