Metal Roofing: Options are Out There

Many times, people decide against a metal roof because they believe their options are limited. Homeowners often have the misconception that the color options out there for metal roofs may not match their siding, brick or the other features of their home; that shingles offer more variety on this front. The truth is that you can find just a bout any color of metal roof that you’d like! Here at In His Hands Contractors, we carry a wide range of colors and styles of metal roofing to not only protect your home and family, but to match your style and maximize curb appeal!

The Re-Roofing Process

We may be a bit biased, but we work hard to ensure that our process for installing metal roofs is the best out there. There are a few key steps to ensuring that your roof is installed properly, you have excellent curb appeal and ultimately that your family is protected for years to come.

If your roof is in need of replacement, we will first remove the entire roof down to the decking. During this process, we strip all of the old shingles or metal down and remove the old fasteners. We take care to haul off all of this old material with dump trailer as opposed to traditional dumpsters. Doing so allows us to protect your driveway or street from scratches and scrapes in the concrete and makes the clean up and haul off process easy and straightforward.

We always ensure to remove the old fasteners holding the current roofing material in place. Many other roofing companies will simply drive the old fasteners up and leave them in your roof decking to save time. However, this can lead to later issues as those old fasteners can work their way out eventually and damage your new roofing. Any time you are having a roof replaced, be sure that the old fasteners are removed entirely from your roof.

Checking the Decking

Now that the roof has been stripped down to raw decking, we are able to thoroughly inspect around corners, edges, chimneys, dormers and any other penetrations. If it’s been a while since you replaced your roof, there is likely to be some rot and water damage. Our thorough inspection will expose any rot as well as any other damage or broken decking, common on older houses. Before moving on, we completely replace any rotted spots or broken decking so that we’re installing your new roof on a solid foundation.

Installing a Vapor Barrier

In the past, roofers used a tarp paper as a water barrier for the roof. However, this material frequently cracks an doesn’t do the job it was meant to do. Instead, we use a synthetic felt over the traditional paper felt. This 3-ply felt holds up in all conditions and has many benefits that paper felt does not. The material is also ten times lighter than paper felt and doesn’t degrade, rip or tear over time. This is truly the best option to protect your home from moisture damage.

Protecting the Stress Points

Anywhere you have a corner, turn, valley, gable, or change in pitch on your roof, it is important to add some extra protection. We install a high temperature ice and water shield in all of these areas to ensure that your roof is watertight.

A note on something to avoid – traditional ice and water shield is created with an asphalt base. This option is fine for a shingle roof, but with a metal roof, can cause big problems. When your roofing material heats up, the heat will transfer to this underlay and begin to melt this traditional ice and water shield and cause it to seep out onto your metal roof.

If you choose to install a metal roof on your home, it is extremely important that your ice and water shield is specifically designed to withstand high temperatures!

Tuff Rib Metal Roofing

This is a face-screwed or exposed fastener metal roofing system. This material has a great price point and quick install time, but there are some things to keep in mind during this install. The first part to install is a drip-edge that will go around the eaves of your home at the gutter line. This edge will stop when it hits a rake or gable and will transition to another type of trim.

Next on the list is your valley material. We often use a 29-gauge tuff rib material that fully protects the seams and transitions on your roof. It is important to have a nice, neat, closed look to your valley material to prevent water from getting in but also to ensure that insects, squirrels and other animals are unable to penetrate the roof.

When you get ready to install the metal panels themselves, it is important to ensure that there is overhang of at least 1 1/2 inches, sometimes up to 2 inches, depending on the pitch of your roof. These panels should not be flush with the drip edge or fascia board to ensure that water drains properly away and off the roof. Fasteners should be added to either side of the main rib spaced every three to four feet to ensure that the roofing material is properly attached to your home.

Diffusing the Heat

Kynar 500 reflective paints help to keep your new metal roof from getting too hot during these southeastern summers. This special paint goes a long way to reflect the suns rays instead of absorbing them, but will still take on some heat in our ninety degree summers.

The Trim Out Stage

Trim is so much more than just an accessory, it is a necessity. Always ensure that your roofing contractor doesn’t just lay your metal roof, hang it over and leave a raw, exposed edge. This will allow blowing rain and water under your roof and will look unfinished.

Rake trim is included and is incredibly important as it forms a sealed edge that not only looks much more finished, but prevents wind and other weather from getting under your roof and lifting the roofing material away from your home.

Before installing the ridge cap trim, it’s important to ensure proper roof ventilation.The first step in this process is knowing the type of insulation in your home. With paper-face insulation or spray insulation, it’s necessary to vent your roofing system. If your home is built with spray foam insulation, ventilation is not required for your roof. For a traditional shingle roof, this ventilation is called a ridge vent system.

However, for metal roofs, a flex-o-vent system will allow the heat to dissipate from your attic space. The ridge cap itself covers the gaps to prevent any animals from getting underneath or inside. After installing, the edge of the ridge cap trip will be sharply turned under to create a watertight seal and further protect your home.

Standing Seam Metal Roofing

The process for installing a standing seam metal roof is very similar to tuff rib, but the results are more aesthetically pleasing as this type of roof does not have any exposed fasteners.

First, we would be sure to leave a drip edge at the eave line of your home. This is simply a lip that sticks out over the fascia board and will prevent rain/wind from getting under the roof in this area. Next, we install the valley and ensure all ends are fully closed up and then we are ready to begin installing roof panels.

This begins by cutting and prepping all panels, leaving a flange that will eventually curl under and hook the paneling to your home. After installing the first panel, we add standing seam clips on the underside of the rib, spaced every three feet apart. The next panel will overlay this and snap right over the edge of the first, giving your roof a nice, clean, sleep look sans fasteners. Once all panels have been installed, they will be hemmed over the side of the home and hemmed in the valley son the roof to prevent any raw, exposed edges that could buckle or give over time.

After this, we install rake cleats by face-screwing them directly to the fascia boards. Then the trim out stage begins, starting with the rake trim which slides right over the rake cleats and into place. After ensuring all rake cleat ends are tightly sealed, the ridge cap trim will be installed. First, we will add butyl tape to create a water tight seal, then z-bar goes down to ensure proper spacing and finally we add the ridge cap itself. The ridge cap clips on to one side then snaps to the other as we ensure a minimum of a 3 foot overlap to ensure quality protection.