Our 50 year roof finally needed replacing about 5 years ago. I chose an aluminum roof that really cuts down on the summer AC costs. It is beautiful. Noise not a problem but they did put an underlayment that probably deadens the noise. There is one place near a dormer that has continuously leaked. Looked at and repaired by 6 roof "expert" repairmen. Hope the 6th one took care of the leak. It also was dented in the first hail storm and our insurance did cover the replacement cost. We didn't notice the dents but roofers and insurance people did. Seems like once it dents you may get a leak from the dent crack. My neighbor across used the flat steel look. The hail storm made their roof look like someone hammered it. I think a roof choice depends on where you live. Hope this helped. PS We were supposed to get a break on the insurance but Marsh McClendon never gave it to us and I sent them papers etc.

What do you guys think of the Millennium Tiles anodised (?) stainless steel versions of the tiles? It appears Zappone licenses the interlocking design, so these should be exactly like the copper shingles(tiles) in my roofing gallery, but in stainless. I would expect the stainless to crush less easy than the copper tiles and probably last longer. No idea about the finish, but I would assume it should be pretty bulletproof. I didn't even know you could anodise stainless steel. Anyone know about that? Also, is this the right forum for this message? It didn't seem to fit into anything really well but Repair and Remdeling seemed closest, but perhaps there is more roofing activity in Building a Home? Thanks, -john Here is a link that might be useful: millenniumtiles

Here is my post earlier this week on MoccasinLanding's Hardwood Floors thread, with edits: Remember DH's declaration that we won't do any more major projects for the next three years following last year's 5 month and $30,000 foundation disaster? Well, we barely made it a year. The roof is really really really bad, the guys who cleaned my gutters said. We are looking at tearing off the 34 yo shingles, replacing some decking, doubling the amount of soffit vents and adding roof vents. We also may be removing all the decking from the area above the family room in order to insulate above the raised ceiling (it is sooo hot in there in the summer!). Fun fun fun. Last year's foundation disaster almost resulted in us pouring a "porch" foundation the same height as the foyer/laundry room for another 15 ft out from the front door so that when we re-roofed, we could extend the roof out over the porch to the end of the front room, which is DH's library and music room. Doing that, we could add a peak above the foyer and laundry room to change the path of the roof drainage. Then we just need to have Jim move the front wall out and drywall the new side walls and we would get a front closet and a laundry room big enough to work in. Didn't do it. (When I say "almost resulted in," it means that Jim (my contractor) and I were contemplating. DH was never on board.) Kick kick kick. Instead, we will continue to have a flat area on the roof above the foyer and laundry room and just hope that improved ventilation stops the snow from melting or sliding down the roof and icing up my porch and ramp. Stupid house designer must have been from the South. Who makes a roof designed to dump rain and snow in three different directions onto the FRONT PORCH in a cold climate! If we had extended out the front slab, we would now be adding a roof peak where the flat area is and the roof would drain to the sides. And I would have a laundry room big enough to fold in, and a front closet. We do have a coat closet in the middle of the house. It could be a utility closet now instead, if we had poured that slab out further last year......... My shins hurt. Friday, December 14 Yesterday I signed a contract to redo the roof. Today I stopped by their office to drop off a check for the first half of the payment. I talked with the manager and we discussed the venting further and the possibility of putting insulation above the cathedral ceiling in the family room. There was no way to get up there to insulate when we had the attic insulated because there was not enough room between the ceiling and the roof. So he will pull up some roof decking to check out the condition of the insulation there before re-roofing. He says that if we do need to insulate the room from above, he will do his best to make it fold into the cost of the roof job as much as possible, maybe just paying for the extra materials and a bit more. So that is the not-so-exciting news, we are getting a new roof. The picture you see below is from 2007, before we put in our front door, raised porch deck and ramp. We no longer have any shutters and the front windows have been replaced by Eagle windows with bronze aluminum cladding. The picture in the link has the new garden bed, door, and porch in it, but not the new windows. Here is a link that might be useful: A view of the front of the house with flat roof area

With a metal roof you are supposed to have strips that prevent sliding. We have them on the pool room part but not the garage. If you live in an area with heavy snow you should also be using a snow rake on the roof to prevent heavy accumulation if you have a lower pitch roof to prevent ice damming during freeze, thaw cycles. At my last house we had asphalt shingles on the roof and still would have snow that would slide from the roof because it was a really high pitch on the roof that we couldn't reach even with a snow rake. Luckily we didn't get as much snow there as we do here. As you can see in the attached photo. There is hardly any snow on the roof at the time of the picture and hardly any on the ground where it would slide off. The huge hill is due to drifting snow. Another pro to metal roofing for me is in the collection of rain water. With asphalt roofing you always get more debris, often times pieces of the asphalt. Just for fun, here's another shot of the kind of winter we had here in 2013/2014. That was the longest and worst winter ever. The snow blower wasn't working and thankfully our neighbor would plough our driveway every once in a while with his tractor. That huge pile was as tall as the roof. It was a combination of drifts and piled snow as we shoveled the walkway. That was also the year the water froze down at the barn and we had to carry buckets of water every day. Both hubby and I threw our backs out that year.