Replacing Asphalt Shingles - FOREVER

These are before, during and after shots of a re-roof with our coated steel tiles. The home is about 30 years old and the owners were ready to replace their asphalt shingles, but they wanted to invest in something that wouldn't need replacing again in their lifetime while also upgrading the look of their home. Mission accomplished!

Re-Roofing 101: How to Eliminate a Major Building Maintenance Issue Once and For All - Published!

Hey, our handy re-roofing article was published. Check it out here. And if you like what you read, we've got a full version, our Homeowner's Guide to Re-Roofing, available for free download on our website. Happy reading!

UPDATE: Our article was published AGAIN! Here's the link.

Quotes From the California Energy Commission on Roofing Options

This is pretty much a cut-and-paste post from the website of the California Energy Commission, but we found it useful reading.

"What most homeowners desire is a roof that's not too expensive, requires no maintenance, and lasts forever. But most roofs are replaced - or at least repaired - every ten years. By carefully choosing your home's roofing material, you can reduce the cost of replacement. In the long run, you'll use less building material, fill up less landfill space with discarded material, and put less demand on our natural resources.

You can realize other environmental benefits from your roofing choices. If you select a light-colored surface or a material that doesn't absorb heat from the sun, you significantly reduce your home's cooling needs. When your attic stays cooler, your cooling bills go down….

Popular Roofing Materials

Here is a rundown on the most popular types of roofing. Remember that cost alone does not determine quality, and not all of these products will meet the needs of your home. But by carefully selecting the right material, making sure it's installed properly and performing modest maintenance occasionally, you can have a roof that functions properly for 20 to 50 years - or even longer.

Composition shingles are a good choice for a clean look at an affordable price. Higher-quality versions made from asphalt or fiberglass shingles offer a more durable option and may be available with recycled content. Composition shingles come in a large selection of types, brands and colors. Versatile, they adapt easily to different applications. They are relatively easy to install, and in some applications can be nailed in place over an existing roof. They require low maintenance and can be walked on without damaging the material. Most brands offer Class A fire protection.

On the negative side, composition shingles don't have the life span of other materials like tile or metal. They don't offer the dimensional look of tile or wood shakes, and they can blow off in high winds….

Metal roofs are coming back into vogue. In the late 1700s, zinc, copper, and lead were the most popular materials used for roofing - such famous historic buildings as the Washington Monument and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello have metal roofs.
Standing-seam steel roofing is the most popular residential metal roofing today. (The term standing-seam describes the upturned edge of one metal panel that connects it to adjacent sections, creating distinctive vertical lines and a trendy historical look.) But metal roofs can also be made to resemble wood shakes, clay tiles, shingles, and Victorian metal tiles. Aluminum or coated steel is formed into individual shingles or tiles, or into modular panels four feet long that mimic a row of shingles or tiles.

Metal roofs are durable, fire retardant and almost maintenance-free. They are also energy efficient; metal reflects heat and blocks its transfer into the attic. Research by the Florida Solar Energy Center in 1985 showed that metal absorbed 34 percent less heat than asphalt shingles, and homeowners switching to metal roofing reported saving up to 20 percent on their energy bills.

Steel roofs offer other environmental benefits as well. They are made from between 60 percent to 65 percent recyclable material. Because they weigh very little, metal roofing can be installed over existing roofs, eliminating the need to dispose of excess material in a landfill….and the initial cost of a premium metal roof is higher than most other roofing materials."

Find out more about how metal roofs compare to other roofing types with a free copy of our handy booklet. Download a copy on our homepage.

Metal Roof in Reno, NV: An Asphalt Upgrade

What a difference a quality metal roof makes. Way to upgrade your home's value AND curb appeal.

Re-Roofing 101: How to Eliminate a Major Building Maintenance Issue Once and For All

For most homeowners, re-roofing is a downright hassle. But a bit of research can go a long way to make the experience a success. Follow these simple steps to help smooth the experience.

Be clear on your needs. This means understanding what type of roof you have now. Is it flat or steep? These are the two categories that describe 99 percent of building roofs. As a rule, if you can see the slopes of the roof by standing on ground level with the building, it’s likely a steep (or “pitched” or “sloped”) roof. If you cannot, it’s likely considered a flat roof. Once you know what roof you already have, you can decide what types of materials are appropriate for your job.

Decide on your time horizon. First and foremost, you must completely ignore the years of service implied in the warranty period on the brochures. These are practically meaningless and have nothing to do with the actual life-expectancy of roof products. What you should care about are your own expectations. Which of the following categories best describe your situation?
• Do you just want to get it done, and you don’t really care how long it lasts because in a few years it will be someone else’s problem anyway?
• Do you want a good roof that’s going to last and look good doing it because you’re planning on staying in your home for the foreseeable future and you want to upgrade now so you don’t have to re-roof again?
• Do you want a special roof to match your special home, a roof will last generations, look beautiful and make a statement?

Knowing where you stand on this issue will help you narrow down your roof choices. If you’re in the first category, it almost doesn’t matter what you choose as any new roof will do. Buy the cheapest roof and/or consider just patching and let the next owner worry about the future. If you fall in the second category, then you should consider at least the top of the line asphalt shingles, or better yet something like a steel or aluminum shingle, shake, or tile. If you’re in the third category, then copper, slate, zinc, or one of the other specialty products should be on your list.

