Standing seam metal roof, metal shingle roofing and exposed fastener metal for Tennessee homes

Asphalt shingles are still the roof on most houses we work on, but metal is a regular part of our week. Recent jobs include standing seam installations in Louisville and Maryville in East Tennessee, a large standing seam job up in Blaine, and new commercial metal on a church building roughly a hundred years old. On one East Tennessee home, our framer is building new gables, windows, and a French door, and our metal crew is installing a standing seam roof as that work comes together, so the roof and the structure are one job.

Because we also handle framing and renovation, we can deal with what a metal job uncovers, from damaged decking to rafters, without handing you off to another contractor.

A standing seam metal roof uses long panels joined at raised seams that run from the ridge to the eave. The fasteners are concealed under the seams instead of driven through the face of the panel. That is the key difference from exposed fastener metal: there are no rows of screws and washers sitting out in the sun and rain for decades.

Standing seam gives a clean, modern look with crisp vertical lines, and it sheds water and debris well. It is also the more expensive metal option. The panels take more skill and time to install, especially the taller seam profiles, and the materials cost more. When a homeowner asks us which metal roof is the better roof, Mike's answer is standing seam, and we are just as honest that it is not the right budget for everyone.

This is the general comparison we walk through with homeowners. Your actual proposal will show the system, panel or shingle profile, color, and cost for your roof.

The first question Mike asks on any metal job is whether the roof is steep enough to handle the water runoff. If it is, an exposed fastener panel is a workable option. If the roof is lower, or the homeowner wants a more refined look, metal shingles and standing seam come into the conversation.

After that, as David says, it comes down to two things: your budget and what you want the house to look like. We do not push the most expensive system. On one recent job, a homeowner started with exposed fastener panels and ZXL screws, then decided he wanted standing seam. We told him it was his money and his call, and that standing seam is a better roof. Either way, you get a written proposal with the materials and any decking contingencies stated up front.

Some roof shapes are harder in metal than in shingles. Crickets, the small triangular structures built behind chimneys and large posts to split water to either side, are difficult to form in metal. If your roof has details like that, we will explain how we will handle them before you commit.

Exposed fastener panels are held down by screws that go straight through the metal, each sealed with a rubber washer. On an ordinary screw, the sun's ultraviolet light and the weather wear that washer down over the years. Once the washer fails, water follows the screw into the roof, and the fix is replacing screws across the roof, which is time consuming.

When we install exposed fastener metal, we use ZXL screws, which have a cap that covers the washer and protects it from the sun. The oldest ones we have installed are roughly ten years old, and we have not had to replace any of them yet. We also repair plenty of exposed fastener roofs installed by others, including barn metal that was screwed or nailed down with the wrong fasteners and started leaking.