Metal Roofing

       Most of the roofs are made of concrete or wood depending on the climate, architecture of the place and choice of the home owner. Metal roofs are made of metal tiles or sheets. Use of metals in making roof is not new. Old cathedrals had roofs made of sheets of oxidized copper or lead. These metals were used in making church roofs and were used as flashing around chimneys on houses or valleys. Later in 199 th century metal was used as water proofing element. Iron was electroplated to make it resistant from rust. It was light weight and was coated with zinc. Although it was a bad insulator but it was very cheap and easily accessible so it became very popular among the common people as a roofing material. Today we see so many other types of metal roofing materials developed with time and development of technology.

Types of Metal Roofing

Many varieties of metal roofing are just use of different material for coating steel and using it for roofing. Some of the varieties of Steel coated with different materials are:

•  Galvanized Steel: By drawing influence from olden days today galvanized steel is used as roofing material. This is quite similar to what they used in olden days, iron galvanized with zinc. Galvanized steel is quite popular among modern day architects.

•  Steel coated with blend of zinc, silicon and aluminum. You can get them in the market by the names of Zincalume or galvalume or any other name popular locally. Most of the times you would find them coated with colors; however you may also find them in their natural metallic shades.

•  Stainless steel is something everyone knows about. As the name suggests it is stain-less that means that they cope well with harsh conditions. They are also available in distinctive designs. Mostly they are available in rolls but you may also get shingles.

•  Steel coated with Steel is another form of material that is used in roofing. The stones are some natural products that are coated with colored ceramic. The panels are made from Zinc or aluminum which is then coated with acrylic gel.

Other metal sheets are also available. Most of the metal sheets are coated with pain or any other material that enhances their strength, durability and appearance. Aluminum is another such metal that is very good for metal roofing. Aluminum never corrodes, it is very light weight, is highly reflective and emissive. Aluminum lasts very long and can work for you for years. Copper is a traditional metal and is being used for ages now as a roofing material. Copper has this great feature that it can be reused in case if the roof is dismantled and can be used for various other purposes. It can be recycled and is recycled for use because it is very expensive. Today people with very low budget can go for Inverted Box rib which is popularly known as IBR. They are very good for industrial use and are very popular in South African market.

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Advantages of Having a Metal Roof  

• They are very light Weight.
• Because they are light weight they are portable and can be used and dismantled and reused for some other roof.
• They have high strength to weight ratio and that is why they are used to cover very large buildings.
• In the regions where the climate is very hot they can be used with cool proof paints and increase emission of heat and hence increase the thermal efficiency
• They remain unaffected by sparks and fire.
• They are resistant to hail and wind and thus are reliable for harsh conditions like this.
• The snow slides off the painted metal roofs as soon as the temperature rises a little
• Metals can be recycled and reused and thus have better value for money than other things. The recycling of metals does not require too much of energy and is an efficient process.
• Metals are very durable, flexible, energy efficient, labor efficient and require very low maintenance. You do not need too many people to install a metal roof and hardly need to bother about its maintenance as it is very strong and a perfect coating that can save it from rusting or corrosion is enough for its care.
• Most of the metal roofs last for at least 15-20 years because they are coated with other metals that act as protection shield and help the base metal to act stronger under every whether condition.
• You can alter the designs according to the climatic requirements of a place and get a metal roofing material that is suitable to the weather conditions there.
• They have large curves which are sprung.
• Use of highly reflective paints keeps the area below the roof cooler and helps you save money on your electricity bills.
• You can even install some of the roofing over just a solid substrate or over open frame

Demerits of Metal roofing  

•  You have to take care of the roof in a manner that it gets thermal movement and you may need to consult an experienced installer and designer.

•  You may experience noises on the roof in cases of temperature variation although it is rare.

•  One must take care that the combination of metals used in roofing should be good that means that the metals should be compatible. Some metals if brought together start corroding.

•  Refining of metal, transporting a metal roof, production of metal roof is some energy –extensive activities and is hard to be done locally.

But when we conclude we see that the list of benefits and advantages is far bigger than disadvantages. Metal roofing can bring all the advantages associated with it and the specific scenarios leading to disadvantages are less or rare. Before thinking of any other option for roofing one should give at least one thought to metal roofing and various options available today.