How To Install Metal Roofing Panels
81Why Use Anything Else?
I'm a big fan of roofing with metal. As a kid growing up on a western Montana cattle ranch, I always admired the shiny, corrugated aluminum roof over the woodshed. That admiration has only grown over the years, though my preference these days is for steel over aluminum and for pretty, painted, ribbed panels over those wavy, shiny things. Shingles are fine, but where steel is possible, that's the way to go for this cowboy.
However, there are a few details that shouldn't be ignored. Such as, before ordering the panels (unless you're lucky enough to find what you want in stock at Home Depot), it's necessary to come up with a color choice your rowdy redheaded wife will accept without ralphing. In our case, Pam did not give me the green light until Choice #6, an off-white tone somewhere between very light-colored sand and clay.
Next, just like when you're going to add shingles, it's standard practice to apply a well done layer of roofing felt between sheathing boards and steel panels.
First And Foremost
When all is ready for the first panel to hit the roof, look out for the wind! Even a fairly mild breeze can take a lightweight chunk of metal that's three feet, three inches wide and 20 feet long...and turn it into a "flag ironed against the sky" if you're the least bit careless. Once the panel is about where you want it, one super-key question pops right up: Where exactly is the roof centerline? Even if the underlying sheathing board runs downridge in a perfectly straight line (not likely), the tarpaper (roofing felt) disguised everything quite effectively when it wrapped over the rooftop.
This challenge was met by tacking a nail at each end of the ridge--not on top, where it would have penetrated the felt and ruined its water repellency, but a bit "over the edge"--and then a string was stretched tightly between them. Voila! Perfect ridge centerline! The trick was to get that first panel square to the center-string and hanging over the roof edge evenly from top to bottom at the same time. Since our house is built by hand and not exactly square in the first place, that was literally impossible...but the final compromise wasn't bad at all.
Applying The Fasteners
When it comes to "stitching" panel to roof, the process couldn't be simpler. These premanufactured panels are marvels of invention, not the least of said marvels being those ridges that provide strength and contain rainwater on its downward course...and at the edges, "nest" each panel to its neighbor. There are basically two factors to consider:
1. What to use for fasteners. The only real choice is the made-to-order screw, preferably in a complementary color, with self-sealing neoprene washers included under little metal collars. There is one option, namely the length of the screw. I decided to use only 1 1/2" screws. That length leaves a full inch sticking down through the sheathing board where the 1" length might more than do the job, but I wanted all the "grab" I could get whenever a screw happened to dig into a truss--not just the sheathing board--and decided it was easiest to simply go with the idea that "bigger is better". There was one "surprise" in the 20 pound bag of screws I dug out of the hardware store's bin--it came out looking more like a rivet. No threads!
2. How many screws to apply. I almost messed up on this one. JoyAtHome's husband warned me in time, though--and instead of applying a "hem" of one screw every nine inches, I doubled that (for the bottom roof edges). On the other two, sloping edges (where the panel runs up the rafter slope), the spacing is slightly larger--roughly six inches on average--but those screws go directly and deeply into the rafter 2" x 4" lumber, which adds enough strength to balance things out. For the "interior" area, a strip of screws was applied vertically alongside each rib at the rate of one per every 17 1/4 inches. Nothing magic about that figure; I just cut a "spacing stick" intuitively, and that's the way it worked out. Which should be good, since the maximum recommended spacing is one screw every 30 inches.
Application Techniques
How the screws are applied is a matter of choice. In my case, I started with nothing but a ten penny nail for bashing pilot holes through the steel, then followed with a hand-operated ratchet that came straight from my auto maintenance tool kit. There were some advantages to this--applying each screw by hand power only does give you a great feel for how the fasteners are cinching down. But, yes, it is infuriatingly slow when you're looking at a 2,000 screw total for a single roof (about the number for our house).
So, next step, out came the power drill. Replacing the nail with power-piloting did speed things up considerably.
But not enough. Pam kept saying, "Get yourself a nut driver! You don't need to work yourself that hard!"
Off to Home Depot once again...and whaddya know? Didn't have to buy a nut driver after all. Turns out DeWalt makes a cool little adapter that immediately turns a power drill into a power ratchet for the outstanding sum of $2.99 (plus tax). Zipppety-zoom! With this attachment, a quarter-inch socket added, and bearing down to get the screws started, hey--no need for any more pilot holes, either!
