wanted: Aluminum roofing horror stories

[Tater]

my roof needs to be replaced and I am having a saleman come to give me a quote to replace the steel roof with an aluminum one. interlock roofing is the company in case someone has some thing specific.

[trainfan1]

Sorry, no horrors.

Steel: Usually warranted 25 years will last 50. Aluminum: Usually warranted 50 years will last 100.

My aluminum roof is 51 years old now. It take about 1-2 hrs. maintenance every 4-5 years.

Rob

[businessman]

Your experience is different from mine. When I bought my farm, my 50+ year old barn had a corrigated galvanized steel roof. The steel was original. Aside from some rust and a few popped nails, the roof was still good. A little re-nailing and a cost of aluminum paint, and some silicone around the loose nails made it good for another 20 years or more.

My garage roof was built almost exactly the same. The differnce was they used corrigated aluminum. The farm was vacant for quite a few years. This aluminum garage roof about 25 years old. The sheets were torn, some actually had half a sheet ripped off the roof, many nails pulled right thru the sheets. Hail dents were obvious, and because of the poor roofing, the entire rear of the roof structure was rotten and there was significant damage to the walls in the rear.

I nearly had to rebuild the entire garage because of that poor quality alum roofing. In fact I probably would have been better ripping it down and starting over, but money was tight, so I reused what I could. I still have one section of that aluminum roofing and several times a year I have to go up there and caulk a leak. The other 2/3 of the roof is new steel and never leaks. By the end of this year, all that aluminum will be gone. It was junk from the start and I heard from an old neighbor that the stuff was sold for about 5 years and there were so many complaints they quit making it.

You know how easily an aluminum can rips. Same as this roof. Now try to rip a tin can.... You get the picture !!!

I'd do lots of research before buying aluminum roofing....

[trainfan1]

Now that's a horror story.

Installation method is key.

You want to use all aluminum hardware on or near aluminum. 5/12 pitch is almost too shallow if you are going cheap. I can't see any hail damage if there is any as I have textured panels.

With steel, you want a "clean room" installation. I have a steel roof on another house, because of the cost difference, but I hired pros. NO scratches whatsoever - not a grain of sand on a shoe or foot that traverses the roof.

Acid rain will shorten the life of either type.

Rob

[dpb]

...

...

We put AL corrugated roof on hoghouse and addition to the elevator leg (overhead grain storage facility in early 50s over plank roofing. Installation used the lead-headed nails. It is still fine even in an area of weather extremes and high wind (SW KS). I'm sure if checked it would show some hail dents, but really haven't looked. They're not obvious enough to be a problem unless one were especially persnickety is my point.

The key imo as you basically point out isn't so much whether the material is steel or aluminum, but the quality (which is the gauge and particular alloy used). As you note, research is key in any selection process -- there's poor quality steel available, too. Probably a key is cost (there is no free lunch and one (mostly) gets what one pays for) and reputation of the supplier/installer.