Saving about $20k with this project

[kendallf]

I'm in the middle of putting a metal roof on my old house.  I was a roofer when I was young; I am reminded now why I don't do this for a living any more.  I'm walking like an old man after tearing off 6000 lbs of shingles and hauling them to the landfill, patching rotten plywood, re-nailing, and drying the roof back in. 

The upside: I looked at some local quotes for a metal roof installation and it looks like it would have cost me about $20k to have somebody else do it, excluding tear off and plywood/fascia work.  My materials costs are going to be about $4k total.  Makes me feel a bit better about my sore back and torn up hands.  :-)

Some pics so far: I'll update this after we get some metal up there in a couple of weeks.

[Timmmy]

Good on you!  Looking forward to more info as I'm planning on tackling the same project in the next few years on a vacation home.  I'm interested to hear if a semi-handy DIYer can handle a metal roof install. 

I did my house roof a few years back in asphalt shingles and regret not going metal roof.  That roof was small but it was a bear.  3 layers of shingles and cedar shake so it needed the entire thing redecked.  Oh yeah, it was a mix between 10/12 and 12/12 so not very walkable too. 

I worked for a home improvement company when I did my roof and they quoted me 12k as the employee price.  I paid about $3500 in total. 

[Indio]

Looks great!!

[kendallf]

Good on you!  Looking forward to more info as I'm planning on tackling the same project in the next few years on a vacation home.  I'm interested to hear if a semi-handy DIYer can handle a metal roof install. 

I did my house roof a few years back in asphalt shingles and regret not going metal roof.  That roof was small but it was a bear.  3 layers of shingles and cedar shake so it needed the entire thing redecked.  Oh yeah, it was a mix between 10/12 and 12/12 so not very walkable too. 

I worked for a home improvement company when I did my roof and they quoted me 12k as the employee price.  I paid about $3500 in total.

If you can do shingles, you can do metal.  The one nice thing to have might be a power shear to cut valley angle cuts, but you can do it with tin snips.  It takes some decent measurement and planning, as you need to tell the metal supplier your cut lengths for the whole roof. 

Since I'm using 5v profile metal on this roof, the screws will be exposed.  To make these look good, I measure and mark the metal while it's still on the ground and pre-drill for the screws.  I lay the panels upside down and drill through multiple panels at once (on 1' intervals, in this case).  Don't pre-drill the valley panels, as the angled cut at the bottom will affect how they line up.  It's easier to just chalk these and screw them in place on the roof.

If you use standing seam metal, the fasteners are hidden and you won't have to plan this out so precisely.  There are still the same code requirements for minimum fastener spacing, but an inch or two variance won't matter.

Here's a pic of my current house; we put the same style roof on it about a year and a half ago.

[PatStab]

We have a fairly new house, little over 10 years old the roof was not good.  We think the homeowner ended up with a cheap roof job and likely paid for a better one.  It was supposed to be architectural shingles, but the wind blows really hard out here, so shingles kept coming off, so wanted metal that we never had to mess with again.

Ours is a 12 pitch and they had to tie off for all of it.  Lots of peaks, valleys, and dormer tops. They also had to take the guttering off and put it back.  We got a standing seam roof, it costs us $28,000, ouch, but shingles were something like $18k.

It's a very nice roof job, the amish did it for us and has a 40 year guarantee.

[ender]

You should determine your hourly rate that you paid yourself for this work (adjusted for taxes you didn't pay, of course) :)

[kendallf]

We have a fairly new house, little over 10 years old the roof was not good.  We think the homeowner ended up with a cheap roof job and likely paid for a better one.  It was supposed to be architectural shingles, but the wind blows really hard out here, so shingles kept coming off, so wanted metal that we never had to mess with again.

Ours is a 12 pitch and they had to tie off for all of it.  Lots of peaks, valleys, and dormer tops. They also had to take the guttering off and put it back.  We got a standing seam roof, it costs us $28,000, ouch, but shingles were something like $18k.

It's a very nice roof job, the amish did it for us and has a 40 year guarantee.

That is "ouch", but yeah, steep pitch stuff is much more expensive.  I'm fortunate that this house is 4/12, the climate is mild, etc.

