Just a thought, this drizzly morning, inspired by the surprisingly high volumes of clean water we’re harvesting from our roof.
The thing is, our roof is a bit different to most houses. Its made of tin. High-tech, specially profiled, chemically treated and coated, but a tin roof none the less. We had it installed and have been living under it for a few years now, and first-hand experience of its performance in pretty much all weather conditions that will affect the UK. -20 to +35C Rain, persistent drizzle, hail, snow, ice, hurricane force winds, and dry dusty summers.
Our experience is totally positive and we’d recommend it to anyone looking at a new-build or refurbing and old roof, especially if you expect to have to endure extreme weather conditions.
Here’s why:
Water-tightness
100%. No leaks whatsoever
Wind resistance
Very good, better than any tiled roof I’ve ever had.
Water shedding
Excellent, and the quality of the water is very good indeed as few impurities are introduced from the roof itself. We can successfully rainwater harvest light drizzle, even morning dew in summer ( our roof can capture 5 or 6 litres of dew on a single night in summer)
Snow shedding
Very good. A little too good in fact. In our highland region heavy snow is still an annual feature. Rainwater gutters have to be sited below the plane of the roof ( preferred method on a new-build so that shedding snow does not rip them off.
Heat transfer
The loft has a vapour barrier (Tyvek) and ridge ventilated. Its what is known as a cold loft. Heat and cold in the loft are about the same as under the previous heavily tiled roof. The only difference is the faster temperature fluctuation under the tin roof.
Loft ventilation and drying
As above the roof is ventilated along its ridge, with vapour barrier below the roof surface. This has created a very dry loft space. In fact we have discovered that the loft is now a great place to dry clothes or foodstuffs even when not possible outdoors due to bad weather conditions.
Weight loading
This roof has taken a huge load of our roofing timbers. The sheet weigh less than 10% of the tiles it replaces, and because it sheds snow so effectively, it also reduces the weight of snow loading.
Longevity
The roof is guaranteed for 50 years, which is will probably outlive us.
Noise
There was a lot of speculation about this roof being noisy under rainfall. Well, its not. Yes, there is some noise, but no more than under the old tiled roof. We suspect that some people have had a noise issue on very low pitched roofs as rain would strike at a steeper angle , transferring more energy and noise, maybe. In windy conditions the tin roof is much quieter than the old tiled one as its much smoother to wind-flow. The only noise that we get is as it expands and contracts with heat from the sun. This is insignificant though.
Speed and ease of installation
Surprisingly, the profiled tin sheets are made to measure. Well cut to measure actually. Each sheet is the full length of the roofing surface from ridge to eaves, so there are no joints horizontally across the roof, just vertically between each overlapping sheet. So installation is fast. Sheets are hauled into place, aligned and then bolted to the underlying rafters with special water-tight bolts using electric screwdrivers. Each sheet took 15 to 20 minutes to install on our roof. The complications arise if the roof has complex shape as a degree on on-site metalwork is needed to tailor the sheets to fit. For DIY fit, its best suited to simple, straight apex roofs.
Security:
One of the easiest ways into even the best secured house is simply to lift roofing tiles and enter through the loft. Modern tin roofs are very resistant to this sort of attack, kind of resembling a bolted down scaly lizard skin surface.
Fire resistance:
Pretty much perfect, especially in consideration of any sparks that might get emitted from the chimney. The tin surface is pretty much inflammable and because its air-tight would keep any such spark out of the loft space. Incidentally we also clad our chimneys in matching metal sheet as part of the whole roof refurb. This has the effect of protecting the brickwork and mortar of the chimneys from the weather.
Aesthetics / Appearance
Whenever we tell friends that we have put a tin roof on our house they immediately cringe, at the mental image of pre-war corrugated rusty iron roofs. When they see it they are very surprised, as to an untrained eye the roof appears pretty much identical to normal tiled roofs. See link.
Cost
This is not a cheap product. It needs to be considered as a modern high-tech roofing system that will last, and indeed is guaranteed for the rest of our lives. With that line of thinking, its cost which is pretty much the same as tiles, became more appealing.
Here’s a link to the product:
http://www.ruukkiroofs.com/Roofing-produ...steel-roof
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