O/T Steel Roofs.........

We have a farm house we rent out, and it is in need of a new roof.

I got a bid to replace the roof with regular composition shingles, but I got to wondering about steel. As an Insurance Inspector, I've done new construction houses with steel roofs, but I can't recall ever doing a used house with steel on the roof, although I've seen them. I haven't yet called someone for a bid to use steel.

I've heard you can put the steel on over the existing composition shingles and get more insulation. Is this a fact? If it is, it would both give more insulation and eliminate the cost of tearing the old roof off.

How about cost? Per ads, price per square seems to be about a tossup between steel and composition, depending on quality and source, so it would come down to labor. It would seem to me that steel would be less labor intensive than composition, but that's speculation.

Has anyone out there been involved with a steel residential roof versus composition shingles? Any words of wisdom?

Thanks in advance.

Goose;

I do a lot of hauling for Amish neighbor who does a lot of metal roofs on both houses and barns. They nail down either 1x4's or 2x4's horizontally on the roofs, then nail or screw the steel vertically onto the firring boards, then the usual trim and cap. The space between the old roof and new steel allows the steel to vent and also provides extra insulation. Also lowers the noise level when it rains. They have showed roofs they put on more than 20 years ago and still liik very good and no wind or snow damage.

Gene

On my house they screwed furring strips then put the steel on i wont ever need a new roof again as thses new shingles just dont last anymore.

I'd worry a little about it sweating (may not hurt anything tho) unless you put strips as nailers to let air circulate... As for time, may not compare real well, but me and a buddy put on a 40x15 ft roof in less than an hour....

I agree with Gene's men. I put steel on my house in 2003, using 2X4 nailers on top of the shingles nailed through to the rafters with #40 pole nails. The steel went on top of that. At the time the cost was about the same as stripping off three layers of shingles, re-sheeting and putting on composite shingles, including labor, which I did myself. Since then I have done Zero maintenance and I don't expect any for the rest of my life.

During a heavy rain I can hear a faint rumble here in the office, which is a one story addition. Downstairs in the two story part I can't hear a thing. Upstairs there is a barely audible rumble probably because of three layers of shingles under the steel VS one layer on the office. Jim

Shingles do not insulate at all, they just keep the rain off of the insulation. You may or may not have to strip the old off,it depends what your inspectors say. (Here I can do whatever I want,in town two layers shingles are the maximum allowed.)

Amish (Beachey Brothers) here in Ohio put any color on you want, guaranteed 40 Years..
They do a real nice job..
Had them do 2 older houses for us last year..
About all they need is a chain saw and an electric outlet to charge their drill batteries with..
They replace any wood that needs replaced, put down new 2x4 or 2x6 stringers and Valley wood..

Ron.

In my area lots of houses have metal roofs. They have the advantage that snow will slide off of them if the roof is pitched steeply enough. However if you do a metal roof, then you HAVE TO do some planning for that snow which WILL slide off, sometimes fairly quickly and with a lot of force. Plumbing vents, chimneys and other penetrations in the roof should be near the peak to avoid being damaged or removed by the sliding snow. Or they can be heavily reinforced and set up to split the sliding snow. You also have to plan for where the snow will fall and build up. I have seen 12 foot deep snow piles against the sides of our barn after the roof cleared. Any door on that side would have been impossible to use without a whole bunch of snow moving and that snow was usually hard as concrete after it slid off.

I built a new house about 15 years ago and wanted to put on a metal roof. The company that was doing the building wanted an extra $10k to put on a sheet metal roof, so I went with the standard 25 year 3 tab composition. It still looks great and works fine, but when I do have to reroof I plan to put on sheet metal.

I plan to install the new roof right over the composition roof, after covering the shingles with heavy tarpaper to protect the underside of the metal from the gravel in the composition shingles. I have built other buildings applying the metal directly to the tarpaper covered sheathing and have had not trouble with any of those roofs. I always use hex headed screws with neoprene gaskets and use more than I probably have to. Others may disagree, but I prefer to put the screws through the sheet metal at the high points of the metal ridges rather than in the flat areas. This takes longer screws, but it makes more sense to me, as I think it might allow the metal to move around a little as it heats up and cools down.

About 35 years ago, my Parents" house got a new painted steel roof. I pass that house almost every day, and that roof still looks great. I don"t think the people that bought the house have ever had to do a thing to the roof. It was done right when they did it, although I remember that they thought it was pretty expensive at the time.

A metal roof might be a great idea, or it might not depending on a lot of factors, including the kind of weather you have and how long you intend for the house to continue to be used. If the house has a pretty simple roof, you might consider doing it yourself. If the roof is very complex, you might do better with new composition shingles and/or having a professional do the job. Good luck!

I've seen blue or pink ridgid foam boards put in between the nailinf strips, as insulation & cuts down on noise.

I'd want good advice on how that affects airflow and condensation before just slpping stuff up there.


Costs more, but I really like the Decora style of metal roof - it has tar & pebbles on the sheets so it looks just like a real roof, the snow doesn't come off a 2 story house and kill someone like a smooth tin roof does, etc. Probably too much $$$ for a rental, but for your own house, I'd google 'Decora' and check it out.

The tar shingles of today are junk, I helpd a friend last year strip off 9 year old tar crap and put the metal decora's on.

--->Paul

I have a steel roof on my house in western Washington and I can tell you that the snow does NOT slide off the roof here, even the parts that are 12/12 pitch. Our wet snow sticks to any roof, and eventually does slide, but only several days later when it warms up a bit. Raises hell with gutters. Sure looks nice, though, and I'll never have to worry about replacing it. Cost was much higher than composition.

Some steel manufactures will warranty thier product if it is applied over composition shingles if you install battens between. None warranties when applied without battens. As you are researching and comparing prices,always price the trim because 1 lin ft of trim costs same as 1 lin ft of 3 ft wide panel. If you can find a bargin on some trim that will look good with panel color,grab it because not using panel mfgrs trim shouldn't void warranty because the warranty mostly addresses color retention. Most roofers in my area charge 2 or 3 times labor but can do the roof in half the time. I believe they gouge the price simply because they can pull it off because of beeing a mfgrs"RECCONIZED"installer. What I have done is talk to the mfgrs rep about me installing it my self and get approval so if there is a warranty issue there isn't a problem. You can hire hourly help and supervise the install if you are compitent. Otherwise,hire a compitent job forman. I believe you will find that many farmers and ranchers install metal roof with in house labor. For that matter same applies to constructing steel buildings from ground up.

I put a metal roof on my house about a month ago. Total cost including removing the shingles was $6200 for 30 squares. That was only $300 more than asphalt shingles. I checked with my insurance and they recommended taking off the old shingles, putting down new tar paper and screwing the metal to the decking. I was told some insurance will not cover a metal roof that has been put over shingles. My insurance (Farm Bureau) claimed that they had more claims for wind damage if the shingles weren't removed. It seems that a strong wind can get under the metal and rip it off easier.

We did a steel roof on our farm house a few years back. Left shingels on , strapped roof with 1x4, and screwed on steel. Did house and garadge, and some sofit work , cost of steel, gaskets , sofit ect. was $7,000.00 . Works great, no big deal about sound of rain, what you do hear you get acustom to. Don't have an after pic of house, but hear is a before, so you can get an idea of how much roof we covered. That is if I can get pic to work. Bruce

It"s best to strip old asphalt shingles so you can see how well the underlayment is secured. Then use heavy felt paper and new steel over underlayment. Some say you can strap and put steel over one layer of shingles. Never two layers because of weight. I prefer the start fresh method. The piece of mind is worth it. Did my house last summer, and I love it. I go up on roof twice a year to clean chimney but not to shovel snow. Lots of colors available also.

I have steel over shingles with battens on a ranch style house total cost was 3600 two years ago contractor said steel company warentees if you just lay tar paper down and put steel over that but I was reluctant and splurged for battens think price was $300 difference versus new shingles. Kinda averages them out because steel is less labor intensive plus if you ever have to tear the steel off you can recycle it and get money instead of paying to take shingles to a land fill.

Most of the shingles today are made in Mexico. They meet certain standards but I don't know why that is. They use limestone dust as filler. You can see along the edges how thin they are and even see the fiberglass. I put a 35 year roof on my house I built in 1995 and it still appears to be ok what with the trees and shady part. If I had used 25 year shingles I would be in need of a new roof by now. I am going to use steel "shakes" when I replace it.

i put steel on mine after 14 years of shingles, now have to work on gutters every year we have snow,...

(quoted from post at 05:32:04 02/06/12) i put steel on mine after 14 years of shingles, now have to work on gutters every year we have snow,...

