Standing seam metal, installed by the industry’s leading metal experts
Standing seam is the metal roof we lead with. Most metal quotes come from a salesman who will never see your roof again. Here the owner looks at the house, works out whether metal is actually the right call, and then runs the job on site.
Sometimes the answer is that it is not worth it on your house, and you will get told that too. A metal roof sold to somebody who did not need one is a bad job with a bigger invoice attached.
When metal is worth it
It outlasts the shingle you are replacing
A metal roof is a longer-horizon decision than asphalt. If you plan to stay in the house, it is often the last roof you buy for it, and that changes how the quote should be read.
It handles Carolina wind and hail differently
Wind and hail are what put most roofs in this area into a claim. Metal behaves differently under both, and the difference matters most on exposed lots and open lake frontage.
Some carriers price it differently
Impact and wind performance can affect what a carrier charges to insure the home. Worth asking your agent before you decide, because it is a real number and most homeowners never think to ask.
The claim work is the same, and it is the part people get wrong
If a storm damages a metal roof, the documentation and the fight with the carrier work exactly as they do on shingle. That is the part of this job most roofers do not do for you.
Metal roofing options
There are two ways a metal roof is normally put on a house, and the difference is simple once somebody explains it: where the fasteners sit. That is what you are really choosing between.
What we lead with
Standing seam
The panels run from the ridge down to the eave and lock together at raised seams that stand up off the surface. That is where the name comes from, and it is the flat, clean-lined roof most people picture when they picture a metal roof.
- The fasteners are hidden under the seam instead of driven through the face of the panel.
- Clips let the panels expand and contract as they heat up and cool down, rather than working against the screws.
- Fewer holes in the flat of the roof means fewer places a leak can start later.
- Two ways to lock the seam: snap-lock, where the panels click together, and mechanical seam, where the seam gets crimped closed with a tool on the roof. Roof Repair Pro’s installs both.
- It takes longer to install and costs more than exposed fastener. It is the more expensive of the two systems, and on most houses it is the one worth doing.
The right call on some buildings
Exposed fastener panels
The panels screw straight through the face into the roof, so you can see the rows of screw heads across the surface. It is the metal roof most people have seen on a barn or a shop.
- Every screw has a rubber washer under it, and those washers are the part that wears. Over the life of the roof they get checked, tightened, and eventually replaced.
- The panels are fixed rather than free to move, so expansion works against the fasteners.
- Faster and cheaper to install, which is the whole appeal.
- Screw-down, R-panel and corrugated barn metal are all this family. Common on shops, barns, outbuildings and porch roofs, and a fair choice when that is what the building calls for.
What Roof Repair Pro’s installs
The panels come from JET Metals in Rock Hill, SC, and we do metal on both homes and commercial buildings. The systems our crews install:
- Snap-lock standing seam
- Mechanical seam standing seam
- Screw-down panels
- R-panel
- Corrugated (barn metal)
- Copper
Colors and finishes get picked with you at the quote, from what JET Metals runs.
What a metal roof project looks like
Five steps, and the owner is the one standing in front of you for all of them.
Step 1
Somebody gets on the roof, not just in the driveway
The first visit is the owner on your roof with a tape measure, looking at the decking, the flashing, the penetrations and how the roof is cut up. Then you get told whether standing seam is the right call on this house. Sometimes the answer is that it is not worth it here, and you will hear that too.
Step 2
The quote comes from the man who runs the job
No salesman, no commission on top, no number somebody else has to make work on install day. If the roof is going on because of a storm, that estimate becomes part of the claim package instead of a sales sheet.
Step 3
The panels get made for your roof
Standing seam panels are cut to the length of the runs on your roof, so nothing gets ordered until the measurements are done and you have picked your color. The owner orders the material and schedules the job himself.
Step 4
The old roof comes off before the new one goes on
Tear-off, then the decking gets checked and repaired where it needs it, then underlayment, then the panels and the trim. The valleys, the flashing and anything coming through the roof are where a metal roof leaks if it is going to leak, so that is where the time goes.
Step 5
He is there the day of install, and he inspects it himself
Same name on the quote, the install and the final walk. Nobody calls the job done until he has looked at the finished roof, and anything you noticed while it was going on gets answered then.
The same person, start to finish
Metal is less forgiving to install than shingle. The details are where it leaks: the flashing, the penetrations, the transitions. That is the argument for having the person who quoted the job standing on the roof while it goes on.
The owner orders the material, schedules the job, is there the day of install, and inspects the finished work himself. Not the new guy.
If the roof is going on because of a storm, he handles the claim as well. That process is set out in full on the storm damage page.
Request a quote on a standing seam roof
Three questions: the address, the type of project, and when you want it done. Pick Roofing as the project type and say it is metal when the owner calls you back. The first visit and the assessment cost you nothing.
Know somebody who needs a roof? Refer them and get a $200 Visa gift card when their job is done and paid.