# Which Roof ? Cedar / Shingle / Metal ?



## asimo (Mar 16, 2015)

for a 6000sqf roof converage residential house with many small arc and slope . Currently it has cedar roof , it starts leaking after 20years . This region easy to get moss , and it rains alot .

I have breakdown few of my research

1) Cedar shake old growth 24" 7/8 tapersawn #1 (hard to find handsplit or even truly claim old growth)

2) Shingle GAF Timberline HD or Certainteed Landmark TL

3) Metal Panels 24gauges

My main concern is installation experience on metal roofing , or the quality of cedar shakes. Shingle installers seems to dominate the whole roofing industry , but I don't really like the look of these shingles. 

One of my contractor did told me to stick with cedar, because thats how the house was built on . I have also looked into rubber , enviroshake ,they seems to be expensive and not much praise or complaint about them either. 

Any professional advice is greatly appreciated as this is a huge part of expense for me.


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## hotrodo351 (Mar 18, 2012)

never installed a metal roof until about 6 months ago. now 80% of what i do is metal. no one else here wanted to do it, said it was to hard and to expensive. i watched a lot of youtube videos before i did one. really simple, if you ask me. first one was a straight over gable, second a gable, then a huge hip and valley, all went easier than expected. ive done six now and im getting another loaded at the end of the week. what i called are forever roofs. youll need a maclo turbo shear to do your cutting, works great. anyway thats my opinion.


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## Hardt Roofing (Feb 7, 2015)

Love snap lock, it is a lot easier than double lock if you are looking into 24ga you might want to consider 26 it is hard enough to cut and bend. Are you installing this yourself? I wouldn't recommend this if your roof is cut up it is very tedious.The system is complex when you have hidden fasteners I have installed copper roofing since the early 90s and I have to really think out some issues with cut up snap lock roofs. Look around the net @ installation guides and I hope you go with the snap you will love it and I think I'm going to start calling them forever roofs too. I have a some pics here of snap lock check them out.


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

Why not a grand sequoia or a presidential if you are considering a shake? Be sure it has AR and/or consider the installation of copper or zinc strips. I dislike cedar, it looks real nice but is a maintenance roof that very few people every maintain, and those who do seldom maintain properly. In other words cedar needs to be periodically coated, like you would coat a deck or a fence. The cedar roof is no different.

Metal takes a high degree of expertise at the penetrations and angle changes. I personally don't like the look of a metal panelized roofs on an entire structure in most cases, I prefer when it is used as accents. 

Before when I was running my company all the standing seam we did was bays, bows, gazebos, porticos, etc... It was almost always mechanical lock. Almost always we would field fabricate the panels and all accessories and tirm. A standard bay (less than a square) would take 1 man 2 days or 2 men 1 day this way (1 on the brake and the 1 man installing). FWIW this was usually copper.

Now where I work, I don't bid much metal myself other than low slope accessories and trims. We have a guy who bids almost all of the metal roofs, but everything we do penalized is roll formed and the trims are fabricated in our shop. Then again the roofs I used to do were 1 square and the roofs we do now can be hundreds of squares.


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## asimo (Mar 16, 2015)

appreciated for your advices . i do like the look of metal myself , especially the wider straight ones. The cost of metal roof is a lot higher than standard asphalt shingle , therefore finding experienced installers is rather difficult .

I do have future plan on installing solar panel on one side of the roof. 

Do you guys solder the apron or just with fastener ? What about the gutter rubber flashing for built in gutter? they won't last as long as the metal roof . I have seen people do all copper built in gutter but they dont' exist here.


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## 1985gt (Dec 21, 2010)

asimo said:


> I do have future plan on installing solar panel on one side of the roof.
> 
> Do you guys solder the apron or just with fastener ? What about the gutter rubber flashing for built in gutter? they won't last as long as the metal roof . I have seen people do all copper built in gutter but they dont' exist here.


A solar panel on a standing seam roof is easy with the S-5 clamps.


Colored metal panels can't be soldered. It's all done with laps, and caulking is applied in all the right places to give you piece of mind. If done right it shouldn't leak even with out caulking.

For built in gutters what we have done is used 24 ga galvanized so you can solder the seams. If need be tapered insulation can be added for slope then EPDM to cover that. This is a very long lasting built in gutter if done right. Copper is another great way to go, we install ice and water shield first then rosen paper, then the copper with soldered seams of course.


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## Poodle Head Mikey (Jun 13, 2010)

*metal is the only great choice now*

There in only one clear winner -

Metal is the last roof you will ever buy. You're only regret will be that you didn't do it 30 years ago. <g> A Huge warranty, and the roofing material can be recoated in place in 50 or 100 years IF it ever came to that. 100% recyclable, lighter, stronger, higher wind rated, and far less susceptible to damage. And in solar-reflective colors will dramatically reduce your energy costs. With almost any pitch angle snow doesn't accumulate. 

I can tell you that since my first metal roof job some years ago I have vowed never to touch another shingle. <g>

Speaking of energy savings; the US is subsiding PV solar panel systems for homes. Which is just pretty much embracing the idea of wasting just as much energy - but now at a lower cost. <g> If there was any sensible thought in DC we would be subsidizing solar reflective metal roofing instead: you have to buy a roof anyway, no moving parts, nothing to become obsolete, and you can cut your cooling costs in half.

PHM
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asimo said:


> for a 6000sqf roof converage residential house with many small arc and slope . Currently it has cedar roof , it starts leaking after 20years . This region easy to get moss , and it rains alot .
> 
> I have breakdown few of my research
> 
> ...


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## asimo (Mar 16, 2015)

It got me thinking about soldering on colored panels . would it possible to sand off the coating and solder it and touch up paint after?




1985gt said:


> A solar panel on a standing seam roof is easy with the S-5 clamps.
> 
> 
> Colored metal panels can't be soldered. It's all done with laps, and caulking is applied in all the right places to give you piece of mind. If done right it shouldn't leak even with out caulking.
> ...


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