Hi, Renee,

I see no one has chimed in on your roof question. My husband and I were general residential contractors for 30 years in Texas. Down here in the extreme humid and hot south, we always installed 1x4s stripped over the old shingles for air gap. The new metal roof was then screwed to the 1 x 4s. This helps keep the roof from sweating also.

Buyers will pay more for a ribbed metal roof over fiberglass shingles but they do not comprehend the expense difference between ribbed metal and standing seam. Standing seam is pricy but wonderful.

I know of no problems in the neopreme washers used through out the roofing industry.

Gail

Renee,

I just realized I may be able to help. I have a roofer here working on my slates who also does standing seam, so I'll ask tomorrow during break.

Molly

Thanks so much! I would appreciate another roofer's input.

Gail, has anyone called you regarding leaking because the neoprene washers? Also, how long do you think it they would last. I have read people need to tighten them after a couple years also, have you heard about this?

thanks,

-renee

You seem to have 2 layers of roofing now and plan to add a third. Is your frame strong enough to carry the load? Do you need to strip the old materials off first?

Yes, we do have a roof that can carry the load. Also, only one layer is asphalt, the other roof is metal, so we actually have very little weight on the roof right now.

we would be stripping the roof if we were adding another asphalt roof, for sure.

I don't have much information to offer--but I'm dying to hear more responses, since we're in the exact same situation. Would love standing seam, but can't really afford it, so are thinking about screw-down. We've heard that the screws can rust, that the neoprene washers need to be replaced occasionally, and that you really want to make sure you get someone who's really experienced at installation--not screwing in at weird angles that would allow water to pass through, etc... And we keep hearing that standing seam is a lifetime roof, whereas screw-down is not. (I have to admit though, that I actually kind of like the look of screw-down over standing seam--standing seam is getting more common where we live (an island outside of Seattle), but we're in a 110-year old farmhouse, and I kind of like how rustic the screw-down can look--like it's been there for years, which is the look we're going for.)

I know we don't want to do asphalt shingle--just from an environmental perspective, it's about as bad as you can get. At least if we need to replace the screw-down roof, it can be recycled. Looking forward to hearing more from others.

Hi Lizabeulah!

My question here has been up for a while. Doesn't seem that people have too much experience with metal roofing yet.

I also like the look of the screw down roofs. Nearly everyone w/ a metal roof has that here. I think that is because it is cheaper and faster/easier to install.

The screw down roof system has about 20 colors to choose from also, compared to about 5 for the true standing seam. This makes me feel that they are trying to push it for residential roofing. People like to be able to choose from a lot of different colors.

We still have not made a decision yet. I just am not sure what to do.

-renee

Renee,

I am still on the track to try and get an answer for you. As you know this has been fab weather for roof work and my slate man got pulled off on to another job, but I expect him back. He worked 10+ hour days towards the end of the week and I didn't want to disturb that momentum with more questions.

You want to know about the longevity of the screw-down vs the standing seam (but not standing seam that's soldered) right? I think I may have the screw-down on a large pole barn that we put up more than 15 years ago. I can go look and see tomorrow in the a.m. It has performed flawlessly - even surviving the tornado that smashed up our house (and the pole barn was broadsides to the path of the tornado, with its only closed wall on that side, too.)

I did nothing but attend to the roof project last week. It turned out to be more complicated and time-consuming and more expensive than it initially appeared (ain't it always?). But I did learn how to cut and replace slates, which with 10 slate-roofed structures here will come in handy in the future. In fact, the only non-slate roof is the one on the big pole barn.

(Also re your electrical problem thread, I will ask my DH to make suggestions when he gets back from a business trip. When we have that problem he gets busy with his little meter and sorts it out.)

Molly~

PS, Do you need opinions about the layers of roofing issue, too?

Thanks Molly!

Our main question is that I have heard/read that the neoprene washers dry rot after a while (10 years) and would need replacing.

I have also read about the screws loosening over time because of the wood and metal expansion.

Those are the two main questions I have.

The standing seam roofs are crimped now, not soldered, so we would be comparing a crimped vs screw down roof.

I had read a lot about metal roofing installation and am ok with the layers of roofing we have on the house. However, one more opinion/thought can't hurt!

I also did get the county code on this and it does state you can do this. You CAN NOT have more than two layers of asphalt roofing over one another but we only have one layer of asphalt.

thanks so much!