MetalworkingFun Forum

Rick
Codes vary province to province across Canada and snow and wind loads are specked to location. I'd never heard of sheeting under steel till I moved back from Alberta. Out there with the LOW humidity condensation is never an issue. Helped a friend build a house last summer, he's only 2-3 hours away but the snow load is way higher. When I specked the rafters I couldn't believe we needed 2x10's on 16 inch centers. Electrical and plumbing vary as well.
Sasquatch,
Galvanized steel is now the same price as shingles. This was $78 per square and shingles are around $25 a bundle (3 bundles to the square). Quite a premium for painted though.

By "shingles" do you mean little strips of wood or those bitumen sheet thingies, keeping in mind I've never lived in any country where shingles are any where near common. I assume fitting sheet steel would be far quicker than shingles as well, even with pneumatic nail guns, the benefit of wooden shingles of course is if you have a good supply of timber and a sawmill you can make your own I suppose, they still do shingle splitting in those lumberjack competitions don't they?

In Australia it's a simple choice these days; steel sheet, gal or colourbond, occasionally steel tiles or interlocking highly formed concrete or terracotta tiles, not the simple slab type tiles we have here in the UK and that's about it.

I was amazed when I got here to the UK at the number of different types of roofing from slate tiles, flat simple terracotta, formed terracotta, concrete tiles, various different steel sheet and corrugated bitumen sheet, bitumen felt simply tacked on over ply or chip board and my new favourite thatching, with all of the various decorative touches. When using the highly formed terracotta or concrete style tiles they hardly fix them down at all, in Oz at least on the East coast they are often both tied down with wire and nailed on each tile whereas over here they seem to nail or tie the occasional tile but the rest just sit via gravity only stopped from sliding off the roof by the battens,

The house I grew up in, in Newcastle, Australia was subjected to such strong buffeting wind that despite the tiles being both tied and nailed you could still hear them rattling (despite the insulatin)in a storm and the ceiling will often be covered in fine terracotta chips from all that tapping together.

About ten years ago not so far from my home town but further up the Hunter river, I think it was Singleton they had a massive Hailstorm, now I mean massive hail and a massive storm, the stones were reported as being the size of oranges, from the newsreel footage I believe they were that big, the sheet steel was shredded and the 5/8-3/4"Terracotta tiles smashed to pieces, they even showed a car with a split through the steel roof!! the car's roof was caved in like it had been attacked with a sledge hammer, a few years after that storm I went to a museum in West Sussex, UK and there was an exhibit showing tile manufacture in the UK since Roman times the tiles themselves were near to unchanged, interesting I thought, the thick ones were about 1/2" thick even the Victorian ones were quite thin, I just can't imagine how they would stand up to the cruelties of the Australian weather.

The UK population will be the first to tell you that the weather here is terrible, but seriously, at least no-one gets killed by hailstones or flying roof tiles.

Best Regards
Rick

Hey Rick - Perth is the third windiest city in the world and the concrete tiles are generally only nailed down on every second row (often fewer). The way they lock in prevents them from sliding off. How else do you get into the house when you lock your keys in!

Rick, 'round here they've come up with improved "asphalt" shingles that carry a longer "guarantee" but I suppose it was driven by the competition of superior metal roofing.
Mayhem, you've given new meaning for the " through the roof" term for expensive.

Hello Darren,
The House I grew up in was a bit of a special case, facing due South and sitting in the middle of a "draw" nearly at the top of the valley between two ridges both of which ran due South, given that the "Bad" weather came from the South and we had no obstructions between us and the Pacific ocean, we were in a bit of a "wind tunnel" that funnelled the wind laden with salt and water over two miles straight off the ocean, you could actually taste the salt in the rain when the Southerly came through. My Uncle lived two streets away and his tiles were nailed on every second or third row and we only ever had to patch his roof once or twice in ten years, the difference was that he was on the other side of the ridge, so as a result he was well protected.

Oh, don't let me forget the rust, all that Salt water could put holes in a brand new car in just a year or two dependant of course on the weather patterns, we had a good long drought when I was a kid, maybe six or so years and no rust issues at all, Dad started to do backyard bodywork for family and friends and he could leave a panel in bare metal for a week or two with no drama, but when the drought broke that all changed leaving a panel overnight would see it light brown by morning, and this was in a closed garage, this was when we discovered Phosphoric acid.

Best regards
Rick

Exactly why I have no desire to live by the ocean Rick!

Despite all of that salt air, bad weather and rust I miss being able to go for a blast down a coastal road either on a Bike or in an open Car, that feeling used to be my release when times were bad. It's a two to three hour drive for me to get to the coast these days and when you get there it's not anything like the Mid NSW Coast.

But there are other upsides.
Best Regards
Rick

Painted the one wall with a brush, sure gave up on that idea quick. Will try the rest with an airless sprayer. Today moved the sawmill into its new home and got it blocked up and working, Some Basswood from the storm.

Looking good Greg

That's going to be sweet once it's done.

Ed