by Janet Farricelli CPDT-KA

Created on: April 24, 2009

Once upon a time, metal roofs were considered pretty far from being eye appealing, often reserved for unsightly commercial factories and manufacturing plants. Today metal roofs have gone under tremendous cosmetic changes, going from unattractive to significantly eye appealing. Many metal roofs are nowadays featured on some quite expensive homes.

While a shingle roof may appear to be quite strong, eventually the constant wear and tear caused by mother nature's whims, may require cosmetic and structural work even after a few years. Many home owners however, may not be aware of the many advantages the once considered unsightly metal roof may be able to offer home owners today.

The Advantage of a Metal Roof

-Durability

While a shingle roof is expected to last about 15 years. A metal roof is often reported to last fifty years, but this is a conservative estimate. Metal roofs many times tend to outlive their owners!

-Safety

Because they are built in metal, metal roofs are fire proof. This often also translates into a lower insurance premium since they are classified as class A.

-Appearance

As mentioned, metal roofs today are a far cry from what they were yesterday. Metal roofs can be given any color that matches the home and they can present with many different effects. Some metal roofs are designed to closely resemble shingle roofs.

-Convenience

If a home has a shingle roof, a metal roof can be installed right on top of that without the need to spend time and money in tearing off the shingle roof's tiles one by one.

-Speed

Contrary to shingle roofs, metal roofs can be installed pretty quickly because they come in sheets that can be quickly installed.

-Resistance

Metal roofs have demonstrated their ability to cope with the weather in flying colors. Many have been tested to resist even winds up to 120 miles per hour. They have also been reported to resist well even against hail.

-Structure

When metal roofs are reported to be light weight often people are quite surprised. Actually, metal roofs have proved to be much more lighter than composition shingle roofs.

-Protection

Surprisingly, metal roofs also protect from the heat of the sun's rays. This is because instead of attracting sun rays it repels them. In the winter instead, a metal roof will keep the home warmer causing substantial savings on energy bills.

As seen there are many advantages when it comes to metal roofing. You may at this point think it all sounds too good to be true. OK, there is one drawback, metal roofs may cost more than shingles but in the long run a metal roof may cause substantial significant savings.

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