The Ridge Cap And Trimming The Edges
With a custom home built by professionals, perhaps everything works out neatly...or at least is made to look that way. With a hybrid earthbag-walled home thrown up single handed by guess and by gosh, the edges aren't exactly laser-straight and/or sized to the millimeter. When it came to the rafter overhang on the downslope edges, things worked out very well. On the east and west edges, though, the overhang had to be trimmed with the Skilsaw so that (a) the steel wasn't jutting out far enough to let the wind really push at it and (b) the "crookedness" of those edges was not so noticeable to the naked eye. This was done by simply reversing the Skilsaw blade--an old contractor's trick to produce a metal-cutting blade without having to go buy one. Works like a charm.
That left the ridge cap. In the case of the cap, a roofing screw is applied over (and through) each high rib on the underlying panels, and that's all there is to it (except for overlapping the ridge cap pieces, which come in 10 foot lengths, so that the end result looks from the ground like a single unit).
We get a lot of wind here, so it was with significant relief that we saw the final screw cinched down without having had any roofing horror stories to tell. Next: Sheathing the top-framing....
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Oh! Okay, fair enough; I've added one now. Hadn't included it because I was focused on pointing out details like the screw heads and ribs on the panels, none of which can be seen at "full house distance". Will admit you can get the overall effect, though....
Great info, you really know your stuff.
Cool Ghost. You'll soon be in
Thanks, Ron. In truth, I partly know my stuff and am partly learning as I go, but so far it's working.
Cally, it'll still be a while before we're in--plumbing, flooring, interior insulated walls, etc. etc.--but at least the rain has to come sideways now to get in, and within another month or so that should be history, too.
wow ghost! you're amazing!!
:)
That isn't the word one of my ex-wives used a while back, Sylvia, but thanks! :D
I'm sorta the same as far as about partly knowing what I'm doing but a magnetic nut driver works pretty good. Looks like a good job.
Thanks, Nail bender. Didn't have the magnetic angle going for me but could have used it a time or three.
We've been living in the home for some time now. Both bedroom/bathroom combos are finished (sans plumbing), and I'm working on the NW quarter of the place--which will serve as (a) my office and (b) pantry plus a tool closet.
you almoost ot me to giggle on this one we used to do a lot of copper and other metal roofing, wind turned the paneld into glider panels and on 30' high roofs not alot of fun,thank goodness I did not have to pick colors only install and there are some awful color combos out there, you are truly and all around carpenter keep up the good work
Fortunately, the wind didn't crank up too fiercely during week I was installing the roof panels--if we'd gotten the sort of 75 mph airspeed that blew two of the earthbag walls down during construction while I was lugging a "glider panel" around, I might still be hiking back from New Mexico.
When I finally got the sheathing boards onto the top-framing and added the stucco (my first go at that, too, but it went really well), we picked a nice earthtone paint color. The finished home looks like it belongs here.
Tell Pam I like the color she picked. Especially for that area, the light color will reflect the heat and help keep it cooler in the long summer. You did a nice job on the roof. I have an 18 volt battery operated drill and got a bunch of attachments with it. Including the socket set. I mostly use it in the house, putting furniture together when we move, putting screws in the wall for heavy pictures and a large mirror I found at a yard sale for $5.00. I don't think I could do a lot of things I do if I had to use hand tools.
Becky: Thanks. Pam has a good eye for color. Mine's not bad, either--usually.
I've never gotten used to battery-powered hand tools. Maybe it's just habit, you know, from being older than dirt, let alone rechargers. But I'll drag out 200' of extension cord to run the power drill if I have to; cranking down 2,000 roofing screws by hand would have definitely raised a blister or three.
Heavy pictures just get an 8d nail driven through the wall into a stud around our house. Way too lazy to screw around with 'em....
Some of these pictures are Heavy and the mirror weighs about 60 lbs. They require screws. I have no problem with nails but the heavier ones with glass are not going to come out of the wall. I had that happen during an earthquake in El Centro. Good thing it was in the middle of the night when that nail fell out and the picture landed on the couch. I know TN doesn't have that strong of earthquakes but I have habits now.
