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TOPIC: Is A Metal Roof Right For My House

Victorian Porch Roof

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I have a 150 year old Victorian home with a large front porch (about 500 sq feet). The roof rafters of the porch are bell shaped and the substrate of the roof/ceiling of the porch is tongue and groove only 1 inch thick. The porch currently has a rubber roof (TPO or EPDM) which conforms nicely to the concave and convex curves of the rafters. The roof flattens out and almost tips up on the front edge to force water to run across the front edge into three roof drains on the corners of the porch. We believe that the roof originally had interior gutters that have been abandoned and covered over.
When the house was built, the roof was most likely made of individual metal tiles, shaped to fit the roof. I have seen new roof tiles that are pressed to look like the old fashioned roof tiles still in place on some of the houses in my historic neighborhood and I wonder if this would be an option for my old house.
Our current porch roof is leaking in several places. We have tried patching it but it hasn't worked. We have caulked and painted the house. We have put a roof on the rest of the house. We now just have to deal with the front porch roof and we don't know what to do. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Fran Carpenter
Fran Carpenter
Victorian Porch Roof with Bell Shaped Rafters

5/6/2021
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Thanks for your post. Metal shingles generally work well on curved roofs. Because of their horizontal laps, they are for the most part easier to conform to such surfaces than vertical seam panels. However, from your description, your roof goes very flat at the bottom and this concerns me, especially because, again from your description, I suspect the panels you have seen only have an overlap on the horizontal seams, not an interlock. So, you will end up forcing water under the panels which is not good. I am wondering whether you could leave some sort of membrane on the lower part of the roof and then use the metal shingles like you have seen on the roof portions of 3:12 or greater pitch. That said, it will still require some experimentation to see whether those panels will work on your roof. You may need to get a set of pinch rollers, configured to go around the vertical seams, to run the panels through in order to curve them. I would suggest contacting a manufacturer of panels you like, sending them photos, and seeing what solutions they can help you arrive at.

Todd Miller
Todd Miller
Isaiah Industries, Inc.

1
5/7/2021
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It sounds like you need a soldered system. I would suggest you reach out to an historical restoration company. Chicago Metal Supply is a good place to start. They do all kinds of stamped metal roofs and ship around the country.
thanks for keeping it a metal roof.

Dick Bus
Dick Bus

5/7/2021
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Thank you.

Fran Carpenter
Fran Carpenter
Victorian Porch Roof with Bell Shaped Rafters

5/11/2021
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