Metal Roofing is Red Hot Right Now and Rapidly Gaining in Popularity

Hear from Metal Roofing Alliance's Executive Director Renee Ramey on At Home With Gary Sullivan about the reasons behind its growing popularity. 

LIsten to the interview here or read the transcript below to learn why metal roofing is gaining traction in the industry. Use the link at the end to find out how MRA can help you expand your metal roofing business with leads and other support. 

Gary
Well it is time for our Project of the Week and I know one of the big projects we have for our home is when it's time for new roof. And with a lot of things in our home, we have options. And as I was talking about earlier, everybody's got a bucket list. I'm kind of weird. I have a bucket list from my home one of the things on my bucket list from my home is a metal roof. So today we have Renee Ramey. She is the Executive Director of the Metal Roofing Alliance and Renee, welcome to At Home with Gary Sullivan!

Renee
Well thank you. I'm happy to be here.

Gary
Metal roofing has been around for a while but I would say in the last 25 years or at least 15 years it's a big, big player in roofing.

Renee
Yes, absolutely, based on our statistics have grown the market from 3% back in the late 90s to a little over 14% as of 2016.

Gary
So still growing?

Renee
Still growing, anticipated to continue.

Gary
Well outside of the beauty which we'll get to, why do people gravitate to metal roofs? What is the, I guess, the advantages outside the beauty? Like I said we'll get to the aesthetics but what does it give me as a homeowner?

Renee
You know we see the greatest interest in areas where the roof really gets a lot of torrential weather, whether that be hail, hurricanes, wildfires. You know you just can't beat the durability and performance. The wind uplift ratings are off the chart, it's just a really solid roofing material for protecting your home in climates such as that. Above and beyond that aspect, consumers really like the ease of maintenance. For example, very simple very easy to keep clean, very again durable. So a lot of...kind of one of those roofs that we like say you put on once and for the most part you forget it's there.

Gary

That's just getting ready to say I guess when you put a metal roof on it's, your one and done right?

Renee
Yes, yeah. Most metal roofs come with at least a 50 year warranty if not longer. And those warranties are very solid so it's a lifetime roof.

Gary
With all the things you say it stands up to. And I know it does. And we see metal roofing in all parts of the country but certainly in areas where we have catastrophic events, you know the hurricanes and of fires and everything. Is there an advantage in terms of insurance for a home if it has a metal roof?

Renee
Depends on where you're at. There are certainly discounts available in certain areas and in other areas there are not. That's really more of a regional based type thing.

Gary
I was just curious can a metal roof be put over an existing roof or does the old roof get stripped off?

Renee
Again it kind of depends on the more of your old roof, you know the stability of it and what not but the answer is yes. Most often it is installable above whatever roofing material you have, especially the asphalt. So it saves a lot of landfill, a lot of rip off labor and expenses as well.

Gary
You know Renee, one of the things when I first started learning about metal roofing you know again aesthetics we'll get to. But one of the things that I really like you just talked about is you know the way it withstands the wind rating which is you know I don't know 130, 150 whatever it is but it's higher than pretty much anything you're going to get on a typical roof but also a metal roof actually brings energy efficiency to your home.

Renee
Absolutely. Metal roofing almost all of it these days for residential anyway is coated with a paint if you will a coating that is called quote unquote or referred to as a quote unquote "cool roof". And what that means is the paint system itself is made with pigments and various you know ingredients if you will that make the roof perform well in both cool and warm climates. So if you're in a cool climate and you do not want to have all your heat going out your roof, you know there are systems that deal with that. If you're in a warm climate and don't want to have a super high cooling load you know cooling bill, if you will. The roofing, there's a lot of metal roofing that will you know for lack of a better word will repel the heat and it doesn't capture the heat either.

Gary
Almost creates a radiant barrier, right?

Renee
Yeah, yes it does.

Gary
So what part, is there parts of the country that like in my area for instance not too long ago maybe a year or two ago I did the bourbon trail down in Kentucky and I was amazed. It seemed like 40-50% of the homes that I would pass had beautiful metal roofs on there on their homes. Is there certain areas of the country that are metal roofing is almost predominant?

Renee
Yeah there are. You'll find that we call it kind of the smile effect. You see a lot of metal roofing kind of on the West Coast. Wildfires, you know, things of that nature down through California, down through Arizona and all the way up the East. Southeast is definitely our biggest market. The Southeast, East South Central but all the way up into the Northeast. So those are the biggest markets Texas. Yeah we see a lot of it around again where the weather really, really showcases the benefits.

Gary
Yes, challenges you a bit?

Renee
Yes.

Gary
Well with the aesthetics certainly metal roofing is spreading throughout the country and can be used in any part of the country. And Renee Ramey she is my guest today from the Metal Roofing Alliance. Let's talk a little bit about aesthetics. You say metal roof, people think maybe a metal roof on a barn but metal roofs come in all different colors, shapes and sizes, maybe walk us through the architectural properties of a metal roof.

