Its official. Once the province of boring-looking industrial complexes, metal roofing materials have become the staple of the modern architectural era. Simple and elegant in their looks, theyve also proven to be the most environmentally friendly and safe residential roofing solution.
On the environmental, carbon-footprint front, metal roofing materials are the preferred roofing constituents for two reasons. Metal reflects light and heat, unlike heat-absorptive materials like asphalt and fiberglass. They consequently lower the amount of air conditioning a home will need to use to stay cool in summer. Add this to the fact that most insurance companies will give you anything up to twenty-five percent off on a policy for a home with a metal roof, and the long-term payoffs are considerable.
Residential metal roofing materials have, without question, come a long way in terms of their design aesthetics ” that was something achieved by the frenetic, minimalist nineties, when steel and glass were the height of construction attempting to embody the philosophy of dynamic tension. Indeed, roof paneling has been developed so as to more closely resemble cedar shakes or Tuscan clay roof tiling than the raw, exposed materials that avant garde architects prefer.
If youre keen to move into the new era of design, on the other hand, panels crafted in that raw exposed style, in copper, stainless steel and aluminum, have never been more meticulously crafted or of better quality. Galvalume is known as the strongest of all materials ” galvanized sheet steel coated in a silky-sheen layer of zinc-alloy, its hardiness approaches that of kevlar.
When Galvalume is used in the crafting of standing-seam metal roof panels, thats when you wind up with the toughest, most durable design imaginable ” highly reflective and corrosion-resistant. Standing-seam roof panels have enough flexibility to endure any stresses place on them by wind, ice or strong wind, and they clip together to be just about water tight, meaning theres very little by way of elemental extremes that will challenge the strength of your roof.
How long will it last? Well, manufacturers are notoriously conservative in how they issue warranties, and the average metal roofing material manufacturer issues a forty year warranty on properly installed roofs. Scientific estimates of how long modern built metal roofs will last range more to the sixty or seventy year mark. So invest now, and look forward to a roof that will protect your home as long as you choose to live in it.
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