Someone posted a question in one of our popular blog posts, "Pros and Cons of Going Over Existing Roof Material." Essentially, she had received conflicting advice from several different roofers regarding her failing composition shingle roof, and she was trying to make a decision between tearing off the existing shingles and replacing them with new shingles or upgrading to metal and going over what's already on her roof. Here's our advice to her and to anyone else debating their options when it comes to re-roofing.

We recently got a fantastic question in the comments section of our post, "A Rustic, Natural Metal Roof - Made to Order." Here was the original comment and question:

The owners of this northern California winery wanted to re-hab the roof of the century old home that was the most interesting of all of the buildings on the property. They wanted something that would preserve the architectural feel, be aesthetically consistent and feature all of the benefits of a modern metal roof. 

We received an inquiry the other day with a question in the comments form that essentially asked whether a metal roof "catches" more heat than a non-metal roof, making the home underneath warmer.

We received a question on our "Best Colors for Metal Roofing" post recently, and it was a good one. Essentially, we were asked whether someone can purchase a metal shingle roof that emulates slate by randomly mixing different colors.

We were contacted by an acquaintance of a client who was having our finished steel diamonds installed on their new custom home. This acquaintance was immediately taken with how distinctive and unique the roof looked and contacted us to do something similar for her Marin County, CA, home.

We're routinely asked for samples of our metal roofing materials. Architects, designers, homeowners - it seems like everyone wants to hold a piece of metal roofing to get a better sense of how the finished product will appear on the roof, after all is said and done. And while we absolutely understand the logic of this, it's actually kind of faulty. It all comes down to perspective. The difference between holding a single metal roofing tile or shake or shingle or panel in your hands and standing on the ground, looking up at the finished installation of a roof in that same material and profile can't be stressed enough. Differences include your line of sight, the overall affect of the interlocked pieces, the distance from the roof to the ground and the aesthetic influence of the building's architectural elements and colors on the finished installation.

Here's a video of the custom natural steel roof we wrote about in a previous post. The customer wanted something that would effectively mimic the texture and depth of wood shakes, but with none of the fire hazards associated with that material. Given the heavily wooded setting of this home, it's a wise choice.

We were fortunate enough to have been approached by a gentleman with a very interesting and unusual home nearly a year ago. He knew that his wood shakes were near the end of their lives and he was adding an addition, so he was shopping for a new roof. As you can see by the photo below, his home is architecturally unique and he was seeking a roof material that was eclectic and distinctive to complement this forest retreat.