You should determine your hourly rate that you paid yourself for this work (adjusted for taxes you didn't pay, of course) :)

I think I'm going to do that at the end.  As I've said in another thread, I am paying ~$1k a month in PITI on this house while I get it ready to sell, and I often wish I could just wave a magic wand and it'd be done.  I have done every bit of work on it thus far solo.  The simplest way to look at it is that any month that I do work worth more than $1k, I'm ahead.. the roof is going to cover a year or so.  :-)

[PatStab]

My husband did it and hired a couple of guys to help on our last house but it didn't have much of
a slope.  They redecked it and everything for less then $10k and it was over 3000 sq ft.  He decided
on this one that he was to old and it was to steep.  Those guys were young and worked their tails
off on it.  We knew the price was awful but they have been in business over 40 years and said they
haven't had to redo one yet.

But yes, my husband and I do most of our own work to save money and it does save a bundle if you
know how to do it right.  My husband knows how.

It sounds like you did a really good job, congratulations.  That's the way you can have more money.

[Dabblingman]

Metal roof looks cool!

I got my 48year old body and some Dad friends and replaced my roof this last summer, too, so I feel your pain. Hardest work I had done in over 20 years!

Best to you from Seattle.

[kendallf]

After a couple of weeks of very hard work after my normal job, the metal is on.  I still have a few thousand screws to put in but it should be good while I go on travel for a few weeks.  My brother and I put most of the metal on this past weekend in 50 degree rain.  It's hard to avoid getting sliced up hands in those conditions but nobody lost any digits, so it's all good..  :-)

[Pav]

Excellent job! Looks great and should last a long time!

I've been very interested in the metal roof ever since reading the MMM post. I have a steeper roof (12/12?), with only one dormer off the front, which makes a larger section slightly less steep. The back side of the roof is old wooden shakes, with no sheathing or underlayment. I'm wondering how ambitious and expensive a whole new steel roof would be, and how much can I DIY.

If I remove the entire old roof, it seems like an appropriate time to also repoint/repair the brickwork on the crumbling chimney up there, replace rotted flashing, and ensure proper ventaltion. Also, maybe spray insulation in between the rafters. This would allow for actual flooring in the attic (right now it's just boards laying across ceiling joists with barely any insulation). The soffets and fascia repair/repainting is also on the to-do list. Anyone have experience that could point out improvements in my lofty idea?

I crawled up the roof to install a chimney liner this past December, and I know I'd have to harness myself if I were to do any mobile work up there. Picture attached to show roof pitch.

[kendallf]

Excellent job! Looks great and should last a long time!

I've been very interested in the metal roof ever since reading the MMM post. I have a steeper roof (12/12?), with only one dormer off the front, which makes a larger section slightly less steep. The back side of the roof is old wooden shakes, with no sheathing or underlayment. I'm wondering how ambitious and expensive a whole new steel roof would be, and how much can I DIY.

If I remove the entire old roof, it seems like an appropriate time to also repoint/repair the brickwork on the crumbling chimney up there, replace rotted flashing, and ensure proper ventaltion. Also, maybe spray insulation in between the rafters. This would allow for actual flooring in the attic (right now it's just boards laying across ceiling joists with barely any insulation). The soffets and fascia repair/repainting is also on the to-do list. Anyone have experience that could point out improvements in my lofty idea?

I crawled up the roof to install a chimney liner this past December, and I know I'd have to harness myself if I were to do any mobile work up there. Picture attached to show roof pitch.

If you pull off the old roof, there won't be a better time to address the chimneys and you'll have to do the flashing anyway.  Looks like you have some fascia to replace in the front, at least.  You can do the insulation after the new roof is on and you're reasonably sure you won't be pulling panels or cutting holes for a while.

You can put the metal panels on purlins (horizontal 1x4s or 1x6 boards) which is probably how your shakes are done currently on the back.  Your local code will determine what you'd need for underlayment if it's done in that fashion.  We used to use 30 weight paper that came in 18" rolls, one layer per board.  Some areas will allow you to do this over top of a shingle roof, but if you have some areas that are questionable or rotten, I'd strongly encourage ripping the old shingles off anyway and patching any bad areas.

That roof does look like it's at least 10/12 or so; you could do it with a safety harness and jacks, but it will be slow.  The purlins would help there as they'd give you something to walk on. 

Good luck!