Metal Roofing in Sterling Heights, MI

Corrugated (wavy) and R-panel (trapezoid rib) sheets are screwed straight through the face, each screw sealed with a rubber washer. They're the cheapest metal roof, $5 to $12 per square foot installed in HomeGuide's figures, and quick to put on, which is why you see them on sheds, pole barns and detached garages. Their weak point is the hundreds of exposed screws. HomeGuide says exposed-fastener roofs wear faster because every fastener is a hole open to the weather. Under the code, lapped panels like these need a 3:12 slope without lap sealant, or 1/2:12 with it, and steel panels go down with galvanized or stainless fasteners. On a house, have the screws checked from time to time, because a washer that has dried out and cracked lets water in at the screw.

Steel shingles are stamped panels that lock together on all four sides. From the street they read as asphalt, slate or cedar shake, and the fasteners hide under the next course. Installed prices run $6 to $14 per square foot in HomeGuide's figures. The code doesn't allow them below a 3:12 slope, and they must be wind-tested to ASTM D3161, FM 4474, UL 580 or UL 1897, so find out which test the product passed, and at what class. On a colonial in a subdivision where ribbed panels would look out of place, steel shingles get you a metal roof that still looks like the houses on either side.

Stone-coated steel is steel panel with a surface of bonded stone granules, pressed into profiles that look like asphalt shingles, wood shake or clay tile. At $700 to $1,300 per square installed (HomeGuide), its price overlaps hidden-fastener panels. The granule surface takes away the shine of bare metal, which matters to some homeowners and to some HOA boards. Systems differ in how they attach: some go on wood battens and some straight onto the deck. Ask which one you're being quoted, since it changes how the ridge vent, the eaves and the wall flashings are detailed.

The residential code allows a new covering over an existing roof when the manufacturer's instructions permit it. It also says complete, separate systems such as standing seam, which bear on the framing instead of the old roof, can go on without a tear-off. Skipping the tear-off saves labor and disposal. The trade-off, per HomeGuide: the extra weight may be too much for the framing, and any damage left under the new panels becomes hard or impossible to fix. The limits are firm. No recover over a roof that's water-soaked or rotten, or that already has two layers, and Sterling Heights allows two layers in total under its permit and layer rules. So one shingle layer is the most metal can cover. Have the roofer check the deck from the attic first, and ask what goes between the old shingles and the new panels (battens or an underlayment), as the panel maker specifies.

Metal lets go of snow in one slide, and whatever sits below the eave catches it: a porch roof, the gutters, the front walk, a parked car. Snow guards (individual cleats) or snow rail hold the snow on the roof so it melts off gradually. Metal Roofing Magazine recommends the first row 12 to 18 inches up from the eave, individual guards staggered, a second row a little below halfway up when the roof needs it, and an extra row on a lower roof that collects snow sliding off a higher one. The guard has to suit the panel. Clamp-on guards fit standing seam, and screw-down guards fit through-fastened panels. The same article warns against guarding the doorway alone, because those few guards end up carrying the snow from the whole slope above.