Anyone have "Decra metal shingles" on their home?

   / Anyone have "Decra metal shingles" on their home? #1  

Dargo

Super Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2004
Messages
5,974
Location
S. IN
Tractor
Jinma, Foton, TYM, Belarus, Yanmar, Branson, Montana, Mahindra and maybe some green and orange too.
After over 6 weeks of trying to get someone to show up to replace my roof that was destroyed in a storm, I'm starting to branch out to construction crews outside my local area to get my roof replaced. Yesterday I had an Amish crew show up and show me these metal shingles that looked just like regular shingles once you were past about 3' away from them. Here's a link to them Decra metal shingles. Metal Roofing Materials | Graber Post Buildings, Inc. A regular raised rib roof like on my barns is not an option for my house. With that being the case, I'd pretty well ruled out metal roofing.

I'm not sold on going this route by any means, but now I think this is an option I may consider. Anyone have any experience with them? I've asked around but haven't gotten any feedback yet. Everything 'sounds' good about them; 120mph guarantee, no mold or mildew, 50 year warranty, no bugs or rot etc., but I've only seen them in pictures and one small sample. Granted, the small sample looked more like a regular dimensional roof than I expected, but I'd love to hear from someone who has them. Anyone?
 
   / Anyone have "Decra metal shingles" on their home? #2  
My neighbor next door had someone come to his house to talk about these. He was quoted a price of about $18,000 for the roof of his 2000 square foot ranch home.
 
   / Anyone have "Decra metal shingles" on their home? #3  
Have you been to Fine Home Building or Journal of Light Constructions websites? Both are full of guys in the trades and they talk about products all the time.

Forums | Breaktime

JLC-Online Forums - Powered by vBulletin

As for metal shingles, I'm not a fan because I've never seen a roof with them that didn't look shiny or kind of funny looking. For what you pay for them, I would expect them to look really good once installed. It may be that I've only seen the lesser quality brands, and I don't know what they are, but it would be something that I would go see in person on a house before paying for them.

Eddie
 
   / Anyone have "Decra metal shingles" on their home? #4  
Dargo,

No direct experience on my part, but I did research Decra shingles a few years ago when I was was trying to decide on roofing materials for my farm shop. My farm house has metal (Cartwright?) shingles dating from the early 1940s and I thought I might try to match that look. As you mentioned, the standard Decra shingle looks like a standard fiberglass shingle from a distance, and so would not match the old metal shingle style.

I studied the Decra literature and it seemed to me that they had a well-thought out installation procedure that would prevent water leaks and wind damage.

If you are interested in something other than a "standard" shingle look, they have other styles, including shake and architectural shingles: DECRA Products - All Products - DECRA Roofing Systems

I don't remember the price I was quoted for the standard Decra shingles, but they are not inexpensive. But I think this is a case of you get what you pay for.

Just my :2cents:.

Steve
 
   / Anyone have "Decra metal shingles" on their home? #5  
I have a different brand Gerard Roofing Technologies - Stone Coated Steel Roofs. Had it installed in 1991 when I bought the house. They seemed popular at the time bacause a lot of houses in the neighborhood have them as replacements for the original wood shake roofs. It seems to be holding up well over the years, but I'm in Calif. so I don't have any "real" weather that would cause damage. They will bend if you step on them wrong so if you are one of those types of people that likes to get up on the roof (painting, antennas, x-mas lights, etc.) then that is something to consider.
 
   / Anyone have "Decra metal shingles" on their home?
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Have you been to Fine Home Building or Journal of Light Constructions websites? Both are full of guys in the trades and they talk about products all the time.

Forums | Breaktime

JLC-Online Forums - Powered by vBulletin

As for metal shingles, I'm not a fan because I've never seen a roof with them that didn't look shiny or kind of funny looking. For what you pay for them, I would expect them to look really good once installed. It may be that I've only seen the lesser quality brands, and I don't know what they are, but it would be something that I would go see in person on a house before paying for them.

Eddie

Thanks Eddie. I have not seen them installed other than the regular commercial raised ridge type, which won't work for me. My only observation was the single 2'X4' or so piece they had on a sample board did look more like a regular shingle than I expected. I don't think they would ever get shiny, but I have to wonder about rust where they have been cut. I think they are based on a galvanized piece of metal stamped to have the dimensional shape of a regular shingle. Would edges rust? Would there be rust streaks where they penetrated the material to affix it to my home?

