Standing Seam Roof

You might be looking into standing seam roof options right now. But since the costs of a professionally installed one can be make a major crater in your bank account, you might be tempted to do this home improvement project on your own. The truth is: installing any kind of roofing system would entail certain building skills, dependable tools, quality materials and a lot of time on your hands. You might also want to throw in home insurance, accident insurance and personal injury insurance as well. Kidding aside though, if you are not really versed with the various methods of installing roofing options or this is your first try fixing the roof; then we highly recommend you call in the pros. A professional builder may be pricey, but it will save you a lot of headaches down the line. If an expert is really not part of the projected budget; then at the very least, try to call in a buddy who actually knows how to install standing seam roof systems.

However, if you are determined to do this home improvement project on your own, here are some tips you might want to follow.

1. Order your pre-formed ridge cap beforehand. This should be installed just after you placed in your waterproofing roof materials. However, these should be especially made, since many suppliers do not carry ready-to-use ridge caps that will suit even the most common architectural structures. You can order these online from construction material suppliers or even from your local hardware. Ordering and delivery would take 2 to 4 weeks. During that time, you may want to clean out the debris from the roof. This might also be a great time to order in your preferred roofing materials.

2. Get a buddy to help. Get someone to work the roof with you. Aside from making sure that you have someone to watch over you at all times, a construction buddy will make your work go much faster. For starters, you would need to get all your roofing materials and tools up there. Although wood shingles and metal tin sheets are lightweight materials, you still need considerable muscle power to haul these up to or down from your roof. Now imagine if you are installing or removing clay tile shakes or granite slate shingles…

3. Waterproof your existing roofing structure. It does not matter what waterproofing material you use. Just make sure that you have enough of that material between your standing seam roof and the underlayment surface (or the existing roofing structure.) On top of this, you need to install roofing paper too. This will help guarantee that water or any form of moisture does not seep into the house any time soon. Give particular attention the roof’s more problematic areas like the valleys and the occasional odd protrusion or architectural features (e.g. sidewalls and skylights.) The same goes for the areas where exhaust pipes and chimney vents jut out.

4. Follow the do-it-yourself or DIY kit manual down to the last letter. Providing short-cut methods to this kind of roofing system should not be an option at all. If properly installed, you might get a quality structure that will last 20 problem free years. If not, you will have to redo the entire thing, spend more money on materials – and for good measure, even call in that expensive professional you have trying to avoid.