Metal roofing plus vaulted ceilings: Too noisy?
June 15, 2012 3:45 PM Subscribe
Metal roofing plus vaulted ceilings: Too noisy? It's time to re-roof and we're considering metal roofing among the possibilities. We're hesitant because the bedroom has a vaulted ceiling and we're worried about noise when it rains.
The main part of the living area is under a large, finished attic, and we're not worried about that. But the bedroom and office have vaulted ceilings, and wondering if weather noise will be too much. The house is adequately insulated, but probably not crazy-overdone, and the current roof is thick cedar shake. We don't really hear rain on the roof now.
We don't need dead silence, but would like to avoid real, actual...you know...noise. Banging, for instance, would be bad.
Please also share your general experiences with metal roofing, pluses, minuses, brands, things you wished you'd known beforehand, questions to ask, etc. USA, California.
The main part of the living area is under a large, finished attic, and we're not worried about that. But the bedroom and office have vaulted ceilings, and wondering if weather noise will be too much. The house is adequately insulated, but probably not crazy-overdone, and the current roof is thick cedar shake. We don't really hear rain on the roof now.
We don't need dead silence, but would like to avoid real, actual...you know...noise. Banging, for instance, would be bad.
Please also share your general experiences with metal roofing, pluses, minuses, brands, things you wished you'd known beforehand, questions to ask, etc. USA, California.
Best answer: Metal roofing is forever. Really. You might need to repaint it. Someday. Maybe.
I would use standing seam metal roof with the longest guarantee you can find on it. To make it quiet I would strip off the shakes (a horrible fire danger) to the roof deck. Than install those 4x8 sheets of Styrofoam with a radiant barrier toward the metal roof. Than put up some furring strips as needed by the roof design requirements. Install the metal roof (should be done by professionals even if you do the rest yourself). Enjoy a maintenance free, flame free roof and cooler house for...well quite a long time.
The Styrofoam panels will do three things. More insulation, provide a noise barrier and if installed properly will form another barrier to keep water out.
The radiant barrier will block heat from coming through the Styrofoam and damaging it or heating up your house and the reflective nature of the shiny painted metal will keep the house cooler all by itself.
posted by bartonlong at 4:24 PM on June 15, 2012 [4 favorites]
I would use standing seam metal roof with the longest guarantee you can find on it. To make it quiet I would strip off the shakes (a horrible fire danger) to the roof deck. Than install those 4x8 sheets of Styrofoam with a radiant barrier toward the metal roof. Than put up some furring strips as needed by the roof design requirements. Install the metal roof (should be done by professionals even if you do the rest yourself). Enjoy a maintenance free, flame free roof and cooler house for...well quite a long time.
The Styrofoam panels will do three things. More insulation, provide a noise barrier and if installed properly will form another barrier to keep water out.
The radiant barrier will block heat from coming through the Styrofoam and damaging it or heating up your house and the reflective nature of the shiny painted metal will keep the house cooler all by itself.
posted by bartonlong at 4:24 PM on June 15, 2012 [4 favorites]
I have a metal roof. Our ceilings aren't vaulted, and we do have insulation in the ceiling. We definitely hear rain on the roof, which we love -- nothing like being in a cozy house listening to the rain on the roof. Unless it's very, very hard rain, it's not distracting. Like, we don't have to turn the volume up on the radio or movie, or raise our voices when talking or anything. When we do have the occasional hard rain, it's definitely loud enough to be noticeable, kind of a bit of white noise. YMMV on tolerance for this sort of thing. Like I said, we actually consider it a benefit.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 4:24 PM on June 15, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by rabbitrabbit at 4:24 PM on June 15, 2012 [1 favorite]
I replaced the shake with a metal roof on my house almost 10 years ago. My house is one big vaulted ceiling and there is absolutely no sound level difference. It still just sounds like regular rain on a regular roof - and from what I saw when they ripped the old roof off, we don't have a whole lot of insulation up there.