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They put hooks (??) on the roof's about 2 ft or so above the edge and lay round treated poles about 4 inches thick the length of the roof to save gutters and folks getting buried in a roof avalanch in places that get a lot of snow here. As it melts, it can run underneath and the blanket stays put for insulation.....

I put steel over shingles about 5 years ago. Wish I had done it before then. Storm tore off a good bit of the shingles so had to do something, wasn't that much more to go with steel when figure'n the price of get'n rid of old shingles. I have 1x4s deck screwed into old shingles and decking then red steel screwed into the 1x4s.

Dave

Gonna be putting a new roof on our house this summer/fall. No leaks, but half is a section that is still original (1904)... and the rafters are just 4-6 inch poles from the woods and the runners were shimmed to make things straight to hang the shingles on. Anyway, want steel but live in town and it isn't allowed on houses. Has to be red clay or cement tiles. Was surprised at the prices... Figured steel would be the cheapest but was/is twice and a little more what the roof tiles cost. If was paying someone, it'd prolly work itself out in labor. But I found some idiot to do it for free.....

I've done many over the years, and also know of many done by others. Steel is much better then asphalt in a high-snow area. No ice dams and snow slides off instead of sticking and collecting. Eliminates the need for shoveling as long as pitch is decent. Anything steeper then 5/12 will be near impossible to walk without a rope to hold on to - even with good soft high-traction sneakers.

Prices depends on how fancy you want to get. Steel with raised ribs and exposed fasteners cost about $2 per running foot (three foot wide coverage). It's been going up though. The more expensive roofing uses hidden clips with no exposed fasteners.

Roofing over asphalt requires "nailers" running the width of the roof and spaced 24" apart. Usually 2" X 4" are used. If a thin gauge steel is used, a person that weighs over 175 lbs. has to be careful when walking in-between or you can get a slight "cave in."

One added benefit to reroofing is the ability to straighten out a roof with dips and dives - by shimming the 2" X 4"s.

Most new houses going up in my area now have steel. Also, in my area of NY, a max of three layers of old asphalt is allow to put steel over - as long at the rafters are strong enough for the added weight load.

For myself, I would never consider using anything but steel on any of my houses. I have four and reroofed all of them.

By the way, strange as it sounds - if you pick the proper color of steel - you qualify for a Federal energy credit. Sounds silly,but true.

I used to inspect windows/doors/roofs for warranty issues. I've been on hundreds of steel roofs and have never NOT found rot underneath one - even ones installed to perfection.

Steel on a barn - yes.
Steel on a house - no.

You may want to investigate "standing seam" metal which is very different from the others as no screws penetrate the steel. I'm sure that it costs more but it must carry a much longer warrantee.

We have steel on part of ours; when the rest of the roof needs replaced, it will get steel. the first winter we had some popping noises while the steel adapted to the cold weather. nothing since.

doing it yourself?

We put steel on over our shingles and are very happy.It cost less and will last longer and no loose or missing shingles after every bad storm.Two neighbors also replaced theirs with steel also.Make sure you install snow birds to keep snow from sliding off all at one time.

Agree... I had a metal shed built 10 years ago. used Nailswith rubber sealing washers.. First few years no leaks.. noticed now that i have about 7-10 drip places on the ground or on equipment. Need to crawl up and try to find the nails that leak. SOOOOOOOOOOOOO you have to figure that the same would do that on a house roof.. my two cents

On a metal roof, you want to use a 6" heavy duty gutter with big heavy lag screws to secure it to the fascia.

Tell that to the people in Brookville Indiana, that the shingles they make everyday for Owens Corning, IN Brookville Indiana, is in Mexico. I would hate to try to even gusee how many semi loads of shingles per day comes out of that plant.

After losing my gutter twice from ice slides (slow learner), I lowered it as low as possible on the facia and now the ice slides over it.

I used 2X4 nailers, 1/2" foam insulation board, metal held on with neoprene gasketed screws. I put the screws on the ridges, against the manufacturer's recommendation. Wish I'd put them in the valleys. Been there about 20 years - still looks good. A trouble free roof. It will outlive me, no doubt.

(quoted from post at 07:37:59 02/06/12) doing it yourself?

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Stepdaughter's boyfriend is a roofer, stepson is a framer, I'll be the flunky...

Hoping to be able to do it out of pocket without the bank... Shingle price was a nice surprise....

Thanks for all the responses.

Now if I call a roofer to get a bid, I'll have a good idea of what to talk about.

