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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I work in an industry where metal cladding for buildings is common.
I can tell you that a building sheeted in metal are *expensive*. The metal alone can amount to a third of the cost of the entire structure. You’re absolutely not saving money by going this route–at least, not in the context of a building you want to be heated on the inside, like a home. What you’re saving here, if anything, is time and stress in installation. You’re actually paying a premium for the long service life of the material. Which can be super worth it if you don’t ever want to have to service the structure ever again after it’s been built the first time.
Often when anyone asks the question, “X exist in Y industry, why don’t the Y people do X more often?” it’s almost always because the options those people are taking instead are simply less expensive. That typically means monetarily expensive, but it can also mean time expensive, or skill expensive. If there’s already a relatively cheap, relatively easy-to-install option that people who construct buildings are already familiar with that does the job well enough (such as common asphalt shingles, for some climate zones), people are going to keep using it. Why wouldn’t they? Even if there’s a “”better” option, how much “”better”” can it really be if it’s more expensive, and comes with a learning curve to install where things can be screwed up?
And then there’s just the factor of there being inertia against change. Specifically in the case of homes, a lot of neighborhoods have homeowner association bylaws that prevent metal-clad buildings from being constructed in the area, because closed-minded homeowners think they are “ugly” and will lower the property value of all the other houses in the area if they are used. Say what you will about whether you think that opinion is well-founded or not… what matters is that as long as there exists a large group of people who think certain kinds of buildings shouldn’t have metal roofs, metal-roofed buildings will be fighting uphill battles to become normalized in that kind of construction.
Mostly because metal will bend and warp going from very cold to very hot. A small kitchen fire will warp the metal roof (seen it before) to the point where the whole roof needs to be replaced. There’s advantages and disadvantages.
A decent amount of people around my area, they are simply more money and that’s why shingles are more popular. Also, many times metal roofs look ugly, it really needs to match the house (and I also see some gray/black metal roofs, I assume they cost even more).
Many roofs are made of metal, it’s much cheaper and more effective in places with heavy rain and snow. The average metal roof can last for 50 or more years and when properly installed on an insulated building they do not add any measurable increases in temperature inside the home. Shingles became popular due to the asphalt they are made from being an abundant waste product from various industries, many of which are no longer operating. Steel roofing with special paint can also be used in areas with high temperatures as the coatings can reflect much of that incoming sunlight and heat, they are also much cheaper and easier to install than shingles roofs. I’ve installed both and would never use shingles on my home, I have a steel roof because where I live we get 13ft of snow almost every winter and a shingles roof would hold all that weight and collapse my house, where as the smooth steel roof the snow slides right off.
In some countries it’s literally “planning laws” (in countries like the uk especially) that when you apply for planning permission the materials to be used, brick colour, roofing type, window formats, even paint finishes etc all need to be specified. In conservation areas you may have no choice at all in the materials used, if you have a listed building only like for like replacements can be used when extending or modifying or repairing a building.
Again in many countries buildings have to be erected “to code” where the materials have to meet certain durability specifications and insulation standards and often what you see in the “built environment” is the cheapest way of achieving the standards required rather than any individuals preferred option. House builders often build properties as cheaply as possible to maximise their profits.
So it may not be the choice of the homeowner or architect it may be the body responsible for the protection of the beauty of the “built environment” or local “insulation/durability” standards that these similarities exist.
I work for a company that manufactures cement roofing sheets.
Shingles cost much less than steel and hence the low cost advantage.
The Romans used pan-tiles. Tiles are used everywhere in Europe. Also Welsh slates were used everywhere in victorian/Edwardian times. Thatched roofs are still around. ASbestos (fibre-reinforced) cement corrugated roofing sheets ‘roofed the world’ not very long ago.
I’ve no idea why they use shingles in the USA; I don’t recall ever seeing a house with a shingle roof in Europe. It’s very strange.
>I get that metal conducts heat more easily,
Also high emissivity. It absorbs a lot of heat from direct sunshine and gets dangerously hot if insulated. It also radiates heat to the sky on clear cold nights and gets colder than the air temperature. You then get condensation forming on the inside surface and possibly ice. It can be done but there are problems.
The house I bought still has all the original 1969 concrete tiles.
So did the 1930s house I lived in before that, those were ceramic tiles.
In fact, I’ve never had to replace or have replaced a roof tile. Most of the UK houses I know are the same. What shite are you building your roofs out of?
Unless a storm takes the tiles physically off the roof (rare here), they just stay there for decades.
Metal roofs have to change every 10 years due to rust. Speaking from experience living in a country where metal roof is popular. The only answer is concreate roofs, which require concreate house to support.
A lot of people are addressing the insulation question but the answer is economics. Insulation is cheap and easy relative to the roof. So if that were the problem just add more insulation in the ceiling or attic.
The problem is other materials are more costly for the material and labor. Metal roofs might last twice as long ( google says 40-70 years) but the cost is higher. I don’t know if it’s twice as high but it’s not a trivial amount. But people are really bad at looking into the future. It’s hard to imagine paying for a new roof in 20 years. It’s easy to see an extra $10k leave your pocket today. Add on to this that most people don’t stay in their house for 20-30 years. I think the average is around 10. And you probably won’t recoup the cost when you sell. While people do look at roofs when buying, it’s not going to be a sliding scale based on lifetime remaining. It’s going to be “oh brand new roof that’s good”, “roof isn’t new but it’s in good shape”, or “roof is in bad condition and will need to be replaced in <5”. So having 10 years left on an asphalt roof might not be treated any differently than having 30 years left on a metal roof for the typical buyer.
To add to this you can also have stone roofs (made from slate, I believe) that can last 100 years. But these are even more expensive and the time scales even more drawn out. So all the points above are even more applicable.
One last point is aesthetics. Shingle roofs are the norm and aren’t going to turn anyone off the house. Metal roofs are likely divisive. Some people might like the look more. I think a lot of people will like it less. I think most people will think a stone roof is beautiful, but these are so far out of most people price range it doesn’t matter.
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