Right now I'm just curious. There are still a lot of steps to go before I'd agree to use them. Unfortunately, I'm almost at the point of hiring an assistant and then taking 2 weeks off of work and just doing the job myself. A lot of the pitch is 12/12 and it's about a 70 or so square job. Clearly nothing I could do myself in a weekend. Still, with a reasonable sized job like that, I can't get anyone even remotely interested in trying to get the job. Heck, one company looked at it and said "That's more than we can handle right now" and wouldn't even give me a bid. Are small jobs that much more profitable? I'm used to the opposite; a larger job for a guaranteed nice income for a couple of weeks. I guess if they can gouge people for small single day jobs and be gone, that must be what they are doing. FWIW, not counting any price for these metal shingles, my estimates have ranged from $280 to $335 per sq. for a finished job.
 
   / Anyone have "Decra metal shingles" on their home? #7  
I cannot answer about the particular brand but we saw high end houses build in the late 90's using colored metal shingles. We liked them but did not use them on our house. I would guess, because they cost too much, but I cannot remember for sure. We went with a 40-50 year heavy asphalt shingle.

I drove by the houses with the metal shingles for a good decade, twice a day, and they still looked excellent. No rust. The paint looked very good.

There are still houses in our area that have to be close to the century mark with stamped metal shingles. Some have rusted and they have been painted over. Others have not been touched, and I assume do not leak, but they are looking a bit old at this point. :laughing:

Check the links Eddie provided. Both of those websites/magazines are well worth the time. I still subscribe to JLC. You can research reports on the websites even if you are not a member, at least you can on JLC. Some reports you can get for free but other you have to pay. Well worth the money if you find an article about the roof you are thinking of using. As Eddie suggested, the forums can be an excellent source of information as well.

Later,
Dan
 
   / Anyone have "Decra metal shingles" on their home? #8  
After over 6 weeks of trying to get someone to show up to replace my roof that was destroyed in a storm, I'm starting to branch out to construction crews outside my local area to get my roof replaced. Yesterday I had an Amish crew show up and show me these metal shingles that looked just like regular shingles once you were past about 3' away from them. Here's a link to them Decra metal shingles. Metal Roofing Materials | Graber Post Buildings, Inc. A regular raised rib roof like on my barns is not an option for my house. With that being the case, I'd pretty well ruled out metal roofing.

I'm not sold on going this route by any means, but now I think this is an option I may consider. Anyone have any experience with them? I've asked around but haven't gotten any feedback yet. Everything 'sounds' good about them; 120mph guarantee, no mold or mildew, 50 year warranty, no bugs or rot etc., but I've only seen them in pictures and one small sample. Granted, the small sample looked more like a regular dimensional roof than I expected, but I'd love to hear from someone who has them. Anyone?
They are fantastic with a very rich look. I've seen them a lot and on very expensive homes. High owner satisfaction
 
   / Anyone have "Decra metal shingles" on their home? #9  
As a Major building material Distributator in the North East, we sold Decra metal shingles for about 2 years, About 4 jobs were sold which i delivered. I believe i went out and picked up 3 out of the 4 jobs and replaced them with either asphalt or a metel roof panel. Customers said they looked "fake" or "junky" We scraped our entire inventory. I personally am sold on asphalt. You can get a "lifetime warantee" and very "high wind rating" now a days and besides asphalt is very easy to install your self and it cuts nicely too. Each year we move probably 200,000 square of asphalt shingles alone. One job was 2800 square so they cant be all that bad. Now remember this is my opinion . . . .John
 
   / Anyone have "Decra metal shingles" on their home? #10  
As a Major building material Distributator in the North East, we sold Decra metal shingles for about 2 years, About 4 jobs were sold which i delivered. I believe i went out and picked up 3 out of the 4 jobs and replaced them with either asphalt or a metel roof panel. Customers said they looked "fake" or "junky" We scraped our entire inventory. I personally am sold on asphalt. You can get a "lifetime warantee" and very "high wind rating" now a days and besides asphalt is very easy to install your self and it cuts nicely too. Each year we move probably 200,000 square of asphalt shingles alone. One job was 2800 square so they cant be all that bad. Now remember this is my opinion . . . .John

John, I live in a much more moderate climate - Northern California. Everyone seems pleased with them here. How do they hold up to roof walking in case repairs to skylights etc are needed??
 
 
Top