Understanding Standing Seam Metal Roofing

By Jack Hanley

It's good to know some facts about standing seam metal roofing if you're considering using it on your roof. There are a lot of benefits to be enjoyed by this type of roofing. In the first place, it's one of the most durable forms of roofing available. You can expect three to four decades of good service from this type of roofing. The thing that needs to be watched, is for installers to be aware of the costly mistake of penetrating the membrane of your roof.

The experts say to always attach as few things as possible to the roof. This can save you plenty of headaches down the line. But there are circumstance when you have no choice but to attach some equipment to your roof. If the installers know what they're doing, then there are little tricks that will enable them to attach the equipment and maintain roof integrity. No matter if it's lightning protective gear, or HVAC equipment, or solar panels, it can all be put on in a proper manner and leave you with a solid problem-free roof.

Protecting the membrane of the roof is key, and the number one goal when attaching rooftop equipment. For some reason, many workers seem to feel that a metal roof offers a good secure way to anchor things down, so they violate the metal roof's integrity and attach things by penetrating the sheet. But if they know what they're doing, there are lots of ways to attach things to the roof without penetrating and compromising the roofing.

Improvements have been made to standing seam metal roofing that really has enhanced it's attachment capabilities. It now contains seam-clamps, which act like little beams, that you can use to attach and secure objects on the rooftop. Walkways and things like solar panels are easily attached without losing any roof integrity. These clamps will help in securing things to the seam and keep the thermal-cycling traits protected.

Like we've said, there are times when you just can't get around penetrating the membrane. This could be in a case where you want to attach some HVAC equipment or some plumbing vents. There's just no way to mount them and not puncture the roof. So with these, you need to focus on installing a waterproof seal that will assist in keeping the thermal-cycling traits intact.

The information above was for dealing with regular mounting. But there are times when you need to mount something that's a bit heavier than that. This calls for mounting to a galvanized steel frame. This structure will have legs made from round pipe, that penetrated the roof and attach to supporting structure below the roof. This mounting will be stationary. There may be, depending on the structure's weight, ways to still attach the support frame to seam clamps and do away with the pipes all together.

Whenever you use round shapes that penetrate the roof, you should flash them with EPDM rubber pipe flashing. Most people use the black color due to its proven UV resistance. You simply stretch the rubber over the pipe and then add a stainless steel clamp at the top for extra hold, much like securing the radiator hose on your car. When you attach the flashing, be sure that it gets anchored only to the roof panel and not to the main structure of the building.

This is just a little insight into standing seam metal roofing and a few of the things that need to be considered during installation. This type of roofing is a really good invention, and has really helped out in the ability to maintain roof integrity. You can find out plenty more by going online and using your favorite search engine. You'll find that they all agree, that this type of roofing is known for durability and strength, and good protection against roof integrity. - 33387

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