Design
Metal Building Roof Styles: Regular vs. Boxed-Eave vs. Vertical
The roof style you pick changes how a metal building sheds rain and ice, how it looks beside your house, and what it costs. Here's how the three styles compare.
Read moreThe right metal roof for an Arkansas building drains fast, resists heat and humidity, and comes with a written coating warranty. Four decisions get you there: the pitch, the panel profile, the color, and the warranty behind the paint. Make them in that order and the roof will keep working long after the color stops being the interesting part.
1. Pitch: steeper drains faster
Pitch is how steep the roof is. A steeper roof sheds water and ice faster and gives you more height inside at the ridge. A lower pitch is cheaper to build and simpler to walk on. For most Arkansas buildings, pitch should be set around drainage first, because standing water is what shortens a roof’s life. Ice storms are the tiebreaker: a steeper roof clears them sooner.
2. Panel profile: ribs that carry water
Metal panels come in different rib shapes and depths. Deeper ribs carry more water and resist the slight waviness, often called oil-canning, that can show on wide flat panels in August heat. The profile works together with the roof style: on a vertical roof the ribs run ridge to eave and act as channels; on a regular or boxed-eave roof they run sideways, so the profile is more about looks than drainage.
3. Color: heat and dirt
Color is partly taste and partly physics. Lighter roof colors reflect more sun and keep an uninsulated building a little cooler in July. Darker colors hide dirt and look sharp against trim. Our dark brown and white pairing is popular for both reasons, and panel and trim colors can be mixed. See how to choose metal building colors for combinations that work.
4. The paint warranty: get it in writing
A painted steel panel is only as good as its coating. Ask what the paint warranty covers and for how long, in writing. Ours covers panel coatings against chalk, fade, chip, and rust perforation for 40 years. That document is worth more than any color sample.
Exposed-fastener or standing-seam?
Most steel buildings use exposed-fastener panels, where screws with sealing washers hold the panels down. They’re economical and proven. Standing-seam roofs hide the fasteners under raised seams and cost more. For a carport, garage, shop, or barndominium shell, exposed-fastener panels with the right trim details are the standard choice. Whichever you pick, read what causes metal roof problems so you know what to check each year.
Putting it together
Decide what the building is for, pick the roof style that drains best for its size, choose a profile that suits that orientation, and then pick the color. Metal Dreams specs all four for your site when you request a free estimate.
