We waited for the afternoon shade to start the metal roofing. The roof we chose is ASC Skyline, one of many reputable brands of standing seam concealed fastener roofing. I really like standing seam roofing because it’s reasonably priced, easy to install, lasts forever, and when you no longer trust it on your house it’s easy to remove and it can live another twenty years on your chicken coop or toolshed.
The right choice for this low slope application is actually the taller standing seam roofing but we didn’t want to wait 6 weeks to have it made and as long as we stay committed to keeping the roof free of debris, it should be fine in this climate. If we change our mind it’s easy to replace.
Standing seam can be applied on any width of roof but if you plan your build to work with it you can save a lot of grief especially when you’re likely going to be working with just tin snips and pliers as opposed to professional metal shearing and bending tools. Basically you want to plan your roof width to be the same width as the panel spacing and then add an inch for the nailing flange (which you will cut off at the edge but you still need to plan for it.) For us this meant building a 105” wide roof deck and getting there with 6ea 12 inch wide panels and 2ea 16 inch wide panels.
Flashing details can be kind of intimidating for the first timer but the nice thing about a simple roof like this is that with enough YouTube videos and the installation manual, you can probably figure it out. That’s the cool thing about simple structures in general is that building something like a tiny house it’s just a great introduction to all aspects of house construction at a scale that is both approachable and affordable.
Tip: For a small project like this you can totally get away with a block of hardwood with a tablesaw kerf cut into it if you don’t want to spend the money for a real sheet metal bending tool.
– Brian
