Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
I like to see exposed beams everywhere, so I prefer
a solid deck, with insulation on top and shakes nailed
to slats (built-up roof ). Don't nail down roofing
through soft insulation. Shakes move around in wind
and temperature changes, and can work loose.
Roofing Prices
On a price scale, from lowest up, roofing materials run
like this:
• asphalt shingles
• barn tin (two-foot-wide sheets of corrugated or
five-groove nailed with washered nails)
• standing seam (hammered) galvanized metal,
two-foot-wide runs
• split wood shakes
• standing-seam terne tin (which must be painted
right away), 17-inch runs
• standing seam copper (whose color mellows to
a dark neutral brown and eventually to green),
two-foot runs
• slate
The roof needs to be framed so
that the air will move up toward
the ridge. The shakes at the ridge
top will overlap. A cupola works
well as venting.
Dormers, valleys, and multiple chimneys all
increase roofing costs. So do very steep roof pitches
and very high roofs. We do only the roofs of our own
buildings and restorations, and when pressed for time
or have a very complicated roof, we will subcontract to
a good roofer.
In Virginia and the East, metal roofs have been
around so long they've become a tradition. We do
more of them than shakes now. Modern tools for
installing them, though, are very expensive and old
manual tools are very slow and labor intensive. I don't
advise doing your own hammered metal roof unless
you get experience elsewhere.
The sheets of metal with washered nails are seldom
used on houses, but often on barns, workshops, and
sheds. If galvanized, they, like standing seam, should
I refuse to roof a cabin with asphalt shingles. I have
done slate, and I love to work with copper, but they are
so very expensive. Any attempt to give a price on these
roofs installed would be far off, because costs vary so
much in given regions. We've begun doing our own
roofs entirely because the labor is so high.
We do standing-seam galvanized for about $425
per square (100 square feet). Terne is about $500 a
square and another $130+ a square to prime and paint
it. Copper is $725+ a square depending on the current
per-pound cost of copper, but it never needs painting.
Cedar shakes done properly are about $450 a square.
Air moves differently under the framing of a metal roof than it does under a shake roof.
Metal barn tin comes in two-foot sheets and the joints are overlapped. A full-length metal
ridge cap is used with barn tin to cover the ridge and vent the air out the cap ends.
