Standing Seam Metal

What It Is

Long panels run from ridge to eave and lock together at raised ribs. Clips under the seam hold the panel to the deck and let it expand and contract, which a metal roof in Iowa does by a real amount between January and July.

Where It Wins

• Fifty years is normal and not a sales claim
• Snow slides off instead of building into an ice dam
• Hail dents it and almost never breaches it
• Light enough to go over most existing structures
• Reflects summer heat, which an attic here appreciates

Where It Does Not

• Two to three times the price of an asphalt roof
• Fewer crews install it correctly, and the install is everything
• Dents from large hail are cosmetic and still visible
• Rain on a metal roof is louder, though a solid deck helps a lot

In the Quad Cities

The right answer for somebody staying in the house. Over thirty years it costs less than two asphalt roofs, and it is the only common material that genuinely reduces the ice dam problem on a Davenport bungalow, because the snow leaves before it can melt and refreeze.

Colors