Metal Roofing in North Florida, From the Roofer Who Mostly Does Metal

Asphalt shingles were not designed for Putnam County. The sun cooks them: the oils bake out, the granules wash into the gutters, and the mat goes brittle years early. A metal panel does not dry out, does not grow the black Gloeocapsa magma streaks shingles grow in our humidity, and sheds pine needles instead of holding them.

Wind is the big one. A standing seam panel is fastened to the deck along its whole length with clips or a nail strip, not at a few spots along a seal strip. The panels we install carry Florida Product Approvals and, most of them, Miami-Dade Notices of Acceptance. Many insurers have gotten picky about older shingle roofs, and a new metal roof installed to current code, on a re-nailed deck with a secondary water barrier, gives a wind mitigation inspector (form OIR-B1-1802) good things to write down. Ask your agent what that does for your premium.

Then there is the heat. A light colored metal roof reflects sunlight that a black shingle roof soaks up. One customer, Amanda B., wrote that her new roof was "such an upgrade from the black, heat absorbing shingles." We wrote a whole post on which metal roof color is the most energy efficient in Florida.

And metal lasts. The old JM Roofing website put it plainly: get a roof that will weather Florida's harsh conditions, and one you will not have to replace. Our metal roof versus shingles comparison goes deeper, and our asphalt shingle roofing page makes the honest case for shingles where they fit.

Tri County Metals rolls its panels in Florida, with locations in Ocala, DeLand and Jacksonville inside our service area, so the metal on your house was made and picked up in state.

5V Crimp. The classic Florida panel, the one on every old cracker house and fish camp from Welaka to Crescent City. 24 inch net coverage, exposed fasteners, in 26 or 24 gauge steel or .032 aluminum. Right for a historic house in Palatka or a porch roof, and still a serious roof: Florida Product Approval FL 36904.2 and Miami-Dade NOAs in both steel and aluminum.

Ultra Rib. The exposed fastener rib panel, 29 or 26 gauge. This is the working panel for barns, sheds, pole buildings and budget-minded houses, and its Florida approval covers installation over plywood, OSB, wood purlins and existing shingles, which is what makes a metal re-cover possible.

TCM-LOK. A nail strip standing seam. A strip built into one edge screws straight to the deck, and the next panel snaps over it and hides the fasteners. It comes in 1 inch and 1.5 inch rib heights, 26 or 24 gauge steel or .032 aluminum, striated, ribbed or flat. Most of our residential customers end up here: clean look, no exposed screws, reasonable price because it goes down fast.

SL-LOK and SS-LOK. Floating clip standing seams with 1.5 inch and 1.75 inch ribs. A clip holds the panel to the deck and lets it slide as the metal expands in the afternoon and shrinks at night. On a long run or a big open roof in full sun, that movement adds up and the clip is the better system. SL-LOK comes in 24 gauge and .032 aluminum; SS-LOK in 24 gauge and .040 aluminum.

MS-LOK. A mechanically seamed panel, 1.5 or 2 inch, 24 gauge. The seams are folded closed with a seaming machine after the panels are laid; Tri County Metals calls it the panel of choice for commercial projects. We use it on low-slope commercial roofs where a snap seam is not enough. PBR, a 26 gauge commercial and agricultural panel, covers the metal building and the hay barn.

Gauge, in plain terms: the lower the number, the thicker the metal. 29 gauge is fine on a shed, 26 gauge is our standard for a house, and 24 gauge is what we spec for standing seam and anything commercial.

Every panel we install carries a Florida Product Approval in the FL 36904 family, and most also hold a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance, per Tri County Metals' published approvals. All seven panels above are listed under FL 36904.2 over a wood deck, and 5V, Ultra Rib, PBR, TCM-LOK 1 inch, SL-LOK and MS-LOK also carry Miami-Dade NOAs. That means they are approved for use across Florida, including the Miami-Dade high velocity zone. Our counties are not in that zone and we do not pretend its rules apply here, but the approval numbers go on the permit and the inspector checks them. Tri County Metals' approved underlayments, HydraShell MAX and MFM Ultra HT among them, go under the panels the same way.

The coating is half the roof, and Tri County Metals offers four systems.

