My Own Metal Roofing Story

May 9, 2011 | Filed under: Articles, Benefits of Metal Roofing

While I normally try to keep this website focused on answering questions about metal roofing and its benefits, I want to take a moment to share my own metal roofing story. I think it is an interesting one and I hope you will agree.

My wife and I bought our current home in 1994. We purposefully chose one of the more modest homes in one of our town’s nicer neighborhoods. We had previously owned a home that was one of the nicest ones in its neighborhood and found it hard to get our value out of it when we sold it.

Additionally, with our current home, we have a desire for it to be the last home we own.

Our house was built in 1978. Most of the homes in our neighborhood are from a similar era, give or take a few years. When we bought it in 1994, it still had the original fiberglass shingle roof and, at 16 years of age, it was failing rapidly. Shingles were splitting and cracking and granules were wearing off. We stretched its life by two more years and replaced it in 1996 with, of course, a metal roof. During that time period, we saw several of our neighbors replacing their roofs as well.

Now, we are 15 years later … and many of our neighbors are replacing their roofs once again — in most cases the third roof on their home. During that time, they have seen roofing prices increase dramatically. Also, if they installed their second roof over their original shingles, they are now having to remove both layers of old shingles before the third roof can be installed.

We, on the other hand, continue to enjoy the beauty, maintenance-free durability, and energy savings of our metal roof with no end in sight. From a practical standpoint, this all means that, while our neighbors are replacing their roofs again, we are doing things like remodeling our bathroom and utility room and, hopefully, soon our kitchen as well.

Ending the every 15-20 year re-roofing cycle has, for our family, made a lot of sense. It allows us now to invest in other things to bring increased value and comfort to our home. Might it make sense for you as well?

todd Miller

has spent his entire career in the metal building products manufacturing industry. He is president of Isaiah Industries, an organization recognized as one of the world’s leading metal roofing manufacturers. Todd is currently Vice President of the MRA (Metal Roofing Association) and a Past Chair of MCA (Metal Construction Association). Through his website, he strives to raise the bar on standards and practices to provide property owners with the best possible products for successful roofing projects.

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2 responses to “My Own Metal Roofing Story”

  1. Dave MacLeod says:

    A question; We have a 40 yr old bungalow with a 4 – 16 pitch tar & gravel roof (original).
    Should we remove or can we treat roof with fungicide(?).

    Is the pitch sufficient. we live in NB Canada, some winters 2 + feet of snow, others 1′ or less. Straight away 16 * 53 roof, no dormers, just vents and electric mast, hope to do ourselves.

    Please advise as I have searched around without finding an answer.

    Respectfully;

    Dave MacLeod

    • toddmiller says:

      Chances are that before metal can be installed the current roof will need to be completely removed and a quality underlayment as prescribed by building code and your metal roofing manufacturer will need to be put down.

      Your roof does have adequate pitch for many metal roofs but given your location I would suggest a mechanically seamed standing seam might be the best option.

      I hope this is helpful.

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