I have to reroof the barn this spring, decided to go with a steel roof. Anybody install one yourself? I am a do it yourself kind of guy and would like to do it but am I better off hiring it done?
I would say if you've got the stuff to do it yourself it's not too bad. I hate doin the trim stuff but that not even that bad. Idk if it's a thing everywhere but alot of peole around here predrill all the holes for your screws and you can move right along. I would definitely have a extra hand and avoid a very windy day if the sheets are gonna be very big ha. Would base it off what you have available or what your willing to get if needed otherwise someone your hire will already have the tools and equipment needed. Or if there would be alot of prep kinda of work depending on what kind of roof now and the time frame you want it done may be easier to hire it out.
I built and skinned my own little 15x40 brooder house, the metal siding and roofing was easy to do. That said, the last roof I had put on was an old house I renovated in town to resell. I hired a contractor for that because it needed to be done correctly, neatly and look nice for resell value. I have some knowledge of a lot of things, very few of which I claim to be any sort of "expert" at and where metal siding and roofing is concerned, I know I'm anything but an expert. I felt I was fine doing a little brooder house for my game bird operation but a house roof that eventually needs to sell at a premium is another matter all together. For a house roof, a contractor knew all the correct trim, angles, best way to do this and that and I didn't want to be in the middle of town and get bogged down in the middle of a roofing project trying to sort all that out as I went. I simple barn roof here on the farm, I'd have no reservations about doing if I had time to get it done. That's how I'd see the situation but I know my capabilities and limitations, can't speak for anyone else's.
I assisted with one on a 1500 Sq ft ranch home. The main thing is maintaining your runout. Measuring and measuring again to make sure each piece is square on the bottom run. After that the sheets cover alot fast. I suggest impact drivers instead of normal cordless drill. The screws will dictate whether you need to predrill. Also those metal sheets can be Slick! Definitely wear non slip soles of some sort
A steel roof is easy for the most part. Is it a straight gable roof? Or are there hips and valleys to deal with? The most important part is starting square, measure both sides of the bottom of your first sheet. Only put a couple screws in that sheet to begin with. Then slap your next sheet up flush with the first one, make sure your overhang is the exact same as the first sheet. After that you can usually keep slapping sheets up. You can make slight adjustments if your sheets are long enough overall, the ribs will still lay flat enough that you can't tell and it wont leak. What kind of ridge cap are you using? A little advice, stay away form the formed ridge with the ribs that line up with the ribs of the roof tin. They never lay exactly right, and there are gaps from where they are bent at the factory. Major PITA in my opinion. Also, some companies call for seam tape (which is actually a roll of sticky tack). Its kind of a hassle to put it on, but it does seal up the seams pretty well and pretty much glues each sheet to the others.
As has been said, getting the first sheet square makes the job come out easily. Very basic job, lots of screws and your golden. Much faster and easier than shingles and easier and faster with two or three guys. Done lots of roofs over the years and much prefer to put on metal over shingles.
It will be a pretty simple roof I have not climbed up and measure exactly but it looks like it will be 10' pieces followed by 14' and then a 4' piece to the edge. I have the tools to get it done glad to hear it is almost as easy as it is described. I don't care for heights but heck I can hire an assistant or two for that.
We've always redone our building roofs ourselves on all of our buildings except our barn but that is 35'+ tall and really steep.
You can also order the steel pre-cut to the lengths you need, definitely a must. Also pre-drilling is a must
An old ladder with hooks on it to catch the rigid may help on steep roofs to go up and down. If lazy and has shingles one can lay 2x down and sheet right over. A cordless drill is great. Being square is key sheet steel roofs a piece of cake
Be careful who you hire to help you. I am sure there are several guys on this site who would love to get you up on a tall roof. I am sure they would be very willing to help you off of it too! LOL
I've watched a few people do it - but my barn is quite steep and I wouldn't want to. But, we did pick a guy up who decided to do it first thing in the morning when dew was still present and slipped on the metal and fell to the ground. So...be careful!!
This sounds like a good idea, I measured up the sections tonight. Going to try to buy from a farm supply store vs menards.
I don't know if it matters since this is for a barn, but 26 ga. is a lot stronger than 29 ga. More hail dent resistant, too. But it might not be worth the extra cost if you aren't as worried about aesthetics.
Yeah... 30' off the ground on a 12-12 pitch... http://forums.bowhunting.com/the-wa...-masters-;-71992/?highlight=treehouse+masters It'd be a piece of cake if it was a "normal" building on the ground
We did our NY. deer camp last yr. Ordered the sheets cut to length and in the color we wanted. 50 yr. warrantee. Put firing strips right over 2 layers of shingles then screwed down the sheets with cordless drills with no pre drilling. The hardest parts were making sure the firing strips were in the right spots to screw into…... and the trim is a pain in the ***. We used a table saw to cut peices to size. We ended up both all bloody from having metal filings launched at us from the table saw. About halfway through the job we learned that if you turn the saw blade backwards it still cuts the metal and you aren't shot with metal filings. I actually have a video of us doing it but I'm to lazy to look for it and post it. How bout a picture instead
Not sure how close your barn is to the house, etc. But, around here you can get "scratch and dent" steel pieces (usually amish sell it). They really aren't bad or noticeable - but a fraction of the cost. We'll be doing it for our barn when that time comes.
I don't live in an area that has any amish oh well. The barn is the first structure that you see when you come down the driveway, plus it is pretty much my wife's woman cave. So the color will be correct and the install has to look good, come to think of it I should hire it done to mitigate any blame for the final product.
