Asphalt shingles or standing seam metal

[AccidentialMustache]

Hey folks -- looking for the collective wisdom.

I know MMM has an article that says do standing seam. I don't have time, I don't want to be up working on a 10/12 roof, and I don't have a crew of buddies I can get to help.

So I'm looking at the professional roofers.

This is a hail loss situation. Asphalt and gutters is coming out to 23k, insurance is covering all of that (minus deductible). If we took it to standing seam, the quote I have is an eye-popping 39k. It had been less, around 31k, but they say materials prices are skyrocketing and that, plus adding snow rails over the front/back doors and garage is what is doing the price increase.

Edit: The shingle price is competitive with other roofers (they all cluster around 23k). The old standing seam price was far less than the one other roofer I found who did standing seam's "quote" (which was roughly double their shingle price). So I don't think we're in a situation where they are just overcharging for the standing seam.

When it was 8k extra, that seemed like a no-brainer (but we were stuck fighting with insurance then to get them to bring their estimate up to the base 23k -- a bad choice in retrospect, but we didn't know at the time).

This 16k extra seems like a lot.

Other factors to consider:

* We expect to be in this house for at least 4 years and no more than 10 years.
* In the grand scheme of things, 16k is not a lot of money to us. My ship finally came in for the startup game. Based on our current "monthly profit" (post-tax income vs spend), 16k is under 3 months of "monthly profit". Post-ship (ahh lockup periods!) that might be under a month.
* The house is fancy -- it was architect designed in the 80s. It has a partial envelope design and originally had cedar shake as the roof material. It already looks "different" so metal may add to that, but it won't look odd compared to cookie cutter neighbors -- it already does that.

[Paper Chaser]

Timeline <10 years: asphalt
Timeline >20 years: Standing seam metal

Unless you're just trying to make the place nicer for the next owner I don't see a reason to splurge on something that you won't get much use out of.

[PMJL34]

Assuming it's standard architectural shingles under normal conditions, it should last 20-30 years (except for hail damage as noted).

The metal roof should last a loooong time (50+ years).

There's certainly a case to be made for metal, but with those quotes, I would just do the shingles. You don't plan to live in this house much longer, keep it simple.

Best of luck!

[Fishindude]

If you are only going to be in the place 10 years or less, asphalt shingles is a no brainer.  They typically last about 20 years, so the next buyer will still get a good roof.
Doubt you would get the added cost of the standing seam back in resale.   Standing seam is best for your "forever home" you intend to stay in for 20+ years or more.

[sonofsven]

Asphalt all the way.

[Jon Bon]

Go with shingles.

With NPV it is still cheaper to buy 2 shingle roofs than it is to buy a single metal roof.

$39,000
or
$23,000+23,000/1.03^20 = $35,734

[bacchi]

I'd go with metal, if $16k truly isn't that big of a deal, just for the environmental factor. Even if you don't plan to live there for 20+ years, the next owner won't need to replace it.

[AccidentialMustache]

We'd been thinking about just doing the metal.

There's the environmental factors (less oil, lower cooling costs, recyclable). There is likely to be some price bump on the house -- I consider the roof age when I'm making offers on a house (be that my house or be that a rental). There's peace of mind (more durable against hail which we've gotten quite a lot of since we bought this house).

The peace of mind alone for DW might be worth working an extra month. Assuming any gains back in insurance/power usage/sale price and it'd be less than an extra month. Maybe as short as 2 weeks. It seems like kinda a no-brainer from that point of view.

[Endo1030]

If you're concerned about future environmental impact, it is worth considering if the house has a good roof position for solar.  The next owner may want to add it, and a 10 year old shingle roof may be wishy washy as to whether it should be replaced before installing solar.  A 10 year old SS roof will be easy to retrofit solar without a reroof.

[AccidentialMustache]

If you're concerned about future environmental impact, it is worth considering if the house has a good roof position for solar.  The next owner may want to add it, and a 10 year old shingle roof may be wishy washy as to whether it should be replaced before installing solar.  A 10 year old SS roof will be easy to retrofit solar without a reroof.

We already looked at solar and it wasn't a win due to the trees. Now, when the trees die off it may be a different story. Also, it might be a different story now, because both trees that would mess with our good south face are kinda defective as trees. They take forever to leaf out (as in, mid-May) and are dropping leaves by August and bare by Sept. So the default calculations for us may not be accurate, but we did have them run. That was a few years ago so as prices drop at some point it'll make sense. Or when the trees die (or someone is annoyed enough to cut them down).

[Swish]

the quote I have is an eye-popping 39k.

