Friday, January 1, 2010

Understanding Standing Seam Metal Roofing

By Jack Hanley

Understanding standing seam metal roofing can help you to better take advantage of the benefits it has to offer. This roofing is one of the most durable types on the market. It's also easily sustainable, and eco-friendly. A service expectancy of three to four decades can be expected when it's installed correctly. Common sense may tell you, but many still don't seem to grasp it, that whenever you are mounting equipment onto your roof, you have to be very cautious about penetrating the membrane.

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.

The success of your roofing job is going to be realized in the way you deal with the membrane. Some installers seem to not be aware of this, and see the metal as a good place to fasten and secure things. The roof integrity or thermal-cycling traits never enter their minds. So it's a good idea, if you plan to have one of these roofs put on, to check with the crew and make sure that they know about protecting it when they attach things to it.

This is what makes standing seam metal roofing so great. They've created a seam-clamping hardware to grip the seam without putting a puncture into the membrane. The seam acts like a 'beam' in order to provide a solid and convenient way to anchor things like solar panels or walkways without compromising the integrity of the roof. These clamps allow you to secure objects to the seam and maintain roof integrity, as well as the thermal-cycling factors. And they do it with excellent strength.

As much as we would like, there are times when you simply can't avoid penetrating the membrane. This is usually done with things like HVAC or plumbing vents. When attaching these types of equipment, there's just no way to avoid penetrating the roof. Now you need to focus on maintaining a waterproof seal and maintain the thermal-cycling characteristics of the roof. If done properly, you an avoid the problems that we've been discussing.

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.

I hope this article gave you a little insight into standing seam metal roofing and what's involved in installing it. They are a very useful creation for roofs that call for attachments that need support. And when done properly, they can give you the support you need, with the durability and strength that they were made for. - 16890

About the Author:

No comments: