This metal roof installation was more of an emergency job. In essence – during Hurricane Irene, a large (1500 lbs.) tree fell on the roof of this house in Cumberland, RI, breaking much of the framing and roof sheeting, and leaving a huge hole in the roof, as well as destroying a previous roof that was on the house – Interlock’s aluminum shingles roof, that was installed just a few years prior.

The homeowners – Mary and Rafael were looking a Metal Roofing Contractor to install (replace) the damaged roof with a new Metal Roof. For reasons unknown to me, they decided not to hire the original installer to redo their roof. At the same time they were working with a General Contractor (GC) that was doing other damage repairs (framing / insulation / electrical / plumbing and other interior work) in their house, and we were hired as an independent roofing contractor to do the metal roof.

About the same time, we had just finished our own metal roof in North Attleboro (full review coming soon), and Cumberland being only 5-10 minutes away , was very close for Mary and Rafael to look at our work.

Their General Contractor – Joe, took a drive to our No. Attleboro office, and spoke with us – we then went to see the job, and got the ball rolling.

Emergency roof replacement:

Old metal roof, damaged in hurricane Irene – roof framing repaired, and temporary underlayment installed:

It was essential to do the roof replacement as soon as possible, as the interior work in the house was progressing, but building inspectors would not sign off on the electrical work, and winter was looming (this was in late November), and cold temperature was settling in. At the same time, we dedicated the entire month of December, to last minute emergency roofs, and pushed less urgent roofs back slightly.

With this roof it was a race against time – while we had to take care of other badly leaking roofs – some with water leaking into bedrooms, or one with no roof at all (old Trocal PVC roof that completely shattered), we also needed to finish this roof before Christmas.

Another factor affecting installation timing was the fact that around holidays season, most manufacturers shut down plants, and take a long break. At the same time orders keep piling in, and it takes manufacturers some time to catch up after the holidays, which can easily create delays as long as 4-6 weeks in getting the materials.

In this case we needed to have materials on hand before the holiday season, but the contract was signed after Thanksgiving, which gave us and the manufacturer little time to get everything for the job ready. Fortunately, the materials arrived on Dec. 13, and we could start installing the roof that week.

Roof installation:

On this job, we had to install the roof, while GC was in charge of getting the roof deck ready for new roof to be installed. That included tearing off old metal shingles, and as was discovered later, another layer of asphalt roofing shingles, under the metal roof (while it is acceptable by building code to have two roof layers, it is always a best practice to remove old roofing first – especially when you are installing a lifetime metal roof, and we wonder why original contractor did not remove roof shingles).

We had to help GC with installation of roof underlayment to our standards (especially in valleys) and flashing the chimney. We coordinated a day, when GC’s guys removed old roof shingles, repaired / replaced damaged plywood roof sheeting, and helped the install GAF Deck Armor breathable roofing underlayment.

We began installing new roof the next day. Fortunately this was a walkable roof (relatively low slope), which made installation much simpler than if it was very steep. The most challenging part of this roof was the timing – we had to get everything done fast, and hoped weather would cooperate with us (which it did).

From a technical perspective, the most complicated part was the valleys, but in the bigger scheme of things, it was a straight forward roof installation.

We installed Tamko Steel Shingles Metal Roof in Vermont Blue Color. We also installed about 47 snow guards total – 33 in the front of the house where main entrance door and garage doors are located and another 14 in the back, above rear door.

We also installed ridge ventilation system along roof ridges, and a special order split pipe flashing to waterproof electric conduit, which was sticking out of the roof and electrical wires did not allow us to use regular pipe flashing. This pretty much completed this metal roof installation, and Mary and Rafael had their new roof for the Christmas!

If you are looking for an new metal roof installation in Massachusetts, Connecticut or Rhode Island, fill out our roofing estimate form.

Similar metal shingle roofs installed near Cumberland RI:

Metal Roof in Attleboro, MA

Metal Shingles Roof in North Attleboro, MA (installed in Oct. 2011 – coming soon)

Metal Shingles Roof in Johnston, RI (installed in Sep. 2007 – coming soon)

Roof Portfolio – check out other flat and metal roofing jobs that we installed in MA, CT and RI.

If you are interested in metal roofing but wonder how much a metal roof costs – try our roofing calculator to estimate the cost of your or see our metal roofing prices guide.

If you are a homeowner and you are planning to replace your roof soon – whether because it leaks, or it is getting old and you want to replace it before its starts leaking – a metal roof is one of your best options as far as roof replacement. However, metal roofing costs might be a factor in your re-roofing decision. The asphalt shingles roof costs about 2-3 times less than a metal roof, depending on various factors. At the same time, a metal roof will last a lifetime, whereas most asphalt shingles roofs will need to be replaced within 15 years. Also, the cool roof coating on metal roofs will make them much more energy-efficient, which will substantially reduce your cooling costs, even in the mild climate of New England.

The good news is that the government offers a 30% cool roof tax credit, with a $1500 cap, for any qualifying metal roof installation, and all our metal roofs do qualify for this tax credit, as they come with a cool roof coating and are Energy Star certified. There is a catch however – the tax credit will expire on Dec. 31, 2010. So if you are considering installing a metal roof, doing so before the new year is the way to go.

Consider this – most residential metal roofs will cost about $15000, so the tax credit is about a 10% discount off the total roof cost, and most metal roof installations will qualify for the full amount of this tax credit. Basically, now is the best time to have a new metal roof installed, because we don’t know when or if the cool roof tax credit will ever be reinstated.

Benefits of installing a metal roof:

Metal roofs provide a much longer lifespan, compared to regular asphalt roofs, as well as supreme weather protection for your home. Most houses in the north east region, get Ice Dams along the roof eaves, and the way an asphalt shingles roof is designed, allows the ice dams to cause roof leaks, which in turn can cause substantial structural damages, and will require other repairs to the roof and the interior of your home.

Metal roofs offer inherent protection against ice dams. The interlocking design of metal roofs will prevent ice dams from penetrating your roof. Also, most of the snow will just slide off your roof, even before ice dams can form.
Read the rest of this entry »

Metal roofing is an excellent choice for quality-minded homeowners, because a metal roof is virtually the only lifetime roof system that is light-weight, long-lasting, and most of all – affordable. If you compare prices of a metal roof to slate or clay tile prices, you will realize that an average metal roof will cost you only about one third the price of natural slate, while it will look the same or better, and last at least as long.

There are many styles of metal roofs and many choices for roofing materials – your choices range from galvanized steel / aluminum metal roofs, to premium metals such as zinc, copper and stainless steel roofing. You can choose between a “standard” vertical panel (standing seam) metal roof, or a metal roof made to look like either cedar shingles, shakes, natural slate, or flat and barrel tile.

You will also get a wide range of colors to choose from. The result will be such that you will get the look you want with the price you can afford, and the long-lasting performance of metal roofing.

Metal roofing – premium roofing material at down to earth prices:

There is much confusion about the prices of metal roofs, as there is a wide range of metal roof styles and materials to choose form, with some costing a lot more than others. In this metal roofing prices guide, we will show you how much you should expect to pay for different metal roofing systems, and how the choice of metal roofing materials will affect your roofing cost. But before we jump into roof pricing for each type of metal roofs, let me clarify one thing: metal roofs are pricey as compared to asphalt shingles roofs, but keep in mind that metal roof is a lifetime roofing material and so should be compared to its counter-parts in the roofing market – other lifetime roofs, such as natural slate, clay Spanish tiles, concrete tiles, and lately, synthetic slate roofing. Read the rest of this entry »

The term “green” has become very popular during the last decade and consequently overused, misused and abused. Anything and everything can be called “green” today. To make money and to attract environmentally-conscious customers, people will call themselves and their products “green”, even when it is just a blatant lie to confuse uneducated consumers. Being a roofing contractor, I will concentrate on roofing products and services. For example, many asphalt shingles manufacturers now offer “cool” and “green”  shingle products – to me it’s just a shameless tactic to sell the same NOT-GREEN crap that is painted A different color (usually some shade of white). Excuse me, but asphalts shingles are not green, period! TheY are made with asphalt, can’t be recycled and end up in landfills in 10-15 years.

Since the term green is very vague and can be interpreted in many ways, I’ll offer my vision of “green” – a green roofing contractor to be exact, which describes the way I think and try to operate our roofing business. I want to mention that when I say “green roofing contractor”, it has nothing to do with with a roofing contractor installing green roofs or roof-top gardens. To me a contractor installing roof-top vegetation is a highly-specialized landscaping company, but not a roofing contractor (unless they also install the actual flat roofing membrane to waterproof the building).

Quick navigation in this article:
What is a “green” roofing contractor and how one is different from regular roofing companies.
Learn about green benefits of Metal Roofing and IB Flat Roof

What is a “green” roofing contractor?

In my mind a green roofing contractor is a company that works hard to help protect environment and reduce its energy consumption and green-house gas production or carbon footprint. Sure, almost any company will have a carbon-footprint as it’s nearly impossible to be carbon-neutral, but there are many ways to achieve a much lower carbon footprint. Read the rest of this entry »

Virtually all roofing systems the industry has to offer present certain advantages of use, benefits and drawbacks. Metal roofing is not an exception, and just like any other roofing system it offers benefits, and drawbacks. For instance, the initial cost of metal roofing is often sited as a major drawback. However, it all depends on the perspective you take. We will come back to the initial cost of metal roofing investment in a bit, and analyze it in greater detail, but for now let’s focus our attention on the benefits of metal roofing.

One of the greatest benefits of metal roofing for residential purposes is that a metal roof can outlast a conventional roof by a significant factor. One of the dimensions for measuring any given roofing system’s attractiveness is its longevity, which can be well over fifty years in metal roofing. Fifty years! Imagine that, that’s half a century, but you can only get such a long lasting roof, when it is installed by well trained Metal Roofing Contractors, who takes their time to install the metal roof correctly. It means that the installers not only follow the metal roofing manufacturer’s installation requirements, but also take into account the overall condition and functioning of the roof in question, and make any and all, necessary improvements, changes and adjustments with regard to roof ventilation, insulation, roof deck condition, and other factors that comprise a fine working roof.

With regard to the longevity of a metal roofing system, it is important to keep in mind that not all metal roofing systems are created equal. For instance, I once had the displeasure of working with a fine looking metal shake roofing system by Atas manufacturing, that was poorly designed, did not have a good wind uplift, lacked in terms of metal shake lock design, which compromised its reliability, and required a roofing pitch of at least 7 to 12, which indicated that the system was prone to leaking. This system was called Rumba Shakes, and I had no choice but to install it because it was specified by the client, who ordered that metal roofing system. Well, we did the best we could with the Rumba Shake metal roofing system, and that roof still functions fine today, but we were quite worried about the small locks of the metal shakes during the metal roofing installation. Read the rest of this entry »