Your quotes seem absurdly expensive. I just installed a metal roof two weeks ago for $6,000 in materials and I did the labour. The roof I did was approximately 2500 sqft. I stripped the shingles strapped and did ridge cap venting ($700 extra just for this). The manufacturer I used was DomTek.  Paid $1.10/ ft for metal and then the rest of the cost was the finishing trim, strapping, iceguard etc. I would ask for a break down of materials vs labour. As an insurance claim the contractors may be over bidding the cost of the job.

[AccidentialMustache]

Your quotes seem absurdly expensive. I just installed a metal roof two weeks ago for $6,000 in materials and I did the labour. The roof I did was approximately 2500 sqft. I stripped the shingles strapped and did ridge cap venting ($700 extra just for this). The manufacturer I used was DomTek.  Paid $1.10/ ft for metal and then the rest of the cost was the finishing trim, strapping, iceguard etc. I would ask for a break down of materials vs labour. As an insurance claim the contractors may be over bidding the cost of the job.

Memory says we're 37 square, so I've got a lot more roof to cover. Their shingle quote came in on-par with all the other shingle quotes (I had 4 others) as well as the insurance estimate. Their original standing seam was actually less than the one other standing seam we could find (not a lot of folks do it around here). So my sense is they aren't totally out of line. Unfortunately we were fighting with insurance over coverage still and didn't sign the first standing seam quote before it expired. We should have just signed and kept fighting insurance on the side.

Our roof is a cut up pig; multiple levels, a number of separate, smaller roof slopes, large/long valleys at odd angles (22.5 not 45 degree). There's a slope change on one part of it as well. Its a downside of buying an architect designed house. I'm just not going to do the work.

[Swish]

OP that’s fair but still seems expensive with out a better understanding of the roof. Usually around here the quote is twice the cost of materials. Contractors here are also notorious for adding 15-20% to insurance jobs vs if the home owner is paying for it.

[Paper Chaser]

the quote I have is an eye-popping 39k.

Your quotes seem absurdly expensive. I just installed a metal roof two weeks ago for $6,000 in materials and I did the labour. The roof I did was approximately 2500 sqft. I stripped the shingles strapped and did ridge cap venting ($700 extra just for this). The manufacturer I used was DomTek.  Paid $1.10/ ft for metal and then the rest of the cost was the finishing trim, strapping, iceguard etc. I would ask for a break down of materials vs labour. As an insurance claim the contractors may be over bidding the cost of the job.

I don't see any "standing seam" metal on DomTek's website. Standing seam is often thicker material (more costly) that requires different installation techniques than screw down metal roofing panels (more labor intensive). You're not really comparing apples to apples.

[Swish]

the quote I have is an eye-popping 39k.

Your quotes seem absurdly expensive. I just installed a metal roof two weeks ago for $6,000 in materials and I did the labour. The roof I did was approximately 2500 sqft. I stripped the shingles strapped and did ridge cap venting ($700 extra just for this). The manufacturer I used was DomTek.  Paid $1.10/ ft for metal and then the rest of the cost was the finishing trim, strapping, iceguard etc. I would ask for a break down of materials vs labour. As an insurance claim the contractors may be over bidding the cost of the job.

I don't see any "standing seam" metal on DomTek's website. Standing seam is often thicker material (more costly) that requires different installation techniques than screw down metal roofing panels (more labor intensive). You're not really comparing apples to apples.

They call it pro lock and go all the way down to 24gau.

[J Boogie]

* The house is fancy -- it was architect designed in the 80s. It has a partial envelope design and originally had cedar shake as the roof material. It already looks "different" so metal may add to that, but it won't look odd compared to cookie cutter neighbors -- it already does that.

Is your current hail damaged roof cedar shakes?

If so, I'd also get a quote for getting the shakes reconditioned and replaced where needed.

My neighbor had what I thought would be a dumpster bound cedar roof, many decades of green gunk, and one day I walked by and the cedar shakes are a lovely refinished gray, with about 15% of the shingles having been replaced.

He said they used a power wash or soft wash.

I also just love that look though.

[AccidentialMustache]

Is your current hail damaged roof cedar shakes?

If so, I'd also get a quote for getting the shakes reconditioned and replaced where needed.

My neighbor had what I thought would be a dumpster bound cedar roof, many decades of green gunk, and one day I walked by and the cedar shakes are a lovely refinished gray, with about 15% of the shingles having been replaced.

He said they used a power wash or soft wash.

I also just love that look though.

No, the roof went asphalt before we owned it. There's a lot of evidence of old, mild water damage, so I don't think the cedar was maintained and things got bad. The siding still has a distinctive sawtoothed pattern to it, combined with old areal photography that looks wrong for asphalt is why I think cedar. I'm not 100% by any means.