Got it. We do have one mirror that probably goes close to 60 lb., but the heaviest picture is maybe a third of that. Sounds like you frame them in cast iron! :)
The mirror is in a fake bamboo frame that looks on the back of it like concrete or plaster. It is an old one and 3x5. The other pictures are in old frames, some of them came from my husbands grandmother and they have glass on the front of them. They are also large but not as large. I like antiques and my mother-in-law doesn't like that "old" stuff. Everything she has is new but she asked me if I wanted them. Of course, I did. I just have to be careful how they are hung so they don't fall. I don't want to break my children's inheritance.
I do love my cordless tools, also have a circular saw. The only problem is, they are heavy and once in a while you have to replace the batteries. I had a 14 volt but the charger went out and I have never been able to find another one that will work. It was lighter. The saw works pretty good for small things but takes a fully charged battery to cut a 2x4. Then you have to charge it to cut another. We have 4 batteries and the charger works pretty fast so if you rotate you can keep working. I use the drill a lot more.
Becky: Don't be telling Pam about your antiques--her eyes might fall right out of her head with envy. She's got a powerful love for "old stuff", especially heirlooms like yours.
The tools sound pretty cool except for the saw. Seems like a handsaw would be faster on 2"x4" work than that!
My wife bought me a battery powered screwdriver once, but never again--after I gave it to her son because I'd just never use the thing.
I have never been able to get the hang of a handsaw. It just bends. My dad and brother always kidded me about that but oh, well.
She would go nuts over some of the things I have then. I have a quilt that my great-grandmother made in 1905. It has never been used and is in pristine condition. I also have a pottery bean pot that came over in a covered wagon. My grandmother got it from her mother, who brought it from OH. I have my great-grandmothers Bible and a book signed by Samuel Clements. We know who he is. He was riding by their farm in Susanville, CA and his horse went lame. My great-uncle fixed his horse's hoof and my great-grandmother fed him. He gave them an autographed book.
Wow, are you ever right--Pam would go NUTS over those treasures of yours!
She does have a few of her own, mostly more recent but still precious to her. Her first husband, while in the Marines, was assigned to Nixon's staff, and she got to know both the President and the First Lady as a result. And as a result of THAT, she once met Gorbachev...who gave her a handful of Russian coins from his own pocket.
Not spending those babies!
Cut my reading teeth on Mark Twain...Harriet Beecher Stowe...Jules Verne...but more than any other, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Not only his original Tarzan books (before Hollywood wussified Lord Greystoke), but also his Mars books. John Carter, Warlord of Mars! The delectable Dejah Thoris!
Uh...where was I?
Oh. Yeah. Handsaw. Got good with those by the time I was nine or ten. Sawed a hole in my leg, just above the left knee, once--but as you say, only once.
If they always bend on you, it's a fair guess you're just not realizing handsaws take a kind of "delicate touch". You know (or maybe not), trying to do the work with our arm instead of letting the saw do what it's designed to do. On the backstroke, it's just a lift. And on the push, you kind of feel your way through the stroke in a bit of a "swoop"--really light going in, a little harder in the middle, letting up again at the end.
But I'd best just shut up. I thought I could teach just about anyone to handle a stick shift transmission, too, until my third wife showed me I was a complete idiot.
My mom had all of the Edgar Rice Burroughs paperbacks. We all read them. They were great. She also had a bunch of Zane Grey classics comics. I found one of those in my stuff after I moved out and told her I was going to have to mail it to her and she told me to keep it. I still have it, along with a "66 Action comic. I wonder how much those are worth now?
I didn't run into Zane Grey until a bit later. Don't know about value on the comics. The Burroughs books were with me--Mom didn't mind my liberating them from the house, as neither of my sisters cared a thing for Korak the Killer--until 1975. In the early '70's, dead broke (working, but with a young family to feed), I had the set (2/3 of all he ever wrote), in hardback, appraised in Spokane.
Turned out they were ALMOST First Editions, but NOT QUITE--and virtually worthless. Would have been a chunk of change IF....
Finally, getting really really tired of packing them for every move, I donate the bunch to a teenage intervention group home (where my 2nd wife & I had been live-in houseparents) in South Dakota. Presume they're still there.
Hm...metal roofing panels...Edgar Rice Burroughs. Nope. Can't seem to make the connection.
Guess I'm helping to hijack my own Hubs here, eh?
You sure are buddy, so I hope you don’t mind me jumping in here. That picture of the finished product with the mountains in the background deserves an awesome all by itself.
