Metal Roofing Good or Bad Information, help and tips on many areas of roofing including trusses, tiling, venting, insulation etc....

[DoctorD]

I found some metal roofing material on sale and finished the metal roof on my shed. I am completely happy with the results and it was a fairly easy job to complete. Not sure I would want or have the time to do a metal roof on a house but can't see why more people are not using this material.

[Perry525]

You have yet to live through a typical cold winter or hot summer.
About two hundred times a year we have a frost or dew on the grass.
When this happens water vapour will enter your shed, it will form condensation that will then drip on all the things in your shed, helping them to form rust, go mouldy etc.
In the hot days of summer it will be like an oven and you won't want to be in there.

That said, steel roofs are a very good idea. One major benefit is that in almost every instance the attic or loft in a home is the warmest place in the home, heated by the sun free of charge. It is also the coldest in winter.
By having good effective insulation above, in and under the ceiling the cold and heat of the loft attic can be kept at bay, by adding aluminium pipes in the attic loft the heat can be captured and brought into the home on the many warm days that we have, eliminating the need for expensive heating during those chilly days and evenings in spring, summer and autumn.

If your roof is not insulated I recommend fitting a wireless temperature sender in your attic loft, you will be surprised how warm/hot the attic is and for how often and for how long.

A wasted asset.

[laytonanthony]

elaberate on metal roof? there are all types of metal roofs, ie factory metal insulated roofs. if you are puttin on a house this will be classed as a warm roof. you have to make sur you have an air flow otherwise you are going to get condensation and this will cause you problems. metal roofs with out an designated air flow can cause big problems as condensation just runs of it!

[Perry525]

With a normal home, slate or tiled roof you get water vapour rising from inside the home, and usually it escapes to the cold sky via the small holes in the roof. Sometimes you get condensation or frost on the underneath of the slates and tiles, sometimes the frost can look really pretty shining on nail heads. It is not usually a problem.

With a metal roof, not only do you have water vapour rising from inside the home, if you provide ventilation you also get condensation forming from water vapour in the outside air.

Unfortunately, water vapour is always attracted to a cold surface, where if the metal is below the dew point condensation will form on the underneath of the metal, leading to blobs of dripping condensation.