Yay! We're getting a new roof!!!

Good choice, Piffy.

American rooves (and building methods) are different from those hereabouts.

I agree - to both, what McTag said.

Speaking of roofing...

I'm looking into a new roof for my house and would like to go with metal.
I currently have a single layer of original shingles and one company has
suggested attaching thin wooden strips to my roof with screws and using
these as the foundation to for the metal roof.

Any thoughts or experience with metal roofing?
I'm looking at light colored energy star rated material.

Thanks !

No, it's not boring Piffka. Doing something big like this really occupies your mind. I can identify with you.

(my front lawn was removed Sunday by a bobcat and now we're working on new driveway, retaining wall and patio.....I know what you're going through)

Following a storm we had a roof re-shingled by a friend of our realtor. OMG! Even I knew to snap a line. This guy just started hammering. Huge ordeal, didn't pay final payment so he took US to court. The judge laughed him out of the room when he saw the photo's and video of his "work," and suggested HE pay US. Just saying I KNOW this is a huge undertaking. And, 50 years? Of course the color choice is critical. I think the one you chose is very nice.

Personally, I'd make them remove the existing asphalt shingles before they do anything. You don't want them under there.

A standing seam metal roof (typical metal roofing) can be a good choice in many areas of the U.S.. If properly installed you should get 50 years or more from it (provided they use decent materials to begin with) so it would probably be the last roof you ever install.

You want the wood strips installed so that you have an air channel between the metal roof and the underlayment. Otherwise all the heat from the roof during the summer is going to transfer right into the attic space. That heat is also why you want to remove the existing shingles. They won't be exposed to the weather any more and they will dry up and crumble. If left there you'll have a huge pile of dust under the metal roof in 5-10 years. That dust will block the air channels and pieces will be falling out of the air gaps at the soffit all the time.

Thank you fishin

Hi McTag & Walter -- Definitely different.

The roofing manufacturer has been in the Pacific NW for 100 years -- this product is specialized for our rainy weather and giant fir tree hazards (pollen, needles, branch drop, etc.).

Reading with much interest on two levels.

One, I'm just a home improvement junkie, I love this stuff. (Chai, will we see before and after pics?)

The other is that our roof definitely needs work, it's the next big project. First was having our trees trimmed, roof is next. I don't know nuffink.

Wow, Chai, a bobcat in your driveway? Mr.Piffka wants one of those for his own bad self in the very worst way. It sounds like you've got some big changes planned. Have you got a thread going on this? I'd love to hear about it. We've done driveway work and built a new patio at our beach house which I love (though the rest of the work there needing to be done would make you cry).

Thanks, Squinney. I'm real sorry to hear about your experience... it's the nightmare of all homeowners. There's not a lot of recourse for bad workmanship when the industry is wide-open. So, did he pay you back any money??? I hope so!

Choosing the color was hard when we're looking at a roof that would last longer than we might. Our current roof is red; so we're not shy about color , but we found red limited the colors we could paint the house. (it was great when the house was white.)

This color is supposed to show the least of the debris that falls from our fir trees and goes well with almost any paint job. Our house is a bungalow-type, story and a half with peaks & gables. I'm honest-to-god thinking of dark green... maybe even black. I love the look of dark houses with bright white trim and a brilliantly colored front door.

BBB
As part of my job in California, I sued a well known roofing material manufacturer on the East Coast and won for fraudulent content information. It forced the roofing industry to provide accuarate information about the factory weight, dry weight and wet weight of roofing material. I also forced the company to list all of the components of the material. I discovered that they had deleted the anti-mold zinc content and replaced it with copper, a material that was not compatible with aluminum gutters and caused them to fail. They had to replace the roofs on 187 homes and/or replace the aluminum gutters with copper gutters and downspouts. They chose to replace the gutters. They stopped selling their product in California but, as far as I know, are still selling to the faulty material in other states---unless they have learned their lesson.

Existing roofing should always be removed before reroofing. A house is built to hold a certain roof weight and care must be taken not to exceed the limit. This is especially important in earthquake country and heavy snow and high wind country. Long life roofs are considerably heavier than shorter life roofs.

Its also important to carefully read both the manufacturer warranty as well as the contractor warranty. It makes a big difference when things go wrong.

BBB

I agree with you, Fishin'. Getting rid of the old roof is a trial but important. Who wants that old dusty stuff under there?

H2OGuy -- We considered metal roofing briefly; it has a lot to recommend itself. The reason we decided not to use it was our house was built by Mr.P so that he could climb around on the roof for maintenance. It is dangerous to walk on metal; it's often hot and always slippery, plus it can bend and dent. I've seen some neat houses with metal roofing -- there's a tan color that looks really good, I think.

