Long Beach, CA
Is a metal roof worth it here?
The metal itself almost never fails. The fasteners, the panel movement and the detailing at the edges are what decide how the roof ages.
Describe the metal roofing job
Three questions, then the address. Up to three Long Beach contractors who do this work.
You are on the list.
No provider in Long Beach is taking requests through this service yet. We are lining them up, and yours is kept until one can.
- Nobody gets your details yet. Your request stays with us and is not passed to any company.
- One email when someone can help. When a provider covering your area can take it on, we email you once and ask whether you want that company, by name, to contact you.
- Deleted after 90 days. If nobody can take it on, or you do not say yes, your contact details are deleted 90 days after your request.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
Nobody will call you about this request unless you say yes to a company by name.
Before you let anybody on the roof
The things worth pinning down on a metal roofing job. A contractor who has not raised them has not looked properly.
- Standing seam or exposed fastener, and why
- Panel gauge and the coating warranty
- How valleys, ridges and penetrations are detailed
- Whether the crew installs metal regularly or occasionally
- How the panels are allowed to expand and contract
Noise is the question everybody asks. Over a solid deck with underlayment, a metal roof is not meaningfully louder than shingle. Over open purlins it very much is.
Not every roofer installs metal, and the ones who do it badly do it badly in ways you cannot see for five years.
Standing seam hides its fasteners under the seam. Exposed-fastener panel is cheaper and relies on hundreds of neoprene washers that have to be revisited every decade or so.
Locally
Behind it: morning fog that sits on the roof until mid-morning. Damp that arrives every morning and leaves by lunchtime is worse for a roof than rain, because nothing ever fully dries between one and the next.
About metal roofing here
I rent. Can I use this?
You can submit it, but the owner has to authorise any work, so the useful move is to get the landlord to make the request or to give you permission in writing first. Contractors will not start work for a tenant.
How many contractors will contact me?
Up to three. That is a hard cap, not a guideline. Three is enough to compare and few enough that your phone stays usable.
Do you handle commercial buildings?
We do. It is a different set of contractors — commercial and low-slope work is a separate trade from residential re-roofing — so answering the property question accurately matters.
Should I repair or replace?
Rough rule: if the covering has more than about five years left and the damage is confined to one area, repair. If it is at the end of its life or you are patching the third leak in two years, you are paying instalments on a replacement.