A couple weeks ago I posted about vinyl siding damage due to hail storms in the Knoxville, Tennessee area. Vinyl siding was not the only thing damaged – on my four mile running loop are numerous yard signs from roofers. The roofers are replacing shingles which were damaged by the same storm.
When I first began providing building kits in the Midwest, I was stymied by the number of clients in Michigan who were asking for shingled roofs, instead of steel.
Initially, I thought this must be a regional aesthetics thing. My curiosity finally got the best of me, so I asked about it. The answer – fear of steel roofing being damaged by hail! I never would have guessed.
My first reaction was to call each of the six steel companies who supply steel roofing and siding for our buildings. Only one of them had ever even had a claim submitted to them for hail damage! This certainly seemed contrary to the perception of pole building clients in Michigan.
Metal roofs are very tough and highly resistant to hail damage. Hail will not penetrate a metal roof. Even a new asphalt shingle roof won’t protect a home from the next hailstorm. In fact, many metal roofing products have the highest impact resistance and hail rating (Class 4) granted by Underwriters’ Laboratory (UL). This means that a sample of the product did not crack when hit twice in the same spot by a 2-inch steel ball, which, in a storm, would translate into a huge hailstone. As a result of metal roofing’s superior performance in hail prone areas, some insurance companies even provide a reduced rate for homes protected by metal roofs.
The durability of the metal roofs along my running route would seemingly back up the tested results – nowhere along my running loop was a single steel roof being replaced, or even showing signs of cosmetic damage. My son’s new garage in Maryville, TN, (built less than a year ago), has a steel roof and has not a dent or even a hint of one on his roof. I’d like to think this is where we got the phrase, “Strong as Steel!”
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Great information! Thanks for posting!
Never had hail damage probably because it doesn’t hail here very much, but I do get significant snow and drifting on the metal roofs to my barndominium house and art studio. There is no wood backing on these roofs. Using a modified snow rake, I clear the snow drifts when they get big enough to worry me. I have recently noticed that the metal between the rafters has stretched over the years, forming a slight trough between the 16” spaced rafters. Sort of a free snow break system but I am concerned that this stretching is also stretching the screw holes as well. 4/12 pitch. Engineered building rated for local snow load. 3’ drifts deepest so far, maybe 20” max even distribution from time to time. Your thoughts?
I would want to see photos of your steel support system as well as of the steel from the outside showing the “stretch”.