Input on installing a Metal Roof

[HillbillyPapa]

The wife and I have been contimplating installing a Metal Roof. We have a shingled roof at the time, but are thinking about changing it that way.
What we don't know is this----- exactly how difficult is it to make this a do-it-yourself job?
We have called a couple contractors, and one came out and said it would cost us about $5,ooo. bucks to get it done (labor and everything).
I also called the Metal Roofing manifacturer here to find out the cost of the materials alone. It will cost us $2,400. or so just for the Metal.
If anyone has experience doing so, or has done/attempted to do this------- I would like to have your imput= how difficult, how long it will take us, your opinion of the end result of the job (if we do it ourselves, etc).
How about it folks? ??? ::)

[bee_pipes]

I put a metal roof on a shed - very simple and I'll never do another kind of roof. All it took was a drill and socket. Cost about $100 for metal and screws. Went up fast too. Get the first sheet square and the rest overlap on channels - easier than crouching and moving your spacer nailing up shingles.

Don't know what kind of roof you have - size and shape - but they go on easy and last a long time. The last owners of this house put on a metal roof over shingles - don't know what's involved - longer screws I suppose. I go up on the roof all the time to punch out the chimney for the wood stove - standing on metal resting on shingle - no big deal.

Probably your biggest concern will be:
1) How high off the ground will you be working?
2) If single sheets - can you muscle them around without bending them?
3) Do you have to do any weird cutting or custom fitting?

Best of luck to you.

Regards,
Pat

[HillbillyPapa]

Roof is about 30 feet wide and 80 feet long. Will have to do some cutting around flu and some vents and other stuff, but I think I may be able to handle it. I most likelly will wait until the weather here starts breaking for spring to start it.
Does anyone know if I have to put wood strips between the shingles and the metal first, or does the metal go on just over top of the shingles and thats it?

[tufhelp]

As you decide on the over shingle question, check to see if you have more than one "roof" on your roof. Here in New Mexico you can have a total of 3 reshingles without a tare-off. The point is weight of materials on the roof...

[bee_pipes]

I don't see wood strips on mine.

There is a porch on the front and a small roofed in area in back, they did it all in one run of sheeting. The panels in front go from the peak to the edge of the porch, and the ones in back over the roofed in area do likewise. The porch and roofed in area have 2x6 eves and 2x4 cross pieces for the roofing to attach to. At the edge of the porch, where the roofing meets the shingle, the roofing is laying on top of the shingle.

Tufhelp brings up an excellent point. If you have more than one layer of roofing, you may want to consider tearing off. The metal isn't that heavy, and would be a shame to loose the extra insulation, but you don't want too much weight on the roof.

This is where it would be a good time to find someone that runs a roofing business, buy him a few beers and pick his brains.

Regards,
Pat

[kawalekm]

HI Hillbillypapa
Go to page 2 of this section and see my pictures in "finishing my cabin roof". *I did just as you are talking about though on a somewhat smaller scale. *My roof measures 24 X 16 feet per side and the total cost of the metal roofing and associated materials was about 1100$. *The total construction bill for the whole roof structure (attic floor, rafters, plywood, ect) was about 4500$. *Putting up the metal sheets was about the easiest part of the whole project, and that only took two days to do that (the whole roof took about 5 months to construct). *My metal sheets were 16 X 3 feet each, and I was able to position them on the roof from a step ladder on the ground. *My wife then secured them in place at the four corners with 8d nails. *Nails worked OK even though our place is subject to winds strong enough to knock over the ladder at times. *Once the panels were in place, straight and plumbed, we drilled in the roofing screws and replaced the temporary nails. *For climbing up the roof we parked our pickup under the roof so that the end of the bed lined up with the angle of the roof and layed our extention ladder in the nock. *We then just walked up the ladder to where we wanted to work.

One mistake we made was not knowing just how many roofing screws to buy. *They are rubber gasketed and expensive, but they're sold by the pound. *We used the standard spacing of 1 foot apart along all edges, and 2 feet apart along all ribs, and had to go back twice to buy more screws. *We solved that problem by putting in enough screws to hold the panels in place, and then coming back later to fill in all the empty spaces. *

One problem with laying metal over old roofing is the screws will have to be significantly longer to go through all the old roofing till they hit solid wood. *I would guess that the panels might be more secure the closer they are pressed against the anchoring wood. *My roof was new construction, so I just layed down plywood, followed by tar paper, then the metal roofing. *I used a circular saw with a sheetmetal blade for cutting panels. *I also used a jigsaw, but buy a lot of blades because they'll break as you try to cut over the uneven contors of the ribs.