Max Defender is a 70 percent PVDF coating (Sherwin-Williams Fluropon), the one Tri County Metals recommends for hot and humid conditions and the usual finish on standing seam. Core Defender is a silicone-modified polyester, the standard on exposed fastener panels like Ultra Rib and 5V; its cool colors have solar reflective formulations that bring down the surface temperature of the roof.

Coastal Defender is PVDF over aluminum, and it exists for one reason: salt. Tri County Metals specifies it for roofs within 1500 feet of the coast or a salty or brackish water body. That covers the beach side of Palm Coast, St. Augustine and Daytona Beach, and the brackish stretches of the Intracoastal and the river. If your house is on that kind of water, we will say so and price the aluminum.

Mill Finish is unpainted: acrylic coated Galvalume AZ55, silver metallic aluminum, or Regal White. It is the look on a lot of old Florida barns.

All four are backed by Tri County Metals' limited paint and finish warranty, registered at warranty.tricountymetals.com. That is the manufacturer's warranty on the coating, not a promise we make ourselves.

Every color below is on a roof we installed or on Tri County Metals' color chart.

Copper Penny. A customer in a waterfront house with a pool cage and a boat dock chose it, and Margie J. wrote that she picked "copper penny for its classic beauty."

Bright red. We put a bright red standing seam on a house with several gables and a cupola, and from the drone it belongs on a postcard.

Galvalume and silver. The tin roof look, on a cream house with a cupola under the oaks and on a canal-front house with palms. Reflective, classic, never dated.

Light gray and charcoal. Light gray is our most common residential color lately: the red brick two-story with three dormers that anchors our gallery, the cream house with the wraparound porch, a single-story house with a matching outbuilding. Charcoal is the darker, sharper cousin for owners who want contrast.

Blue. A long commercial roof we re-covered in bright blue standing seam, the seams running straight away under a cumulus sky.

Polar White. On Tri County Metals' chart and in their list of the most reflective colors, alongside Ash Gray and Light Stone.

Tania can send photos of past jobs in the colors you are considering.

Tri County Metals' Ultra Rib approval covers installation over existing shingles, and a re-cover is a real option: less mess, less landfill, and a lower bill because there is no tear-off. It works when there is one layer of shingles, the deck is flat and sound, and the building department signs off.

The case for a tear-off is everything you cannot do through a layer of shingles. You cannot see the deck, re-nail it to current code, put a secondary water barrier on bare wood, or fix the rot around a chimney you did not know was there. Juan will poke at the soft spots and tell you straight. Most of our roof replacements are tear-offs, but not all.

Deck. Old roofing comes off (or stays, on a re-cover), and every sheet of decking gets walked, checked and re-nailed to the current Florida Building Code. Rotten plywood gets replaced, not covered.

Underlayment. Under metal we want a high temperature self-adhered underlayment, because a metal roof runs hotter than shingles and an ordinary peel-and-stick will slump. This layer is also your secondary water barrier.

Eave and drip edge. Trim goes on first at the eaves, then the panels lap over it so water runs into the gutter and not behind the fascia.

Panels. Exposed fastener panels like 5V and Ultra Rib are screwed through the face with gasketed screws at the manufacturer's spacing. Standing seam goes down with the nail strip or with clips, and the fasteners disappear under the next panel.

Trim, ridge and boots. Gable trim, sidewall and headwall flashing at every wall, a ridge cap with closure strips under it, and a pipe boot made for metal at every plumbing vent.

Clean up. Magnets for screws and cut-offs, the yard raked, and a walk-around with you before the truck leaves.

A metal roof costs more up front than shingles. That is the trade for not doing this again. JM Roofing offers three financing plans through Regions Bank and EnerBank: 9 months same as cash, 9.99% for 5 years and 9.99% for 12 years. Each has its own prequalification link on our financing page, and you can get pre-qualified with no impact to your credit score.

Home turf is Putnam County: Pomona Park, Crescent City, Satsuma, Welaka, San Mateo, East Palatka, Interlachen and Palatka itself. From there we work the whole region, from Jacksonville and St. Augustine down the coast to Palm Coast and Daytona Beach, inland to DeLand, and west to Ocala and Lake City. The full list is on our service areas page. Our residential roofing page covers the house side in more detail.