Ligonier is outbuilding country
Drive into Ligonier from any direction and you pass more screw-down metal than shingles — barns, machine sheds, shops. So the first thing to sort out here is that the shed roof and the house roof are different systems made of the same material.
The screw-down panel is an exposed-fastener system. Every screw goes through the face of the panel with a rubber washer under it, and those washers wear out around year ten to twelve. On a barn that is a fair trade. On the house you plan to keep, the washers are the whole story, and I steer people to a concealed-fastener system — a mechanically seamed standing seam on long simple runs and the low-slope sections over porches and additions, or an interlocking metal shingle on a steeper roof where you want it to read as shingles. We do not install exposed fastener under 4/12, on anything.
What the weather does here
This is the northern tier, so winter comes earlier and lingers longer than in Fort Wayne, with more snow in it. The damage is still the freeze and thaw: meltwater refreezing at the cold eave and backing up under whatever is on the roof. The membrane at the eave and the attic ventilation prevent that; the panel makes the consequences smaller. Wind has a long run across the fields here, which is where an exposed screw head shows its age first.
The houses
Ligonier's older homes in town have steeper roofs and additions — flashing work, and plank decking that has sometimes been wet. The farmhouses in the county are often a steep core with a lower-pitched addition off the back, which is exactly where a standard panel gets stretched past its minimum slope and leaks. Ask any contractor what their panel's minimum pitch is.
When I tell Ligonier homeowners not to do this
If you are selling in the next few years, good asphalt is the rational choice. If one flashing or one boot is leaking on a sound roof, that is a repair — we do not take repair calls. If you want the barn roof on the house because it is the cheapest metal, I will tell you why I would not, and then it is your call.
Where we are coming from
Ligonier is about 45 minutes from our Fort Wayne office, territory we are in regularly. Now you have the context to decide.
“We also serve surrounding towns and rural communities throughout Northeast Indiana, Northwest Ohio, and Southern Michigan within roughly a 90-minute drive of our Fort Wayne and Noblesville offices.”