Re: BBB


Good points, BBB. I didn't know that about copper granules and aluminum gutters. We have mostly "ground gutters" with roof guttering around the entry and porch. I called Mr.P to ask him what kind of gutters and he said he was planning on steel but I could check on the prices for copper. Heh... he knows that I'm tight -- I'd say I had a Scottish attitude about it, but don't want to offend McTag.

There have been construction projects in this area where the copper plumbing pipes are cut between the studs by copper thiefs -- what a waste, but hoo-boy, copper is gorgeous. Maybe I can find steel with a copper patina?

There's a house down the road from me that has spanish tiles that are a kind of a rich copper color, faded nicely, and the whole thing looks quite impressive. It's a tudor style house on lot overlooking a small lake and the roof is perfect for the house.

The tile looks somewhat like this...



Of course, like I said, you need the right type of house for spanish tile.

I suspect Piffka's house would be appropriate for such a look.

Thanks, Gustav, but Spanish tile, while often beautiful, is so awful to walk on.


Sozobe -- I just noticed your post. Good luck with your project(s). We have a group based out of Seattle called Plant Amnesty which offers great information on trimming trees. Have you heard of it? I happened to be at a lecture yesterday by the founder, Cass Turnbull. She is now calling herself a horticultural comedienne and with good reason. It was an amazing lecture. She and her organization are wonderful at discussing plant problems and not taking themselves too seriously.

Here's the website:

http://www.plantamnesty.org/

Oh, cool!

The tree-trimming part is all done, expensive but they did a fabulous job. We wanted to do the tree trimming part first because there were a lot of ginormous branches over the house and we were imagining spending a ton of money on the roof and then a storm and kerplooey. Now we're saving up for the roof and starting to research.

There's a pic of result of tree trimmers' activities here.

H2O Man-We had a new rolled seam metal roof put on when we did our addition in 1998. However, our roofer didnt use lath strips cause a metal roof has no nails that pierce the metal. Its all done by joining the roof sections into a rolled seam that join with tough metal ribbons that are screwed onto the ply underlay like big long bowties. The metal roof sheets are pre bent into a long U shape the length of which corresponds to the entire roof pitch (one side only). The L bend on each side of the metal sheet is about 2" or more high ,(depending on the "reveal" that you want). WE chose a 1" reveal because to, go any higher, the roof would look like the tin roofs on a Pizza Hut (thats too high). They lay down a "felt" first and then They sandwich the bowtie strip in between the two adjoining metal roof sections and then they have a "crimping machine" which rides the seam and bends it over at least twice. (once up the seam and once down).

Our metal is a monel coated and then a baked enamel. We didnt want stainless cause itd look too much like the Jetsons, and we didnt want copper because it bleeds with all the acid rain. (Our copper flashing from the old part of the roof had bled a blue green down the stone and stucco so we had it taken out and replaced. Copper is sold as a product to people who dont think 5 years ahead and have their homes streaked with copper salts (like in somebodies sinks from acid water)

There is nothing that pierces the metal roof. Even the posts that hold up the lightning rods are actually little Allen Screws that clamp onto the seams.
Weve been through a couple of 100 mph wind storms and the roof has been great, and the sound of rain or ice on the roof is soothing.
Ps, go with 12 gage or thicker so, if you do use lath(And we dont reccomend it), you can walk on the roof without it denting. Copper is most prone to dents and Stainless is least. But as I said , stainless never develops a patina and its like looking into a mirror.

As far as insulation, Weve got a lot of attic venting so insulation is ctually beneath the attic roof and over the ceiling of the living space. It can get cold in the attic in the winter. But, we used to have a slate roof and , in slate rooves , there is nothing but wood slats between you and the sky. We would have snow blow into the roof and pile up in the attic. Dirty little secret about slate because slate MUST breathe or the wood rots., whereas metal

That's a big beautiful tree, Sozobe, and a cool rope swing. So, a big branch was hanging over your roof? That would be scary to contemplate. Our trees are back a bit, but so tall (like yours) that they can always fall down or branches drop and travel with the wind.

I noticed the utility lines underneath the trees in your photo. After our storms this winter, we've become very nervous about stuff like that. (Though, I think maybe conifers are more likely to be dangerous than your kind of trees.) Sad story in this small town, we had so many lines down it took a long time to clean-up... a young man in his 30's was electrocuted five days after the storm while walking his dog. Nobody realized the downed line was still hot. Neighbors & kids and dogs had all been walking around them. That street was just two miles from my house.

What kind of roof are you thinking about? Composition shingles like ours? Cedar shakes? Metal?