I have done construction for more years than I care to shake a hammer at, mostly residential in so cal and have never dealt with a steel roof. You made it look incredibly easy. Can you walk on the stuff? Did you have to use sealant on any of the joints? Good job on the felt by the way, looks like the wind gods saw to favor you for a change.
Escalating the jack; A friend built a home in the tropics. 2 above ground heavy cisterns supporting a large second floor and small master above. Designed with hurricanes in mind. Still standing 30+ years later even after last November when the eye was right there. The point is, he told me the key was tying in the heavy first floor to the framing above.
What do you think of the idea of wrapping barb wire from the bottom of the first layer of earth bags vertically over the framing to help tie it in, in addition to the spikes? Capped abs tubes could be inserted under the first course. After wall is framed, barb wire could be snaked thru the pipe and wrapped over bottom plate and whatever framing sits on it. Tension could be applied. Barbwire on the outside would help with stucco, no?
All kudos to you in building your great home at a minimal cost and having the patience and juevos to post hubs as construction took place. Epic.
Always been partial to Robert A. Heinlein, myself.
Installing the roof actually WAS "incredibly easy", at least as such things go. Part of that was the low pitch, since at 2 in 12 I didn't need to worry about sliding off if I was careless with my footing. A loose hammer might, of course, but not a rubber-soled tennis shoe.
Yes, you can walk on it. The rafters a 24" on center, and with the OSB (strand board) laid sideways, the longer "strength axis" meant that (at 185 pounds or so) I could meander hither, thither, and yon on the thing without needing to worry about where I stepped.
No sealant needed except for the rubber washers that come as part and parcel of the attaching screws. However, a minor caveat or two: (1) The felt is shingled, for logical water slippage, (b) The steel panels are installed in order from east to west, so that the prevailing winds get a "sideways shingling" effect, and (c) I didn't much like the idea of the end openings (east and west) at the roof peak, so crammed them full of stucco and sealed 'em tight when I was working the trowel.
Your idea of tying the whole thing together with barbed wire...hmmm.... Pros and cons. Clearly it would add another bit--a fairly large bit--of wind lift resistance. No question about that.
But the cons...don't think I'd personally do it. In essence, I believe the way this one is done DOES tie everything to the heavy bags. Maybe not if a "magical wind" somehow applied a gazillion pounds of lift STRAIGHT UP, true. But how likely is that? And even the slightest side-force or twist-attempt is going to kind of bind the wall layers (stucco, bags, interior stud wall, interior OSB walls) every more tightly together.
Plus, I'm essentially lazy.
However, for the industrious builder who really wants to do it right--but no, NOT BARBED WIRE. For that, for pure tying strength, why hassle the barbs? Go with #9 smooth wire. Number 9 wire is to wire as duct tape is to tape; if it can't fix it, dang it, it's BROKE! LOL!
I have been wanting to add a metla roof to one of my outdoor projects for a while now and now after reading your hub I gained some useful skills on how to properly install metal roofing on my shed. Thank you for this info and awesome hub!
Kimball630: I deleted your commented because it was B.S. This roof will never leak. Two years, 75 mph winds on occasion, two full monsoon seasons, and not a drip.
Don't EVER be telling me I did something wrong on my own stuff.
That was an excellent article. I have put on many asphalt shingle roofs but never metal and I was after the basic idea. You covered that very well. Thanks.
Thank YOU! You made my day.
Good morning Sir:
Your work is -preserving the distances- what humans are all about; inventive, creativity, resourceful and why not a bit of copy from the past... or some vacation. I have a commercial roof, pretty large; 150 squares, and with an extreme climate, like yours, but I'm in the other end with 40C below in winters in Northern Ontario, Canada. I did a lot of research and even when your page, or your project is not what I was looking for -mine is torch down membrane-; I couldn't avoid to park here for a while and read your comments and what others had to say. You did a great work. I am not a professional but I have a dry building. Your page, your comments, or probably the way you'd put it on the paper, was a sort of motivation for me. Like in my case, probably yours also, nothing is perfect and nothing last forever but we didn't chicken to the challenge.
Robert
Thanks for commenting, Robert. Like you say, "...we didn't chicken to the challenge."
I'd not been up to date on "torch down membrane" roofing systems--but am now, since you referred to it and I Googled the method.
Either way, like you say, the whole idea is a dry building. :)
RTalloni Level 8 Commenter 2 years ago
No fair, we need a whole house view!