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metal roofs, interesting comparison

lizzie

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My son and I are currently building him a cabin out here to live in temporarily, while he builds his own house. The purpose is twofold- to provide me with some help around the property for upkeep etc, and to save him money while he builds a house of his own

We are planning to put a metal roof on it because upkeep is minimal, structurally, it's sound, and the surface will reflect summer heat, keeping cooling costs down. A couple of weeks ago, I looked at Lowe's building supplier, and the price wasn't outragious enough to deter me, but today, I went to a local metal building supplier, and found that their price is considerably less than Lowe's, and that includes factory finished edges and cut to size. I was stunned to say the least. The footprint of the cabin is 16x24 feet, and Lowe's price for the metal would have been $800 roughly, plus trim. The price through the metal supplier will be $434 (including tax) plus trim. An amazing difference, and i'm glad I thought to check.
 
My son and I are currently building him a cabin out here to live in temporarily, while he builds his own house. The purpose is twofold- to provide me with some help around the property for upkeep etc, and to save him money while he builds a house of his own

We are planning to put a metal roof on it because upkeep is minimal, structurally, it's sound, and the surface will reflect summer heat, keeping cooling costs down. A couple of weeks ago, I looked at Lowe's building supplier, and the price wasn't outragious enough to deter me, but today, I went to a local metal building supplier, and found that their price is considerably less than Lowe's, and that includes factory finished edges and cut to size. I was stunned to say the least. The footprint of the cabin is 16x24 feet, and Lowe's price for the metal would have been $800 roughly, plus trim. The price through the metal supplier will be $434 (including tax) plus trim. An amazing difference, and i'm glad I thought to check.

All I can say regarding metal roofs is INSULATE! I have a metal roof on the house, and a 20+ foot high cathedral ceiling. When we get a heavy rain, you can't hear yourself think, seriously! And wind is a whole 'nuther adventure, along with hail.....

I'm sure your cabin will be better built then my shack, but that roof doesn't do such a good job of reflecting the hot summer sun around here. Likely no more insulation than the SIP between it and the rafters that hold the SIP in place.

I hope it works better for you than it does my house. :)
 
All I can say regarding metal roofs is INSULATE! I have a metal roof on the house, and a 20+ foot high cathedral ceiling. When we get a heavy rain, you can't hear yourself think, seriously! And wind is a whole 'nuther adventure, along with hail.....

I'm sure your cabin will be better built then my shack, but that roof doesn't do such a good job of reflecting the hot summer sun around here. Likely no more insulation than the SIP between it and the rafters that hold the SIP in place.

I hope it works better for you than it does my house. :)

I had a metal roof on my old house, and we put a layer of foam insulation between the furring strips, then the light metal on the roof. The foam seemed to do the trick. Our cooling costs dropped, and it wasn't loud at all.
 
That's quite a difference. My dream, win the lottery, home will have a metal roof. Is there some reason you didn't just go for an used trailer instead of a cabin (since it's temporary)? Btw, if you don't want to go the full septic, these are pretty cool.

On a side note, it's good to have your son close to help out. Warms my heart.
 
That's quite a difference. My dream, win the lottery, home will have a metal roof. Is there some reason you didn't just go for an used trailer instead of a cabin? Btw, if you don't want to go the full septic, these are pretty cool.

On a side note, it's good to have your son close to help out. Warms my heart.



The reason for not going with a used trailer is that they aren't typically built well, and I would have felt compelled to sink money into it for improvements. This cabin will be built to regular house specs, and absent any direct tornado hits, should be here for quite some time. After he gets moved into his own house, I'll probably rent the cabin out, as an income source for paying property taxes. Being widowed, and with my ever-increasing age, I am starting to look at ways to cut expenses and save money, because I love this property, and don't want to ever need to give it up, and in this area, property taxes are high, and just keep going up.
 
My son and I are currently building him a cabin out here to live in temporarily, while he builds his own house. The purpose is twofold- to provide me with some help around the property for upkeep etc, and to save him money while he builds a house of his own

We are planning to put a metal roof on it because upkeep is minimal, structurally, it's sound, and the surface will reflect summer heat, keeping cooling costs down. A couple of weeks ago, I looked at Lowe's building supplier, and the price wasn't outragious enough to deter me, but today, I went to a local metal building supplier, and found that their price is considerably less than Lowe's, and that includes factory finished edges and cut to size. I was stunned to say the least. The footprint of the cabin is 16x24 feet, and Lowe's price for the metal would have been $800 roughly, plus trim. The price through the metal supplier will be $434 (including tax) plus trim. An amazing difference, and i'm glad I thought to check.


Don't forget your tax credit for that!!
 