One negative aspect of metal roofing is the noise. *The sound of the rain is a lot louder with a metal roof, and even the heat expansion from the morning sun will tend to dampen the desire to laze in bed most mornings. *On the other hand, I've see old shacks that have collapsed to the ground, with only their metal roof still intact.

[HillbillyPapa]

Our house has the original Roofing which came on it (shingles), and they are 16 years old now. So, I don't think we will have to strip it down to the plywood surface first, at least I hope not. I think each side of the roof is 14 feet,, but I will measure it again to make sure, etc. I was just thinking about how difficult it could be, etc.
I think we may try to do it ourselves before too long. Do you think it will be alright over the original 1= set of asvault shingles it has,,, oh and what size screws do I need, and are they self starters etc.

[kawalekm]

I used roofing with 3/4 inch ribs and once I drilled through the top of the ribs, through the paper, and into the plywood, the 2 inch roofing screws I used only had three or four threads sticking through to the inside, so they were barely long enough. Anywhere there was material overlap, like at the ridgecap, I had to use 3 inch screws.

The screws have a self-tapping tip, so the first 3/8 inch is not threaded at all. You will have to measure how thick the roofing in place is, add the rib thickness to that, and then add maybe another 1/2 inch just to be sure. I would guess you're talking about at least a 4 inch screw. If your roof is 14 feet on a side, you can get custumn sheeting cut to that length to fit your roof. The screws are self-tapping, but I don't like to do it that way. First I punch a hole in the sheeting with a 16d nail, maybe penetrating down to the wood. Then I use my electric drill to go through the sheeting and drill down into the wood. If I try to start a hole with the self-tappers, I usually get tip wobble, which scratches up the surface and will probubly rust the sheeting soon.

[palerider]

Our house has the original Roofing which came on it (shingles), and they are 16 years old now. * *So, I don't think we will have to strip it down to the plywood surface first, at least I hope not. * I think each side of the roof is 14 feet,, but I will measure it again to make sure, etc. * *I was just thinking about how difficult it could be, etc. * *
*I think we may try to do it ourselves before too long. * Do you think it will be alright over the original 1= set of asvault shingles it has,,, oh and what size screws do I need, and are they self starters etc. *


Roofing steel is usually less than $1.00 a square foot, sounds like that price might include the extras like screws and drip edge, fascia etc. Do you have valleys? The real question is how much prep and custom cutting must be done. The worst part of any metal siding or roofing job is the cutting, you're not supposed to use anything but snips, saws with metal blades can void warrantees. BUT all is not lost, there is a new product out there for about $1.00 a square foot that LOOKS just like wooden shakes or slate, but is metal. I have seen it and the guy who KNOWS about it is never there at his shop when I stop by. I haven't had the funds to buy, but this could be the year. It comes in three foot lenghts and sort of clicks together, it uses the same screws as the siding I believe. I plan on putting this on for siding (I hope) *as that will end exterior maintainance for me. I'll follow up with a standard metal roof (shingle look on siding AND roof, too much) in the future, nice tight no paint or fussing with house! Check out the sites online for the manufacturers opf metal roofing/siding, they'll also give you dealer names near you.
incidently, if your home is 30'X80' each side of you roof must be closer to 20' than 14'. 2X14 is only 28, two feet short of the 30'. Think of each side like a right triangle with the triangle right angle formed by a straight vertical line running up the center of your roof and the other leg of the right angle where your roof covers your ceiling, the third leg is the pitched part. You can figure the lenght exactly if you know the pitch and the overhang length. Just use the right triangle formula, A squared (hieght) plus B (horizontal length)squared = C (pitched part) squared.

[HillbillyPapa]

I think its 16 on each side, but I will have to re-measure to make sure. The weather has been so unpredictable here and cold and stuff, and I just decided to wait for better conditions before starting. It will probably be in the last part of march or so!