Roofing Contractor in West Hanover Township, PA

Farmhouses, barns and new subdivisions

The agricultural building stock is its own discipline. Farmhouses with steep pitches and long histories of additions, bank barns with enormous roof areas, equipment sheds and outbuildings — nearly all of which are best served by metal for practical and economic reasons.

The residential subdivisions are more familiar: late-century and modern homes with asphalt roofs, complex geometry and the standard ventilation problems.

The exposure here is significant. Open agricultural land offers no wind break, so a farmhouse in the middle of a field takes gusts a suburban house in a development never sees. Roof edges and outbuilding roofs are the first casualties.

• Farmhouses with steep pitches and layered additions
• Bank barns and outbuildings best served by metal
• Modern subdivision housing along the main corridors
• Open-country wind exposure with no natural break

Metal on agricultural buildings, done properly

There is a right way and a fast way to put metal on a barn, and the difference shows up in about six years. Exposed-fastener panels are the economical choice on agricultural buildings and they work — provided the screws are driven to the correct depth, into purlins rather than air, with washers that seat without being crushed.

Overdriven screws crush the washer and start leaking almost immediately. Underdriven screws leave a gap. And a panel run over rotted purlins will pull its fasteners out in the first serious wind. We check the substructure before we quote, because on an agricultural roof the framing is frequently the actual job.

On farmhouses, the priorities are the same as any older home: proper flashing at masonry, real ice and water shield at the eaves, and ventilation that accounts for whatever additions and alterations a century has produced.