Shingles need to be replaced every 10-30 year depending on wear and their type. It just seems so uneconomical and such a pain.
I get that metal conducts heat more easily, but couldn’t you just let a thin layer of moss grow on your metal roof and call it a day? Even if they dry out in the summer, I doubt metal + thin layer of dirt would conduct heat more than black shingles
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Metal roofs are superior imo. Mistakes and even water infiltration can happen if an installer doesn’t do it correctly, though. For example, the sheets need to be laid going “against” the wind as opposed to blowing up against the seam. You have to be careful not to over tighten the screws because the washer will fail. After it’s all screwed down, you have to caulk all the screws and eventually that caulk will degrade and it will need to be re-caulked. If all of that is done correctly and maintenance is kept up, metal roofs are by far better than 3-tab.
Costs. Although, modern roofing codes are shifting things a little bit. The average costs for a shingle roof is getting closer to a metal one. It used to be that you could replace a shingle roof like 4 or 5 times for the cost of a metal one.
Not sure where you’re located, but where I am in Aus metal roofs are the norm for new builds. I imagine the climate would be a factor in the decision. Metal roofs need additional insulation, particularly in extreme climates, whereas a tile or shingle roof won’t experience as much thermal loss due to being a better insulator.
Probably other factors at play as well.
Midwest US here. Lots of metal roofs on houses around here. They have a much higher upfront cost, and some people consider them unsightly. A hard rain can be relatively loud. A firefighter friend of mine also said you can’t extinguish from above very easily.
Also no, you don’t want any moss on your roof lol. That will eat into the metal. Moss degrades metal and concrete. As far as heat conduction, use a lighter color and it will reflect heat better (that’s recommended for all roofs in hot climates). Really it’s the attic insulation that should be handling most of that, though.
In other countries metal roofs are extremely common. You don’t need moss. Just a thermal insulation.
Most of regional Australia (+40c in summer all day) and almost all of the buildings are metal roofing.
Also, clay roof tiles are very common, as well as a bunch of other roofing options.
No idea why you’d think that those shitty asphalt shingles are the only roof type in the world.
Letting moss grow on your roof is actually a common thing, called sod roof. But if you wanted to delay maintenance this is maybe the worst option. Anything growing on the roof will attack whatever is under them. Roots will find any tiny imperfection in the tiles and get in under them. Then they are able to eat up your roof beams. Even if your metal roof is completely tight they will be attacking it with acids and enzymes and get through it after some time. And then you need to struggle with soil erosion and creep. So instead of replacing your shingles every 10-30 years now you have to inspect your sod roof monthly and repair it 1-2 times a year.
But you are very right about the types of shingles playing a role in how long it lasts. Traditionally shingles would last for centuries. You often had to replace the timber framing before the shingles. The two shingle roofs I currently have is 30 and 90 years old and still show little sign of wear. The only shingles I have had problems with is the thin American style asphalt shingles as they often show sign of severe wear after just a few years. This is not a problem with stone, concrete, thicker metal shingles or even wood shingles.
Many are. Here in SoCal I’ve got a concrete shingle roof, with roughly 1″ thick concrete shingles. Lifespan of about a century, though some do break due to thermal expansion now and then. Very low maintenance, good in fire areas. Can get mossy in damper areas, but even without that they’re pretty slow to heat up and cool down so they add a lot of [thermal mass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_mass).
The downside is it’s a heavy roof, so you need to be able to carry a higher dead load. But if the home was designed for that it’s not a big deal. They’re more expensive to build than shingle, but cheaper over time.
there are lots of metal roofs here (the majority), it’s just that metal has to be rust proof to be useful as a roofing material or you end up replacing the roof every year, I think cheap metal galvanisation is a rather recent process (in construction terms), also shingles are fairly cheap and easy to install/replace
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