My involvement with SS roofs was small to medium sized comm’l bldgs. Metal expands and contracts and I know that the engineering process is designed to allow for such movement, but things are not perfect. They can occassionally need attention for whatever reason. Do your research and make your decision. You asked for opinions and I gave you mine and why.
The cost is a killer on its own, IMO, but understand that when you would otherwise be replacing a shingle roof 15-20 yrs out, you will also being doing some mainentance to the ss roof too. When talking repairs on a ss roof, you are typically talking a comm’l roofer, not someone that can hammer a nail (aka avg res roofer), which costs more. SS roofs are typically 22 to 26 guage preformed painted metal. You may be painting the roof in 20 yrs to prolong its life, which is realistically expected to be 35-40 yrs total before needing replacement.
So net-net if you are going to get 15-20 out of std shingles at a cost of X, and 35-40 yrs from metal at a cost of XXX, it simply doesn’t look to be an economic advantage. Enuf said by me, anyway.
One of my roofs will be coming due for replacement soon, I
plan to hold onto this property for many years to come. I
was wondering if any others out there go for metal roofing
on properties they intend to hold, The upfront cost is high,
but the possibility of not ever dealing with the roof again
sounds like a dream. This is a SF 3/2 in Lower alabama.
There are a few other properties around with metal roofs in
the same neighborhood. I’d guess the ratio be about 1 out of
20 houses have one.
Who convinced you that you will “not ever dealing with the roof again”?
I have had to repair SS metal roofs on comm’l bldgs. There is a mechanical connection and like anything mechanical there can be problems; heat cool, expansion contraction. I personally wouldn’t spend the money on a std residential sfh. I’d replace the roof with new shingles and in 15-20 yrs do it again. Or use an extra thick dimensional shingles, (and some of these dimensionals are now made from rubber), that are expected to last 35-40 yrs. But to each their own. Just my opinion, which you solicited.
SS Roofs are pretty standard in the self storage industry. I’ve have several buildings with these roofs for 14 years with absolutely NO maintenance issues.
Even now they look like they will last another 20 years.
Just curious, were these commercial buildings large
structures or small buildings? I understand the metal
can expand and contract with the heat and the cold, but
I would think on a smaller simple roof home the
movement might be negligible. My father used to own a
couple triplexes with metal roofing, and we never had
any issues with them for quite a few years. My
grandfather had a metal roof put on his older ranch
house about 30 years ago and theres been no problems
and no maintenance thus far. I guess I am basing “not
dealing with the roof” off this information, and all
the claims of the metal roof advertisements, and from
dealing with a lot of leaky shingles in the past.