Metal roof or shingles? What makes sense in the valley and on the Ridge
The honest answer depends on where the house is. The same roof that is overkill on a Chico ranch house is the obvious choice on a cabin at Butte Meadows. Here is how the two compare on the things that matter here.
Cost and life
Composition shingle costs less up front and lasts twenty-five to thirty years. Standing seam metal costs roughly two to three times as much installed and lasts forty to sixty. Screw-down metal sits between them in price, lasts as long as standing seam, and needs its fasteners redone around year fifteen. Over forty years, metal usually comes out cheaper; over ten, shingle does.
Snow, fire and sun
Snow slides off metal and sits on shingles. On the Ridge above Paradise, at Butte Meadows and around Lake Almanor, that alone decides it for many people; it also means snow guards over doors. Both are Class A, so the fire code is indifferent, but metal does not hold embers in a granule surface and sheds needles. In the valley heat, a painted metal roof in a light colour reflects more than any shingle and meets the cool roof rule without an exception; a rated shingle gets close.
The rest
Noise: over a solid deck and an insulated attic, metal is no louder than shingle. Hail dents it; we get little. Walking on it is harder, which matters if you clean your own gutters. Shingles are easier to repair and easier to match. Insurance carriers like metal in the fire zones. Buyers in Chico expect shingle; buyers at the lake expect metal.
Common questions
Over one layer on a sound deck, usually yes. It is one of the ways metal closes the price gap, because the tear-off goes away.
In Chico, Durham, Oroville and Gridley, a good architectural shingle is the right roof for most houses. Above Paradise and in snow country, metal. On a house you plan to keep for thirty years anywhere, metal pays for itself.
Have a question about your own roof?
Say what the roof is doing, what kind of roof it is if you know, and which town you are in. We call back to talk it through and set a time to look at it. If water is coming in right now, skip the form and call.