Whittier, CA
Is a metal roof worth it here?
Metal has stopped being the agricultural option and started being the one people choose on purpose. The install quality still varies enormously.
Describe the metal roofing job
Three questions, then the address. Up to three Whittier contractors who do this work.
You are on the list.
No provider in Whittier is taking requests through this service yet. We are lining them up, and yours is kept until one can.
- Nobody gets your details yet. Your request stays with us and is not passed to any company.
- One email when someone can help. When a provider covering your area can take it on, we email you once and ask whether you want that company, by name, to contact you.
- Deleted after 90 days. If nobody can take it on, or you do not say yes, your contact details are deleted 90 days after your request.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
Nobody will call you about this request unless you say yes to a company by name.
Before you let anybody on the roof
The things worth pinning down on a metal roofing job. A contractor who has not raised them has not looked properly.
- How valleys, ridges and penetrations are detailed
- Whether the crew installs metal regularly or occasionally
- Standing seam or exposed fastener, and why
- How the panels are allowed to expand and contract
- Panel gauge and the coating warranty
Not every roofer installs metal, and the ones who do it badly do it badly in ways you cannot see for five years.
Standing seam hides its fasteners under the seam. Exposed-fastener panel is cheaper and relies on hundreds of neoprene washers that have to be revisited every decade or so.
Noise is the question everybody asks. Over a solid deck with underlayment, a metal roof is not meaningfully louder than shingle. Over open purlins it very much is.
Locally
Then, less dramatically: the marine layer keeping the north slope damp. Slopes that never get direct sun stay wet for hours after the fog burns off, and that is where moss, lifted shingles and soft decking start.
About metal roofing here
Should I take the cheapest quote?
Not automatically. Put the quotes side by side on layers, not on totals — underlayment, ice-and-water, drip edge, valley treatment, ventilation, decking allowance, warranty. Cheap usually means less of those, not the same roof for less money.
I have solar panels. What happens to them?
Panels have to be detached and reset. Budget for it separately and coordinate the two trades. Never put a new solar array on a roof with under ten years left.
Why three quotes and not one?
Because one price tells you nothing. Three tells you where the middle is, and the outliers are informative in both directions — the very cheapest is usually leaving something out, and the most expensive should be able to say what you are getting for it.
I rent. Can I use this?
Only the owner can approve roofing work. If you are renting, the fastest route is to send this to your landlord or property manager rather than gathering quotes nobody can act on.
Get the roof looked at
Free, no obligation, and your details go to no company until you say yes.