I adore my metal roof. It might be the best home improvement we've ever done. Its been close to ten years and it looks exactly the same as the day it went on. Your can walk all over it to clean gutters etc and not worry about hurting it. Plus every year the fire marshal thanks us for putting a metal roof on since we live in a high fire danger area in CA.
If you want details of who did it and which brand we went with (we have an imitation shake look that a lot of people believe is real shake until they get up close), let me know.
posted by the_shrike at 4:26 PM on June 15, 2012 [1 favorite]
I adore my metal roof. It might be the best home improvement we've ever done. Its been close to ten years and it looks exactly the same as the day it went on. Your can walk all over it to clean gutters etc and not worry about hurting it. Plus every year the fire marshal thanks us for putting a metal roof on since we live in a high fire danger area in CA.
If you want details of who did it and which brand we went with (we have an imitation shake look that a lot of people believe is real shake until they get up close), let me know.
posted by the_shrike at 4:26 PM on June 15, 2012 [1 favorite]
Just wanted to confirm what the previous 3 posters have said, particularly bartonlong's points. Standing seam metal roof is the only material I'd consider. One house I built we used 3' wide Champion panels. They are very inexpensive and each panel covers so much area , we did the whole roof, valleys and all, in a few hours. Standing seam only covers 12", so the labor is more. But then you get no exposed fasteners, much preferred.
My feeling is that noisy metal roofs is "something people say". It may have been true once, or more dramatic as with the mobile home example. But on a modern, stick-built house I don't feel it deserves the reputation it has with some people.
posted by humboldt32 at 5:45 PM on June 15, 2012
My feeling is that noisy metal roofs is "something people say". It may have been true once, or more dramatic as with the mobile home example. But on a modern, stick-built house I don't feel it deserves the reputation it has with some people.
posted by humboldt32 at 5:45 PM on June 15, 2012
Peaked cathedral ceiling in the bedroom, 8 inches of foam insulation above that, standing seam metal roof above that. It's slightly louder than a shake or asphalt shingle roof. Very, very slightly. But, as rabbit rabbit says, rather cozy.
Honestly, a fantastic investment. I would recommend it.
posted by minervous at 6:10 PM on June 15, 2012
Honestly, a fantastic investment. I would recommend it.
posted by minervous at 6:10 PM on June 15, 2012
I grew up in an upstairs 'attic' style bedroom with sloped (but insulated) ceilings and metal roofing. It was loud when it rained, but not in an obnoxious way. I liked it. ymmv.
posted by geegollygosh at 6:15 PM on June 15, 2012
posted by geegollygosh at 6:15 PM on June 15, 2012
We converted a tiny attic into a tiny master bedroom., and right now my head is literally less than 24 inches from the metal roof surface.
Now, I can't compare it to shingles as we have only ever had a metal roof with the room up here, but I wouldn't call it excessively loud.
The important thing to know is that the sound of rain is far from a "clatter" - it's more of a "whoosh" - like being in the room beside the bathroom when the shower is running.
posted by davey_darling at 6:21 PM on June 15, 2012
Now, I can't compare it to shingles as we have only ever had a metal roof with the room up here, but I wouldn't call it excessively loud.
The important thing to know is that the sound of rain is far from a "clatter" - it's more of a "whoosh" - like being in the room beside the bathroom when the shower is running.
posted by davey_darling at 6:21 PM on June 15, 2012
Rain on a metal roof is a feature, not a bug.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 8:38 PM on June 15, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 8:38 PM on June 15, 2012 [5 favorites]
Rain isn't the problem on our metal roof. The problem is in the fall when acorns decide to take a noisy trip to the ground. With several oaks overhanging it's a hell of a racket, exactly the kind of thing that keeps one from sleeping soundly.
But if you don't have any overhanging trees I would go with it without reservation.
posted by Ookseer at 9:54 PM on June 15, 2012
But if you don't have any overhanging trees I would go with it without reservation.
posted by Ookseer at 9:54 PM on June 15, 2012
Make sure it's well insulated, saving you money and reducing noise.
posted by theora55 at 11:03 AM on June 16, 2012
posted by theora55 at 11:03 AM on June 16, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Carol Anne at 4:23 PM on June 15, 2012