Renee
Yeah absolutely. So a standing seam or vertical seam is what you would normally think of if you're not super familiar with the industry and that's like your as you kind of related what you would probably envision with the barn and that works really well on some of your more modern architecture but metal roofing also comes in shapes, pre-shaped, excuse me, as either there's tile, there's shake, there's shingle, there's, you know, slate. So basically metal roofing come aesthetically to look like any other roofing material out there. So if you own a Mediterranean home and you want that full Mediterranean effect, there's a metal roofing product for you if you have a, in the Northwest possibily, you know you got a home and it's got shake on it, we've got a metal shake and I can honestly tell you having come from the industry I'll walk by a house and have to stop and look at it. And in that point ask the homeowner, "is that a metal roof?" because I really, really cannot discern which is.

Gary
Yeah, I totally agree and like in the Kansas City area, there's an awful lot of cedar shake and every now and then you'll be able to you'll look at one you'll see that's a really clean looking cedar shake, that thing is really nice and then it dawns on me it's probably a metal roof, because it's so perfect!

Renee
Yeah and the paint system from the colors' perspective you know now they're putting multiple colors on panels, right? So it can even have that depth of color or green or whatever so yeah it can come in whatever form or fashion you would like to see.

Gary
Ventilation, you still ventilate a metal roof just like you would like a shingled roof or something?

Renee
Yes.

Gary
Okay and it has all the rich vents and everything that kind of all coordinate together.

Renee
Right. Right. Your metal roofing, any contractor you speak with should be able to let you know for that system, what you need from ventilation perspective.

Gary
I'm sure the metal roofing association or Metal Roofing Alliance you have a website that has a lot of pictures and information. Can you give me that where people can go to learn more?

Renee
Absolutely. We just launched a new website, it's got all kinds of information on it and that website's www.metalroofing.com.

Gary
Ok, does it also have a list of dealers or how do they find a dealer to install that?

Renee
Right, absolutely. So it's kind of a list of all the manufacturer members that we represent. But if and when you're at a point where you're ready to actually find someone in your area that would be able to install the product. There is a Find A Contractor form on our website, super small just need your name, your phone number obviously so they can get a hold of you and your zip code. And with that information it brings up a list of all the MRA contractors in your area and we encourage you to do that. MRA contractor members have to meet a certain criteria by way of being sponsored by their manufacturer. Which means that they've installed the product, they've gone through the training, they know what they're doing.

Gary
They know what they're doing, exactly. Now we've talked about metal roofing. One question I didn't ask is what kind of metal is this?

Renee
Well, it comes in a variety of metals you can get the standard substrate if you will are steel and aluminum but there are roofs out there that are stainless obviously copper. So there's a lot of specialty products as well.

Gary
And we talked a lot about different types of roofing. We talked about shakes, we talked about slate, we talked about clay, we talked about shingles. From a cost standpoint I guess the most common roofs in the United States are shingles? I'm guessing, I don't know that but.

Renee
Yeah, asphalt shingles.

Gary
Okay asphalt shingles and is this metal roofing two times, three times, four times more expensive? Obviously if it's warranted for 50 years it's going to cost a little more.

Renee
Yeah, it does tend to be more expensive but it's probably worth looking into if you have any interest at all because depending on the aesthetic that you're going for and the region you live in you know the cost difference may be pretty small. There are certain types of products that are a little more expensive but it's more affordable than you would think. And I would also refer to our website, we've got a product comparison chart that's available on the website that showcases just on average how does metal roofing, both you know in the shingles and the shakes as well as the standing seam compare to asphalt shingle, real shake, you know tile, et cetera. So it gives you a little bit more information around warranties and how you have to clean it and what you have to do so check that out as well.

Gary
I'm about two years out from a roof. So I definitely will check it out. So, metal roofing is going to bring me a better look it's going to bring me better energy efficiencies. It's certainly going to be more durable. And again that website is www.metalroofing.com. Renee thanks for joining us, I appreciate it.

Renee
Well thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.

Gary
In five years from now it's 14% the market, five years from now where is metal roofing going to be?

Renee
Well we're going to be over 20% by 2020. OK. That's our next goal. So yeah it'll probably be in the 20s maybe more.

Gary
It's trending. I better get with it.

Renee
Definitely trending.

Gary
All right Renee thanks.

Renee
All right, thank you.

Gary
All right take care. Very good. Renee Ramey the Executive Director of Metal Roofing Alliance. Have your seen a metal roof up close or far away? Dr. Z shakes his head no. The boy hasn't lived, it's on my bucket list. You've seen it far away? You've seen pictures? metalroofing.com. Alright, let's take a break we'll come back and get your questions answered. You're At Home with Gary Sullivan. Your home is just a click away at garysullivanonline.com. Here's At Home with Gary Sullivan.

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Source: MRA