We have a metal roof & love it. In fact our last 3 homes have had them. Ours have all been the traditional style but I would imagine the styled ones you mentioned would look great. I was also interested in the cement roof that I saw after Hurricane Katrina. It is supposed to hold up in 120 mph wind. They have some shake styles & colors that look like they would compliment your style home. Don't know anything about cost though. Here is a site I looked at. www.elagante.com/ Might give you an idea.

Was the metal roofing already installed on the home's or did you have it installed?? I'm still curious appx. how much more it costs for metal roofing as opposed to asphalt shingles.

I just got bids and talked to roofers about that exact cost-differential issue today. What they're saying is that a metal roof costs 3-5 times as much as compsition shingles -- Yikes! (Which ended my consideration of a metal roof since this is not our forever house.)

When I started researching our standing seam I browsed the Metal Roofing Alliance website. That might be a good place to start.

I know you don't want standing seam, but our roof cost about 7-8x more for metal than it would for asphalt. Of course our warrantee is for 50 years and our house is impossible to access which made installation a nightmare.

Our homes all originally had metal roofs. We just got our house reroofed after Hurricane Katrina. It was not much different than what our neighbors paid for their shingle roof. The houses are not much different in sq footage & ours has 2 dormers that theirs didn't. I like the no upkeep & long lasting qualities. It is nice to know that if you go to sell that a roof won't be a worry.

Thanks all for the input. I guess i'll just have to see what estimates turn out to be here in Indy. I've seen everything from Same cost to 6 times the cost of asphalt shingles, so who knows what i'll get quoted. The roofing companies are extremely backed up right now due to all of the hail damage from spring, so once they get here i'll post the info for others.

Thanks
joe

I moved into a 4 year-old house last year with a metal standing seam roof. The seller told me that he was originally going to have an asphalt shingle roof, but the builder found someone who would do the metal for not very much more and he jumped at it. In a previous house I owned with cedar shingles, I was considering converting to a metal roof. I found a company in my area that had a huge array of styles and colors, and produced packages with all the needed parts if you wanted to install the metal roof yourself. They even had something like an 80 page, illustrated manual that showed how to do all the flashing and other tasks. I was seriously considering doing this as the cost was quite good, and it actually didn't look very hard. Then my wife found our current house, and we moved on...

I'm sure it would save a lot of money do DIY it, but my roof is at a 45degree angle and there's a good 12' drop to the ground. I'm not scared of heights but the last time I was up there I had contingency plans of vaulting to the neighbors roof as a last ditch effort(and my wife almost killed me for going up there). Hopefully the roofers will call back soon. Regards
Joe

You won't make it leaping to the neighbor's roof, unless you have super powers.

My wife and I installed Meridien panels from McElroy metal, which was not extremely difficult. It's absolutely beautiful and I fully expect it to last longer than I do. Cost was probably double normal shingles. It's worth the effort and cost. This is a steel standing seam roof, no exposed fasteners, full ridge vent. Check it out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Meridian panels

I've had a terrible time keeping an asphalt shingle roof on my house due to its location in a very open and windy area. I have the choice of replacing the roof (this time) with heavy duty "hurricane" shingles or a metal roof. The estimates I received were almost the same for either. We're going with metal. I'm looking forward to no more lost shingles. Note: there has not been 1 year in the 12 I have lived here that shingles did not blow off. I have had it replaced twice with different contractors and patched so many times I can't count. I live in the mid-Atlantic states (Maryland). I can't imagine what people go through in a hurricane area.

Minor hijack: Other than not blowing off and looks, are there other good reasons to use metal over shingles? Our metal estimates are 50-100% more than for asphalt shingles, and the shingles come with a 50 yr warranty vs 30 for metal. I really like the look of metal but I'm trying to justify the extra cost. Thanks.

What about insurance with a metal roof? Some companies give a discount so that might be an advantage. All I can say is that we had major wind damage from Hurricane Katrina & the only part of our roof that was hurt was where a HUGE pine tree snapped & did a javelin deal through the roof in 3 places. None of the rest of the roof leaked or was damaged, we didn't lose a single piece of metal. Considering the size of the tree that remained lodged in the attic it was amazing that the roof wasn't even more messed up. Neighbors with shingle roofs had much more structure collapse & damage from the same type damage. Winds here were 145 mph.

Wow... Fortunately we don't have hurricanes here. The winds to get up to 60+ at times though, I think. Our natural disasters are wildfires and the insurance is the same for metal and for shingles. Wood shingles, which is what we have now, is the only thing that is more expensive to insure ($1000/year extra).

Shingles have a 50 year warranty? Hmmm...

Is a metal roof louder when it rains than asphalt shingles? We have vaulted ceilings, and don't have an attic.

I've heard that it's louder but that it's rather a pleasant sound that people enjoy.

It's not louder - it's got 1/2" plywood under it. No drum effect. There ain't no walking on it, though. Even the 3.5 in 12 sections are way too slick.

Noise? It really isn't noisy when it rains. If you're thinking water hitting a metal pie pan type sound you won't hear that. At times I can't tell if it's raining or if the a/c is blowing because the noise is that faint.

I would never walk on a roof but we have had several workers walk on our metal one. They wear rubbersoled shoes & are VERY careful but we keep it cleaned off so it isn't extremely slick unless it's wet. The angle & steepness is the biggest issue on mine.

My experience is that steel roofing is approx 2.5 times the cost of shingles, and that aluminum is 3.5 times shingles. I went with granular coated steel from Gerard with a 50 year non pro-rated warranty and have been very pleased. You can walk on it, not slippery, holds snow during winter, improves heat retention in winter and moves warm air better in summer due to the 3" gap between old shingles and new roof, (strapped right over shingles and levelled any dips at the same time)My understanding is that shingles are no longer made of asphalt but of recycled paper, and my last roof only stood up for 8 years before showing wear, so I wasn't going there again. Sound hasn't been a problem either.

WILDPASTURES,
I HOPE YOU GET BACK ON THIS FORUM. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHO INSTALLED YOUR METAL ROOF AND WHAT TYPE YOU HAVE. I'M IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA AND HAVE HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH ASPHALT SHINGLES.
CAR1218

We are considering a metal roof too, but have a large oak tree at one end of our house; in autumn, when the acorns fall (and they fall HARD!) will they dent the roof?

Thank you.

Our 50 year roof finally needed replacing about 5 years ago. I chose an aluminum roof that really cuts down on the summer AC costs. It is beautiful. Noise not a problem but they did put an underlayment that probably deadens the noise. There is one place near a dormer that has continuously leaked. Looked at and repaired by 6 roof
"expert" repairmen. Hope the 6th one took care of the leak. It also was dented in the first hail storm and our insurance did cover the replacement cost. We didn't notice the dents but roofers and insurance people did. Seems like once it dents you may get a leak from the dent crack. My neighbor across used the flat steel look. The hail storm made their roof look like someone hammered it. I think a roof choice depends on where you live. Hope this helped.
PS We were supposed to get a break on the insurance but Marsh McClendon never gave it to us and I sent them papers etc.

Eek! Just when you think you have it all figured out......Should we put a standing seam metal roof, 26 gauge, over our asphalt shingles? Our home is single story, roof is not steep & is in good shape. We'd allow air space between the old roof & the new. Because the metal would not be fully supported from below our contractor is concerned that it would dent easily & very noticeably. Hail is not an issue, & we don't intend to tromp around on the roof. DH prefers corrogated metal(!) which might not dent so visibly. Is there some roofing wizardry that we are missing that would give us the metal roof of our dreams?
Many thanks!