A new metal roof on a Tucson home, detailed for the sun and the storms it has to sit under. Standing seam or exposed fastener, installed by a crew that works on metal and nothing else.
01Core service
A metal roof installation is mostly decisions you cannot see once it is finished. Which panel system suits the pitch. How much room the panels are given to move. How the valleys are formed. What happens where the roof meets a parapet, a swamp cooler, a skylight, a vent stack. Those details are the whole job. The panels are the easy part.
That matters more here than almost anywhere. A roof in Tucson takes something like three hundred and fifty days of direct sun a year at two thousand four hundred feet, where the ultraviolet is harder than it is at sea level. It swings through a large temperature range in a single day, every day, which means the metal is always growing and shrinking. Then for two months a year it gets hit sideways by monsoon rain driven at a wall of wind, and in between it collects a fine grit of blown dust in every seam.
Sun is what kills roofs here, and it does not kill them evenly. It takes the sealant, the fastener washers and the coating apart long before it takes the panel. A detail that would last thirty years in a mild climate can be finished in eight on a west facing Tucson slope.
We install metal roofs and we do not install anything else. If your house wants a different material, we will tell you, and we have nothing to sell you instead.
02What this solves
Shingles gone brittle and grey, granules washed into the scuppers, edges lifting and cracking where the heat has driven the volatiles out of the mat. A metal roof ends that cycle rather than restarting it in twelve years.
Two repairs a monsoon season is not maintenance, it is a payment plan on a roof you have already lost. At some point the honest answer is a new system rather than another patch that will move again in August.
Metal costs more up front and lasts far longer. If you are staying put, the arithmetic works. If you are listing in the spring, we will say so and you can spend the money elsewhere.
03The first visit
Not a look from the driveway and not a drone pass. Pitch, deck condition, existing layers, penetrations, parapet and flashing detail, and which slopes take the worst of the afternoon sun.
Plenty of Tucson houses have a low slope roof and no real attic to crawl. Where there is access, the sheathing from below tells you more than the surface does. Where there is not, we say so rather than guessing.
Standing seam or exposed fastener, what each suits, and what the difference actually costs on your roof rather than in general. On a low pitch, that choice is not a preference, it is a requirement.
Panel system, underlayment, flashings, trim, tear off, disposal, and what is excluded. On paper, so you can compare it with anyone else you talk to.
04Our process
We look at the roof, measure it, and put the price in writing with the system spelled out.
Profile, gauge, finish and colour. In this climate the finish is doing more work than the colour is, because it is the coating that has to survive the ultraviolet. Lighter finishes reflect more and chalk less visibly. We will tell you what we have watched hold up on roofs here rather than what a brochure claims.
Summer work starts at first light and comes off the roof by the middle of the day, because by then the panel is genuinely too hot to handle and the crew is not safe. We do not open a roof up with a storm cell forecast, and we will tell you honestly what the wait looks like.
Old roof comes off, the deck gets checked properly. Soft or damaged sheathing gets replaced, and you get told about it before it gets covered up.
A high temperature underlayment across the deck, because ordinary underlayment can soften and fail under metal in this heat. Extra membrane at the details where water actually gets in. Then panels set and fastened with the movement allowance the system needs, which in Tucson is not a detail you can skip. Flashings formed on site where the detail calls for it.
We walk the roof with you, explain what we changed and why, then clean the site and run a magnet over the drive and the gravel.
05Why us
We are not fitting a metal job in between tile and foam work. Panel movement, clip spacing, seam mechanics and flashing forming are the trade, not an occasional variation on it.
Thermal cycling that walks exposed fasteners loose. Ultraviolet that finishes sealant years before it finishes the metal. Monsoon rain arriving horizontally against a west wall. Blown grit sitting in every seam. Those are known problems with known answers, and we specify for them rather than finding out in August.
Underlayment type, flashing detail, trim, tear off, disposal, deck repair allowance and exclusions. If a number on somebody else's estimate is lower, this is usually where the difference is hiding.
Next step
We will get on it, tell you what it needs, and put a number on paper. If it does not need replacing yet, that is what the estimate will say.
06Proof
We would rather show you a roof than a quote from somebody you have never met. Ask us for an address in your area and go and look at it.
Ask for an address near you07Questions
Cost is driven by roof size, pitch, how many penetrations and valleys there are, whether the old roof comes off, access, and which panel system you choose. Standing seam costs meaningfully more than exposed fastener because there is more material and more labour in the seam. We give you a written number for your roof rather than a range that means nothing.
Yes, and the reason is the sun rather than the rain. Metal does not have volatiles in it to be baked out the way an asphalt shingle does, so it does not go brittle, curl or shed granules. A light coloured coated metal roof also reflects a large share of the radiant heat that would otherwise be absorbed and pushed down into the house. The catch is that the details have to be right, because desert heat is brutal on fasteners and sealant.
Sometimes, and it is not automatically the bargain it looks like. Going over the top saves the tear off and the disposal, but it hides the deck, so nobody finds out what is under there until it becomes a leak. It also traps a layer that holds heat right under the new roof. On a low slope Tucson house we usually recommend against it. We will look and tell you which case yours is.
Exposed fastener roofs can, and in this climate that is the most common way they do. Every hot day the panel expands and every night it contracts, so the screw works in its hole and the rubber washer under the head is cooked by ultraviolet until it hardens and cracks. That is a maintenance item on an exposed fastener roof, not a defect. A concealed fastener standing seam roof does not have screws through the surface at all, which is exactly why it is the system we recommend most often here.
Yes, and in Tucson it needs the right one. Metal over bare deck causes condensation problems and turns a small flashing failure into a rot problem. It also gets extremely hot, hot enough that a standard underlayment can soften and lose its grip. A high temperature rated underlayment goes across the whole deck, with extra membrane at eaves, valleys and penetrations. That is not an upgrade here, it is the roof.
They tend to help, because a buyer sees a roof that is not going to need replacing on their watch, and around here that is worth something. How much depends on the house, the neighbourhood and the appraiser. We are not going to put a number or a percentage on it, and you should be careful with anyone who does.
Generally yes, because metal resists fire, wind and hail better than the alternatives, and some carriers price that in. Whether it changes your premium depends on your carrier and your policy, so ask them directly before you count on it. We will not tell you what your insurer will do.
08Service areas
Tucson, Oro Valley, Marana and Vail, and everywhere between them. Sahuarita, Green Valley, the Catalina Foothills, Corona de Tucson, Catalina, Rita Ranch and Three Points.
Areas we serve08Related
09Get started
Tell us what the roof is doing. We will get on it, look properly, and put the answer in writing. If it does not need work yet, that is what the estimate will say.
Or call(520) 555-0100Mon to Fri, 6am to 3pm. Early hours are not a typo. Summer roofing here starts at first light and comes off the roof around midday.