Narrow it down to product. For the vast majority of homeowners and owners of small building, steep roof choices come down to four primary options: asphalt shingles, concrete or clay, wood or one of the metals. In each category, there are tremendous variations in styles and configurations, as well as varying life-spans and performances. But be warned – it is not the case that any roof showing a “50 Year” warranty has a 50-year life expectancy. Choose your products based on the characteristics of the base material – not the paperwork that comes with the package! In other words, learn what actually happens to asphalt (there’s a reason the roads need to be regularly re-paved), concrete and metal after decades of exposure in your particular location. This will tell you what to expect as a lifespan, not the pretty brochure with pictures of brand new roofs. If you don’t know how to distinguish, ask a vendor of materials who supplies many types, instead of a roofer who only installs one kind.

Do it yourself or hire a roofer? Decide if you want to hire someone to handle material acquisition and labor (also known as “supply and install’) or whether you want to source your own material and either install it yourself or pay someone to do that for you.

Control the money, control the job. If you buy the material, you won’t have to worry about a lien from the primary supplier if your contractor runs into trouble (as is happening more and more these days.). And if you make certain that you only pay for material as you receive it and labor as it’s performed then even if the fellow performing your work gets hit by a truck, you will have enough money remaining to complete the job in his absence.

”Walk the Job” yourself, or have someone you trust do it – before you make the final payment. It’s amazing how quickly problems will be solved when there’s money to collect – and how slowly when there isn’t. There is no way of telling 100 percent that the job is perfect, but at least you minimize the chance of problems if a critical eye does a once-over to look for the most obvious things. Inspect penetrations, chimneys, valleys, hips, and all flashings. It’s worth the effort.

Need to know more? Download a free booklet with more information on these topics and more on our homepage.

Custom Steel Roofing Tiles in Reno - An Asphalt Upgrade

The client owned a 40s Craftsman bungalow here in Reno, Nevada, and was more than ready for a replacement for the asphalt shingle roof that was more than showing its age. Being a artist, he wanted something that would not only eliminate maintenance, but something attractive, rustic, and complimentary to the character of his home.

Omega Roof custom made a metal tile from natural steel for the project. The resulting roof, now about 12 years old, makes this home rather unusual. While looking like a concrete or clay tile from a distance, this now-rusting, natural steel tile roof becomes more interesting the closer you look. The project was a complete success. The client still gets nothing but compliments on the rare choice of roof material and calls it "the pride of the neighborhood."

Re-Roofing: Owners vs. Contractors - And Who's Really in Charge

Why do owners hire architects to specify designs and styles, and then disregard their spec and listen to a contractor? Why not just have the contractor design the exterior package and save themselves the expense in the first place? And keep in mind, the vast majority of contractors are used to dealing with a few favorite roofers and if those roofers don’t have to have interest in or experience with the roof the architect wants, then all of a sudden there are a thousand reasons why it’s too much money, or too this, or too that.

I just went through an experience in which what the client wanted for their new home and what the contractor wanted them to want could not be reconciled without a fuss. The client had signed a contract to rebuild the home where they planned to live for the indefinite future. They intended it to be an energy efficient, earth-friendly building that would be beautiful to view and have low energy usage. They contacted me because they decided after they began working on the project that they wanted a metal roof for its energy efficiency and permanence.

As soon as I understood that they were already working with a general contractor I asked if I could contact the contractor so as to introduce myself and offer information and specifications for the metal roof options being considered by their client. You would have thought I was threatening them with an OSHA inspection. The phone line went cold. The client assured me that I wasn’t wasting my time by measuring, specifying, and preparing a selection of colors and samples, so despite the inhospitable reception from his contractor I carried on with my work. The client was adamant that they wanted a roof product that was environmentally responsible, would reflect a high percentage of solar heat to off set cooling costs, and would last as long as they planned to be in the home, which In this case was the rest of their natural lives. Too bad the contractor had different priorities.

After all of that preamble, including picking colors and reflective liners for beneath the visible metal, and specifying accessories and details, the client ended up with an asphalt roof. An ASPHALT ROOF! The LEAST environmentally friendly, the SHORTEST lifespan, the LEAST able to resist solar heat! Quite an about-face.

It turned out that even though they wanted the qualities of a metal roof, loved the appearance, and were more than able to afford the additional investment, the deciding factor was the contractor’s preference. The contractor convinced the client that switching from the originally specified asphalt roof would compromise the progress of the project. Nonsense. It would have done no such thing, but it would have introduced an element that the contractor was not willing to deal with, and he didn’t want his predictable profit center messed with by sitting still for a new-fangled “green” upgrade. The client listed the objections of the contractor, and it was all I could do to refrain from laughing (“…it would need new engineering…” NOT true – the metal roof was ½ the weight of the asphalt roof! “…it would change the ventilation…” NOT true – the metal roof installs on the same solid, vented deck as the composition roof. “…it might hold up the job…” NOT true – there are more qualified, available metal roof installers now than there have ever been, and the material is as readily available as any asphalt shingle….etc. etc.).

It just shows once more that whoever is on the site, holding the hammer and standing in the midst of an incomplete project – with the meter running! – is the one really calling the shots. Eco-friendly roofing? Another time, maybe!

Natural Steel Roofing in Reno, NV

Problem: The owners wanted to replace their wood shakes with something equally rustic and similar in architectural effect. They also wanted something environmentally responsible, good looking and with a life expectancy that would assure them a lifetime of service.

Solution: After looking at many of the “production” roof materials available, we showed them a custom version of our natural steel shake and their search stopped. The completed job is now a couple of years old and is taking on the look of having been on the house for decades. The rusting that is streaking the panels and trim has allowed the rustic, farm-house look while providing exceptional wind resistance and low maintenance. The extra heavy natural steel used to form the shakes means a very walkable, strong, tight roof assembly that will perform and look great for decades.

Result: A very happy client and a very beautiful, unique, custom roof!

Want more info about this beautiful, unique material and profile? Get the scoop here.