Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Standing seam vs. screw thru metal roofs?

I know some have done extensive research on the different metal roofs offered. (Yes, Brettski, this means you, amongst others.)

A friend is putting up a pretty large pole barn, that will have living quarters upstairs in half of the area. The company is telling him that the screw thru roofs will last just as long as standing seam. They told him that they put the screws thru the peak, not the valley of the roof on their screw thru roofs. Their roof warranty is 5 years for either type of roof.

Here's the size of the roof on the pole barn.
92'x80' (that includes the overhangs)
Lean to on the side is an additional
68'x16' (including the overhang)

How much more expensive should the standing seam be vs. the screw thru type of roof? Same metal thickness on both types.

Standing seam should not have any exposed fasteners.

I looked into it a little bit and they do make a lighter gauge than you see on commercial bldg.'s . The material was about two and half times your standard 5 rib pole barn metal.

Let me clarify the quandry.

If someone has had standing seam quoted vs. the "exposed fastener" type, how much difference has the quote been. (a % difference is fine)

How long should each roofing system last before any leaks?

I've read where the exposed fastner system needs an annual inspection, and expect to replace the fastners sometime during the life of the roof because of the gasket on the fastner degrading over time.

Never had one quoted.

I have heard you will have to replace the fasteners at some point too. I only know one person personally who has replaced his screw's and that was at about 30 years because it started dripping in a few spots.

I've been on some standing seam jobs where they said they had 50 year warranty's.

Again I'm no expert just passing along what I've heard.

If I could afford Standing Seam I would do it in a heart beat.

There are very few craftsmen left who can do the standing seam. We had a house that was built in 1906 with the standing seam. It was replaced in 2008 because the nails on the edge of the roof failed. The metal prices should be about the same, the labor will be way more on the standing seam. Five years is not much of a warranty. The metal may not be near as good as the old tin roofing.

esshup....he may find this page informative:
http://www.muellerinc.com/metal-roofing/panel-types


Ken we had standing seam installed several months ago and we didn't have any problems finding people that regularly do standing-seam. We got 3-4 bids on standing seam from some skilled experienced metal roofers. We didn't go with the cheapest or the highest bid. We like the way it turned out.

I had our 40 x 60 barn quoted a couple years ago. I haven't gone thru with it yet, but I wanted to know what I was in for. It is a bank barn, so its higher than a typical pole barn. The guy quoted me to replace it with regular metal roof, and then with standing seam. The price difference was 50 percent more for standing seam. He said the big difference is that the standing seam was more wind proof because the one panel locked down the previous one, so if the roof gave out, it would have to start at the edge. Compare that to the other style where each panel may start coming up each on their own. I don't know if this is true or makes sense, but that's how I understood it.

We have metal/galvanized roofing on all our buildings. They are all nailed on the ridges, and it's just a roofing nail, nothing else. That's how it was done in the 30's. Yes, I replace some every time we recoat it. I replace with better fasteners, but considering that some of them are still there are 70+ years old, I'm not complaining. This is old stuff and you need to recoat about every ten years. Not like the new metal. So, every time its recoated, a new seal covers the fasteners. Rarely are there leaks, unless we start waiting to long between coatings.

In the Fall 2009 I done a new build screw roof that was 3,489 sq. ft. or 35 squares for $6,949.29 ($200 per square). That metal was 26 gauge tuff rib colored light brown at $2.05 per linear ft.. Break down is $3000 for labor and $3,949.29 for materials. The estimates I had for Standing Seam were from $10,500 to $12,250 ($300 to $350 per square). Note the roof was long runs with few angles that made for a little cheaper labor installation. There was also no thru pipe venting that had to be done either. Overhead was also lower for my job as no fees, permits, dumpster ect where needed. It also happened to be a time in my area when new construction was slow that helped me get a break on the labor. So in the end these prices may not reflect todays pricing, but it will give you idea of how the pricing stacked up to each other here at that time.

The biggest reason why I'm asking is that I thought the quote for standing seam was way high. It came in $225 more per square than the other style (not $225 per square, $225 MORE per square). The reason given was that the roof needed to be sheathed for the standing seam and not for the other type.

Still, to me, that seems like a LOT more per square. I have no idea what the regular roof quote was.

Mark, your cabin looks great. In this part of Virginia, there are two crews that do standing seam. The roofing companies, of which there are several hundred use these guys to do this type of roof. Most roofing work is subbed out so the companies have no problem giving a price but if they use the wrong sub you are screwed.

Tums the only permit required in
our county is for the septic system.


Thanks Ken. I can see how that can happen.
We learned about choosing the wrong subs.
We chose the wrong sub for stone work.
Terrible sloppy work, and when we let him go and
paid him for what he had done up to that point,
he got very pissed off and made some veiled threats
to burn our cabins down if he was not allowed to complete
the whole project.

Mark, I checked out your link out on the standing seam. that is a new design that I am not familiar with. the one that I see here is a type that has two single edges that are bent over with a special pair of vise grips. The new design may be better and is much easier to install. I do not fool with any of it as you have to paint it sooner or later. How did you vent out your crawlspace or is it heated and cooled?

Ken we did not go with Mueller, but got a bid from them and
they were one of the finalist. Mueller does not do the installs
themselves so like you stated we were concerned about subs,
but they seem like a good company, so we would have probably
been ok.


I think most true log cabins do not have an attic or crawlspace.
But this is what we did....or had done...as far as a barrier.

We framed it: see below


Then we had spray foam insulation sprayed in.

Next we decked over the foam....

Then over the decking we added some kind of new
high tech underlayment called
Titanium UDL50...a fifty year product...see below.



Then the standing seam metal roof went on...
Finally the half round gutters: (see below)

Zep, That is looking AWESOME!!!!!

Thanks R&R....starting to see some tiny light at the end of the tunnel.

Anyone have experience with a resedential metal roof company that might serve the area just west of Indianapolis?

Mark, you did your roof perfect( just like someone would do with deep pockets would do). The crawlspace is the area under your floor joists. The reason the standing seam is different here is because on a historical home(there are many in Virginia) you must use the same exact method to repair the home. That is why the hand bent roof that is soldered in the valleys are used. Then you must paint it a color that is a historical color. You can not add on or change these homes at all even though you own the house. Heck no, I do not own one but they do sell for a premium price here. In Williamsburg they sell for big bucks.

Bought it at Menards and installed as DIY. Their website (menards.com) should list the current price per square for not only the snap-together standing seam, but the more generic screw-down ribbed product.

Anyone have experience with a residential metal roof company that might serve the area just west of Indianapolis?

Make sure you hire the right metal roof contractor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0xn59XCRws