The advantages of a metal roof are many, one of them is the structural strength of the roof metal itself, allowing only 1X4 purlins over the rafters (typically spaced 24" to 30" on center) to attach it to instead requiring of plywood or OSB under the finished roofing. One fairly expensive metal roofing component is the factory preformed ridge cap; I have found that simply making my own saves money and takes very little added time - I simply rip 26" corrugated metal roofing (about $9.20 for an 8' length) in half and then use it to form the ridge cap. Be carefull to note any difference in the guage/finish of the metal roofing material when comparing prices from different suppliers.
 
My son and I are currently building him a cabin out here to live in temporarily, while he builds his own house. The purpose is twofold- to provide me with some help around the property for upkeep etc, and to save him money while he builds a house of his own

We are planning to put a metal roof on it because upkeep is minimal, structurally, it's sound, and the surface will reflect summer heat, keeping cooling costs down. A couple of weeks ago, I looked at Lowe's building supplier, and the price wasn't outragious enough to deter me, but today, I went to a local metal building supplier, and found that their price is considerably less than Lowe's, and that includes factory finished edges and cut to size. I was stunned to say the least. The footprint of the cabin is 16x24 feet, and Lowe's price for the metal would have been $800 roughly, plus trim. The price through the metal supplier will be $434 (including tax) plus trim. An amazing difference, and i'm glad I thought to check.

I love-love-love!! metal roofs!! We had one on our outbuilding when we lived in the country; when it rained? I used to run out there to stand and listen to it. Ha!

What a price difference!! Good on you!
 
My son and I are currently building him a cabin out here to live in temporarily, while he builds his own house. The purpose is twofold- to provide me with some help around the property for upkeep etc, and to save him money while he builds a house of his own

We are planning to put a metal roof on it because upkeep is minimal, structurally, it's sound, and the surface will reflect summer heat, keeping cooling costs down. A couple of weeks ago, I looked at Lowe's building supplier, and the price wasn't outragious enough to deter me, but today, I went to a local metal building supplier, and found that their price is considerably less than Lowe's, and that includes factory finished edges and cut to size. I was stunned to say the least. The footprint of the cabin is 16x24 feet, and Lowe's price for the metal would have been $800 roughly, plus trim. The price through the metal supplier will be $434 (including tax) plus trim. An amazing difference, and i'm glad I thought to check.


what construction method are you using for the cabin (ie walls/frame etc) if I may inquire?
 
what construction method are you using for the cabin (ie walls/frame etc) if I may inquire?

Just plain 2x4 construction. It's built like the gambrel roof shed plans, with two full floors. I would like to have done a steel 4x4 skeleton frame based on 10 or 12 foot square sections (like a pole barn), with regular wood framing between the steel posts, but financially, it wasn't feasible for a small cabin.

The floors are 2x10, and the gambrel roof is built with 2x6 truss-type framing.
 
Local building supply places are almost always cheaper than box stores. It is why Lowe's can afford to give contractor discounts--because they mark up on most everybody else, but most folks' projects never get big so they just pay the money for the convenience of not having to find cheaper sources.
 
All I can say regarding metal roofs is INSULATE! I have a metal roof on the house, and a 20+ foot high cathedral ceiling. When we get a heavy rain, you can't hear yourself think, seriously! And wind is a whole 'nuther adventure, along with hail.....

I'm sure your cabin will be better built then my shack, but that roof doesn't do such a good job of reflecting the hot summer sun around here. Likely no more insulation than the SIP between it and the rafters that hold the SIP in place.

I hope it works better for you than it does my house. :)

Insulating basic metal roof systems can be a tricky business. The basic metal roof is simply rafters, purlins and the metal roofing. To use conventional insulation requires something to support/protect it, e.g. sheathing and a vapor barrier. It adds a lot of cost to the typical metal roofing project to place the insualtion between the rafters and the roof. I like to have the insulation, either unfaced fiberglass bats or, better yet, blown in cellulose, above the ceiling (protecting the cooled/heated living space) leaving the attic un-cooled/heated).

That poses only two problems with a basic metal roof - condensation and radient heat gain (loss) into the attic. The cheapest solution is to use foil faced bubble wrap (a radient/moisture barrier of R1) over the rafters and under the purlins. This leaves an air gap (the thickness of the purlins) between the metal roofing and the foil barrier but stops radient heat gain (loss) from the metal roofing and stops the condensation (it will form under the metal roof) from dripping onto your ceiling insulation.
 
Local building supply places are almost always cheaper than box stores. It is why Lowe's can afford to give contractor discounts--because they mark up on most everybody else, but most folks' projects never get big so they just pay the money for the convenience of not having to find cheaper sources.

The big box stores do offer competitor price matching (plus 10% at Lowe's) but that requires an exact material match (UPC code or make/model). There are also other discounts available at the big box stores like store credit card, AARP and DAV discounts so you can save by finding a friend/relative that qualifies.
 
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