Styles of Metal Roofing

If you’d like to give your home or building a makeover, rest assured you have many options at your disposal. That said, few updates or remodels will change the exterior of your home or building more than a new metal roof. 

McElroy Metal offers several metal roofing styles, coatings, and colors to add curb appeal to projects. Keep reading to learn more so you can make the right selections for your project. 

First, let’s dig into the components that make up a painted metal roofing panel. In the illustration below, items 1, 2, 3 make up the paint, or coating system. Item 5 is the raw steel and item 4 is the metallic coating, which can be either galvanized or Galvalume^®

Steel Substrates

It’s essential to select a substrate that offers long-term performance because the wrong choice can lead to reduced service life. Galvanized and Galvalume are the most popular metal roofing substrates. Galvanized is coated with a zinc alloy, and Galvalume is coated with an alloy of zinc plus aluminum.

For most metal roofing applications, Galvalume substrates deliver the best long-term solution. Galvalume's superior performance has been proven with over four decades of testing and in the field applications. Check out this report from the MCA detailing the results.

Galvalume's performance is so superior that steel mills offer a warranty for the substrate against perforation due to corrosion. Similar warranties do not exist for Galvanized.

Coatings

Metal roofing and siding panels are regularly exposed to environmental elements; you must select a coating system that aligns well with your performance and aesthetic expectations.  

Thanks to our coatings manufacturer, our coatings offer optimal dependability and performance. The following core ingredients make up these coatings:

Binders/Resins - Resins hold the pigment together and protect the coatings from harmful UV degradation. When it comes to metal roofing and siding, the most common resins include Polyester, Silicone Modified Polyester, and PVDF. All three of them offer impressive performance ratings and protect against panel chalk and fade but they are properly ranked as good, better, and best. 

Solvents - Solvents are vital because they ensure the paint has the right viscosity and can be appropriately applied. Solvents disperse the pigment and evaporate after the coating is applied. The solvent evaporation allows the resin and pigment to dry and form the optimal layer of coating. With metal roofing and siding, solvents evaporate during the coil coating process. 

Pigments - Without pigments, coatings would lack any type of color. Adding pigment into the binder/resin creates the paint color. Pigments come in a variety of color options. 

Print Coatings

Our print coatings create multi-layered effects that lead to one-of-a-kind color combinations. These combinations resemble slate, wood shake, COR-TEN Steel, wood grains, and camo. Aside from Mossy Oak Camo, McElroy prints utilize PVDF coatings. 

Styles of Metal Roofing

Advantages like 50+ year lifespan, durability, and energy savings often have home and building owners considering a metal roof when it comes time for a replacement. 

Once you choose the right substrate and coatings, you need to consider the metal roof style that best fits your needs and job requirements.

As metal roofing gains popularity, more and more styles and types of metal roofing are becoming available. 

So, let’s break down the different styles of metal roofing.

Exposed Fastener Panels

For budget-conscious home and building owners looking to get all the benefits of metal roofing, exposed fastener panels are an excellent option. The most economical metal roofing, exposed fastener panels for residential application are typically installed over solid decking and attached with fasteners that penetrate through the metal panel into the structure below. Exposed fastener panels on post-frame and pre-engineered metal buildings are typically installed over open framing.

Since most exposed fastener panels generally are 36” wide, the roof area requires fewer panels and less labor. They’re cost-effective products that offer reliable performance and an impressive life expectancy. 

Exposed fastener panels come in a wide range of styles and colors, with the fasteners painted with the same color as the panel, so they are less apparent. At McElroy Metal, we offer 12 different exposed fastener profiles, each with its unique aesthetic appeal. 

Our 5V panels, for example, are 24” wide and feature a classic design that can add a touch of elegance to any home. There’s also the patent and copyright-protected panel, Mesa, that has a virtually invisible lap and offers a distinctive look.

Standing Seam Systems

In the purest form, standing seam metal roofing is a panel with male and female legs (seams) that are engaged and installed with clips to the roofing substructure. As panel options have grown it is also common to see clipless panels, such as McElroy’s Meridian panel,  included in this product family as well.

Because the seams lock panels together, standing seam panels do not use exposed fasteners in the plane of the panel during panel installation. 

Standing seam roofing systems are versatile and applicable for a range of applications, both residential and commercial.

Our 138T and 238T symmetrical systems are ideal for new construction and are also very popular to retrofit or recover over existing metal or shingle roofs. 

Vertical leg standing seam systems are very popular in the metal roofing industry and McElroy Metal offers several vertical leg options with the Maxima family of roofing systems. Customers can select Maxima panels with seam heights of 1.5”, 2”, and 3”.  McElroy Metal also offers several distinct standing seam systems that can be curved on the job site, lowering transportation costs and ensuring a proper fit.

Want to learn more about the differences between standing seam systems and exposed fastener systems? Check out this article from our partner S-5!

Specialty Roofing Panel Styles

Specialty metal roofing panels give home and building owners options who want all of the benefits of a metal roof without the traditional metal roof appearance of a standing seam or exposed fastener system.

Specialty roofing panels are designed to mimic more traditional roofing materials like ceramic tile, slate, shake, or shingles without sacrificing the metal roofing advantages. These systems come in a wide range of colors and finishes so building owners can enjoy the more traditional shape of a tile or shingle with whatever color selection best suits their home or business. .

Best of all, they have a decades-long life expectancy and are far more resistant to hail and debris damage than conventional shingles and ceramic tile roofing. They also come with PVDF coatings that allow for a “like new” curb appeal that stands the test of time. 

Another specialty roofing panel we offer is the Met-Tile.  Lightweight and energy-efficient, Met-Tile looks like ceramic tile roofing but provides all of the benefits of metal. Many people are often surprised when they find out it’s a metal roof. 

McElroy Metal also offers Tilcor Stone Coated Roofing. While it resembles asphalt shingles, Tilcor provides far better performance. 

Check out metal roofing that looks like tile and metal roofs that look like shingles here.

Making Metal Roof Decisions

Choosing a metal roof for your home or building is an excellent decision for many reasons, including long-term value, durability, and curb appeal.

Be sure to understand all of the components of a metal roof and the style options available, and you will be sure to have a roof that will last a lifetime.

Learn More

You can learn more about our line of metal roofing products or find a McElroy Metal Distributor or Contractor.

Contact McElroy Metal

If you’re ready to revamp your home or building, McElroy Metal is an invaluable resource. Since our inception in 1963, we’ve earned a reputation as a top-notch metal roofing manufacturer. Contact us today for more information!