Aluminum Roofing Choices: Standing Seam, Screw-Down and Shingles
The prices below are HomeGuide's national installed figures. No source publishes aluminum prices for Jackson alone.
Standing Seam in Aluminum Sheet
Aluminum standing seam runs $10 to $18 per square foot installed. The seams interlock over hidden clips, so there are no screws through the face of the panel, and HomeGuide notes the panels can expand and contract as temperatures swing. It's the aluminum system to ask about for the main roof of a house.
Exposed-Fastener Aluminum Sheet
Screw-down aluminum panels cost $7 to $13 per square foot installed. They're fastened through the face with screws and washers, and HomeGuide's own guide steers them toward sheds, farm buildings and outbuildings rather than homes in heavy-rain areas, since every screw is a possible leak. If you do use them, the screws have to be aluminum or stainless. A galvanized screw in an aluminum sheet corrodes, as the fastener section below explains.
Stamped Aluminum Shingles and Shakes
Interlocking aluminum shingles cost $7 to $16 per square foot installed. They're embossed to look like slate, wood shake or clay tile, and the interlock hides the fasteners. Deeper, more detailed embossing costs more. Like steel metal shingles, they need a pitch of at least 3:12; the slope rules are on low slope metal roof.
Insulated Aluminum Panels
Insulated panels sandwich a high-density foam core between two aluminum skins. HomeGuide puts them at $17 to $21 per square foot installed and says they're most often made in a standing seam style. The guide says the foam reduces heat moving through the roof.
Aluminum Where It Touches Brick, Steel or Copper
The Metal Construction Association lists the materials aluminum doesn't get along with. Copper "has a very severe corrosive effect" on it. Wet mortar, concrete and stucco are strongly alkaline and attack aluminum. Graphite from a carpenter's pencil is "extremely corrosive" to it. On a brick house, the bulletin's advice is to finish any masonry work before the roof goes on, and to keep copper runoff off aluminum entirely.
Why Jackson homeowners call Jackson Metal Roofing Pros
- One independent metal roofer gets your request, not a call list
- A free measure, deck check and written estimate
- Ask for panel system, gauge and paint finish in writing
- The roofing permit is part of the scope: ask who pulls it
- No charge to the property owner for the referral
Aluminum Roofing Thickness, Fasteners and Dents
Aluminum's weak spot is impact. HomeGuide says it's softer than steel and more prone to denting from hail or falling limbs, and that hail-prone areas may need thicker, more expensive panels. Hinds County sees hail in most years (the storm record is on metal roof hail damage), and water oaks and pines drop limbs in wind. So the thickness is the first number to read on an aluminum bid:
Thickness
At least 0.024 inch for roll-formed panels and 0.019 inch for press-formed shingles, by code. Ask whether a heavier sheet is offered and what it adds.Fasteners
The code's default fasteners for metal roofs include stainless steel. The MCA bulletin gives the classic failure: a galvanized nail in an aluminum roof loses its zinc fast and rusts, while an aluminum nail in a galvanized roof poses no problem.Hail rating
If hail resistance matters, ask whether the exact product carries a UL 2218 rating. The rating classes are explained on FORTIFIED roof.
Aluminum Roofing Cost Against Steel
HomeGuide puts aluminum roofing at $7 to $18 per square foot installed. For comparison, its Galvalume figures run $500 to $1,300 per square (100 square feet) installed, depending on the panel. Aluminum's selling point is corrosion resistance, and HomeGuide notes it's most recommended near the coast. In Jackson, a coated steel roof is usually the cheaper route, and aluminum earns its price in particular spots: a roof shaded and damp most of the year, a pool house, or a small roof where denting isn't a worry. The steel side of the comparison is on Galvalume metal roof.
Aluminum Roofing Lines for the Written Quote
System and product name
Standing seam, screw-down, shingle or insulated panel.Alloy thickness
In thousandths of an inch, not a steel gauge number.Paint finish
The resin type and the paint maker's published fade and chalk terms.Fasteners and clips
Aluminum or stainless, named on the quote.Flashing metal
Aluminum or another compatible metal where it meets the panels.Old roof
Tear-off or recover; HomeGuide adds $1 to $5 per square foot for removal.