Retrofit Standing Seam Metal Roof Details Challenge Installers’ Measuring Skills with Multiple Hips and Tapered Panels

After tearing off aged and damaged asphalt shingles, Ideal Building Solutions of Norcross, Ga., installed 15,631 square feet of standing seam metal panels on a multi-hipped roof at the North Atlanta Church of Christ on a strict deadline. In just two days, the panels were manufactured onsite by a roll former from McElroy Metal.

“The longer the roll former is onsite, the more it costs, so to keep costs down for the customer, we measured everything very, very well and ran the panels in two days,” says Ryan Finney, senior project manager at Ideal Building Solutions. “We had 11 or 12 people onsite, carefully carrying and stacking panels on the roof, one after another.”

The McElroy Maxima panels were 16 inches wide and measured up to 109 feet in length. The 1-1/2-inch standing seam striated panels were coated with a PVDF coating in Slate Gray to match the color of standing seam roofing installed on two other buildings on the campus.

Consultant Joe Morgalis of Williamson and Associates of Atlanta recommended to the church committee to install a new standing seam metal roofing system. “They were looking at a single-ply roof versus a metal roofing system and ultimately decided on the metal roof because it will last longer and it’s less maintenance,” he says.

Ideal started the tear-off of asphalt shingles on February 13, 2017 and were challenged to have the job completed by Easter Sunday … April 16, a little more than eight weeks. And there was nothing easy about this roof.

The top multi-hipped roof was obviously challenging. The 10 sections came together at the ridge. All panels had to be carefully measured and cut at an angle where it met the hip.

“The first panel, I think took us 3 hours to install,” Finney says. “Everything goes off of that, so that first panel has to be cut and installed correctly. We had to get the hips and ribs lined up.”

Moving the panels from stacks to where they needed to be installed also required a staff of a dozen crew members to safely move the panels. Any panels damaged while being carried around the roof during sometimes windy conditions would require the manufacturing of a new panel.

“Moving panels was a challenge, trying to keep everybody moving together,” Finney says. “The guys on the top didn’t have to move too far, while the guys at the eaves had to walk up to 40 feet with their end of the panel.”

While the upper roof is what catches the eye, the lower section is appreciated by those that install metal roofing … a tapered roof with no hips. “That required a lot of fabrication,” Finney says. “Those panels are just a bit narrower on the top than they are on the bottom to accommodate the curve of the building.”

Panels on both the lower and upper levels ran into a pre-existing internal gutter. Finney says the liner on the gutter had been replaced about two years earlier, so there were no issues there.

“Having the machine onsite made the whole process more efficient,” Morgalis says. “We were able to produce panels as we needed them.”