Asphalt versus metal roof

[Frank in Kinburn]

About that time to reroof and I'm trying to decide between metal or asphalt. Naturally each provider is bad mouthing the other's product.
Metal is too expensive, prone to leakage, noisy etc.
Asphalt shingle bundles have 10-15% seconds, weight per shingle is a lot less, expect 8-10 years max out of the new shingles etc.
Anybody had any recent good/bad experiences?
Frank

[Rob Jackson]

Hi Frank.

I don't have alot of experiance with metal roofing but the house we purchased in 2005 has a metal roof. Nothing fancy, just the straight metal sheets. The roof is guaranteed for 40 years and has been on for about 10. The biggest problem is the ice and snow in the winter sliding off when the temp starts going up.

SOme of the newer designs of metal roofing that are made to look like slate have a great appearance but i have no idea about the protection they offer.

I know, not much help.

Rob

[John Bartley]

When I last reroofed my house I used 25 year shingles. They lasted 13 years on the sunniest side and then they were curled and breaking. We reroofed with shingles again because my opinion was that the general public is not really aware of what a steel roof is and it might lower the value at resale time (a couple of years for us). On the commercial building I own we have a steel roof. The building has been up 15+ years and the roof is like new. The house we left in Northern Ontario in 1984 was built in 1916 and when we left the original steel roof was still on it. Personally I would go with steel on a house I was staying in. The one thing that people forget is that a steel roof accentuates the sound of rain. Personally I like the sound of rain on a steel roof, but if you don't, it can be annoying.

just my $0.02

cheers

[billh]

I always considered the fact the snow slid off a steel roof to be one of the benefits although it means you have to be careful where doorways are relative to the slope. I have seen small metal guards, low fence-like bars, across the roof where doorways are.

I have a friend who had his plumbing stack sheared off by sliding snow/ice but that was because it wasn't guarded properly when the roof was installed.

I don't have steel because I don't think it would suit our house. I also go up on the roof twice a year to install heat-blocking plastic on the upper windows to reduce the A/C load and I think I would sooner walk on asphalt than steel for grip reasons - might not be a good reason but I don't like heights that much.

If you do have to walk on steel, be sure the roof is absolutely dry. My neighbour installed steel and during the job he didn't realize that a tree had shielded the sun leaving the morning dew on the roof. As he worked down the steel backwards he hit the damp patch and slid off the roof. Broke 2 vertabrae but apart from being layed up for a few months was OK.

billh

[Abe]

Another option might be the fibreglass based asphalt shingles. I don't know how long they have been on the market, but they come warranted for up to 40 to 50 years. They supposedly wont curl or shrink the way the paper based asphalt shingles do over a period of time.

Abe.

[Robin in Niagara]

This is another option to consider for your roof. I had good success with it last year and in the next few days will start a new thread about it as it will be lengthy. The material is not exactly like the asphalt I am used to.
Robin

http://www.resisto.ca/