Metal Roofing Pros and Cons

Modern metal roofing offers many advantages over asphalt shingle, and cedar shake roofs. Metal roofing is a green roofing material, which means that it can be used in conjunction with green building practices, and provide a long lasting and environmentally safe alternative to conventional roofing.

Top 10 Benefits - Pros of Metal Roofing

• Metal Roof installed correctly can last twice and three times as long as asphalt shingle roof
• Metal Roof reflects solar radiant heat and can save up to 40% on cooling costs
• Sheds Snow and Ice, which helps prevent Ice Dams
• Withstands wind uplift of up 110 miles per hour and higher
• Does not rot, crack, and provides excellent corrosion protection
• Metal Roof is green building material that earns green building credits
• Can be out-fitted with solar roofing panels for standing seam roofs
• Does not catch on Fire, which reduces home owners insurance
• Greatly reduces possibility of roof leaks and need for on-going roof repairs
• Upraises value of your building and pays for itself

Installation of Solar panels along with energy efficient metal roof

Metal Roofing Advantages

In U.S states where severe hurricane winds cause massive blow offs of composition shingle roofs, metal roofs prevail. In the state of Florida, there are many simulated Spanish tile stone coated steel roofs that stand up to any wind, while asphalt shingle and cedar shake gets uplifted and blown off when winds exceed 60mph. It is not an unusual scene, by any measures, to see a lone metal roof surrounded by its less resilient roof-less neighbors that used to have asphalt shingle roofs before the storm. Clearly, there are some vital advantages of metal roofs in hurricane prone states like Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.

Blown off Roof Image Source: http://www.floridadisaster.org/mitigation/rcmp/HRG/content/roofs/install_shingle.asp

The only argument in defense of asphalt shingle is that its initial cost, is lower than a metal roof, but a new roof is still a major remodeling decision, and installing an asphalt shingle roof, hardly upraises the value of the house. And if the asphalt shingle roof is 10 years or older, then it actually reduces the value of the house. With a metal roof, a home owner would get most of its money back just from the resale value of the house with a metal roof, even if that roof is twenty some years old. It would still make the house look attractive to a new owner, because a metal roof can be the last roof, that a building needs.

Metal Roofing Cons and Drawbacks

One of the major drawbacks is higher metal roofing cost of initial investment than an asphalt shingle roof. Average initial cost of metal roofing is two to three times higher than regular roof. Hence, investing in metal roofing only makes sense if you plan to stay in your home for some time, and reliable long lasting roof is actually important to you. Another major drawback can happen if your metal roof gets installed by a regular roofer who is only familiar with asphalt shingle roofing, and has never installed a metal roof before. It would be highly likely, that such an inexperienced installer would make installation errors that will result in roof leaks. Therefore, be sure to hire only experienced metal roofing contractors.

Additional Resources

Metal Roofing Pros and Cons - Explained in greater detail on NewEnglandMetalRoof.com.

Ice Dam Prevention - Building Owner's guide to prevent Ice Dams.

Metal Roofing Costs - Find out how metal roofing is actually cheaper than asphalt shingle over-time.

Find out how solar roofing can be integrated with standing seam on Green Roofing Blog.