(It also gave me some tips if I ever run into one on the job. We have available training videos on almost all aspects of building inspection, but any info on metal roofs is noticeable in its absence).

I did my 90 foot long barn with metal this past fall, soooooooo glad I did. Went right over the shingles and had it done in about 9 hrs with 3 guys plus me. No ripping off shingles, no clean up and nails everywhere no getting rid of the old shingles ect. A lot less labor.

Heres a pic of our house with steel roof today. Notice the great lack of snow,Feb 6. Bruce

Neighbor put steel SHINGLES over existing roofing on his house. Said it went on easily, and he's happy with the results. Apparently some clips you fasten to existing roof, and attach shingles over top. Looks attractive.

i just got 2 quotes to replace a metal roof with a new metal roof on my house. metal is more expensive than a shingle. i would rather have the metal roof.

I have a channel drain type on my house andwhen I had it put on part had coragated tin on but the wood shingles were already off, the rest had the shingles taken off before the roof was put on. Also several other buildings with shingles and the barn when the roof was replaced tin was just nailed over the wood shingles but some of that was done years ago. I would never allow any tin to be put over a shingle because most of the nails only go into the bad shingle and not into a sheating lath so nothing to keep that nail from poping. The house roof was where I was afraid that with a wind it would go flying because of nailed into those shingles so had it replaced so I would not wake up at night sometime with the rain pooring down in my face. The barn roof leaks all the time from not being able to fasten down tight on those shingles. Have been told it is illeagle to put one over the top of anouther. If I was going to buy a property with a roof put on over anouther it would be replaced before purchase was completed. And if a shingle roof was bad enough to replace then chances are good it was leaking even if you do not see it and the sheating will be bad.

Years back, I used to live in Romeoville, IL. The original section is comprised of something that they call "track housing". I never heard of that until I moved there. Originally, were only three style houses made, and they say were "affordable houses built in returning war soldiers in mind", and they all came with steel rooves. By the time I bought in 1990, not many steel rooves left, but are still some today. Those houses were built in the early 1950's, and I have to tell you, the grade of corregated steel used on them was some thick, quality stuff. Much thicker guage of galvanized steel than what I bought for my two tool sheds from Menards, and what is up on my newest barn. Does the thinner guage that I used make it worse? I have no idea. With technologies being what they are, maybe thinner of these days is better than thicker of then?

In any event, I have to think that if I had to put up another roof, I would seriously consider going steel. I've read here from time to time where some said no way because the rubber grommets around the screw head caps dry rot and leak over time, but those are original screws that I still see in those original steel rooves when I visit friends in Romeoville today, and the folks that still have them have no intentions of taking them down. Those rooves are like 60 years old and still going. One thing though. In heavy rains, noisier than shingles. My newest barn went up in 2004, screws don't leak. My two tool sheds are newer, no leaks.

On topic, and off topic, I had a friends brother that did construction that moved to Dallas a few decades ago and started his own construction company there. A fella, president of Coka-Cola bottlers in Dallas built some huge place, mansion status and wanted a copper roof and sent around asking for bids, got no responses except from the brother, whom had done rooves, never copper though, but he bidded on it and got the job because the guy absolutely wanted a copper roof. Turns out that the brother way under bid the job because he had no idea what he was getting into, and explained and showed the fella what he was running into and the costs involved. The guy understood, and wanted that copper roof. The brother ended up going way into hock, mortgaging everything he owned, home, company, trucks, equipment. BUT, when all was said and done, the fella got the roof that he wanted, paid for it, the brother learned what it took, and all of a sudden had wealthy people coming to him for copper rooves, and he got to the point that is all that he was doing. This was back in the days of that show "Dallas" when oil wealth and all was well in Dallas.

Good luck. I hope it all works out well.

Mark

Theres a Tamko shingle plant in Frederick, Maryland. Lots coming out of there too.

Giggle.

Sleep under it every night. Steel in Mich. 7 years ago cost double what shingles would be. Some thieve ask as much as 20 grand for this job. I paid half that since carpenter never installed steel before. Inspector said shingles have to come off. I argued about weight, but he said "the book says 2 roofs, shingles have to go. Only real surprise was snow avalanches. Had to put little plastic stops on roof for about 500 bucks. Reason for metal: Redirect electromagnetic waves from high voltage towers. Many in this area, including myself, have or have had cancer. I believe EMF is the reason. Dave