Renee, I am still on the track to try and get an answer for you. As you know this has been fab weather for roof work and my slate man got pulled off on to another job, but I expect him back. He worked 10+ hour days towards the end of the week and I didn't want to disturb that momentum with more questions. You want to know about the longevity of the screw-down vs the standing seam (but not standing seam that's soldered) right? I think I may have the screw-down on a large pole barn that we put up more than 15 years ago. I can go look and see tomorrow in the a.m. It has performed flawlessly - even surviving the tornado that smashed up our house (and the pole barn was broadsides to the path of the tornado, with its only closed wall on that side, too.) I did nothing but attend to the roof project last week. It turned out to be more complicated and time-consuming and more expensive than it initially appeared (ain't it always?). But I did learn how to cut and replace slates, which with 10 slate-roofed structures here will come in handy in the future. In fact, the only non-slate roof is the one on the big pole barn. (Also re your electrical problem thread, I will ask my DH to make suggestions when he gets back from a business trip. When we have that problem he gets busy with his little meter and sorts it out.) Molly~ PS, Do you need opinions about the layers of roofing issue, too?

So, I have an update. We had a new contractor come by and he said that my pitch is too low for metal and he would suggest EPDM rubber roof. He said it would have 1 seam. He also said it's commercial grade, they put it on restaurants and stores all over town and it will last longer than the Certainteed Flintlastic that was originally proposed - price is $2800. I should also mention that these folks do a LOT of work in our area and they have great reviews on Angie's list. Here's the contract wording: Proposal for high density board and EPDM rubber membrane. New 1" ISO insulation board to be put down over entire roof with 4" screws and plates 12 to a sheet. 0.60 EPDM rubber membranes to be installed with a rubber to substrate adhesive. All rubber to rubber seams to be installed with a 6" seam tape then caulked with a rubber lap caulk. Projections through the roof to be flashed with a 6" uncured flashing roll with a termination bar anchor strip then caulked as per rubber spec sheets. New painted gravel stop metal to be applied to all roof edges. Gravel stop to be counter flashed with a peel and stick self adhesive 6" cover strip. Does this seem OK? They offer a 10 year warranty on their workmanship and I think there is a warranty on the material too, maybe 20 years?

I was just reading in the Remodeling forum and Dragonfly Tile and Stoneworks, a respected and knowledgeable tiler, recommended Adex Neri tile for a tile that is uniform and has many sizes and trims. Sierra Sand looks close to your tile. Silver Mist looks like a greige on my screen. Studio, another collection, has a translucent glaze that is very pretty. Scroll down the page of each color to see photos of it installed. http://adexusa.com/collections/neri/neri-sierra-sand/

I am coming around to essentially digging about 4-6 inches away from the base of the house to get the dirt below the brick line, use some edging to hold back the soil, and then backfill that space with stone against the house. So the brick will have a 4-6 inch stone border along it to create a buffer, let the brick breathe, and create a bit of a critter gap. Good call on cedar mulch! To Beverly's point - I'm going to improve the slope away from the house from there to about 4-5ft from the house, put in a french drain at the bottom of that to intercept the drainage from our uphill neighbors, and grade back out of that drain on the other side, so the drain will be at the bottom of this limited swale. It won't improve the grading of the entire yard - that is literally impossible without digging up about a dozen trees that are over 50 yrs old - but it will keep water away from the foundation, and will allow the brick to breathe, which are the main two main goals I need to achieve.