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TOPIC: Walking on Metal

metal roofing over open holes in the roof planks....

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I just had a metal roof installed with ridge venting. The roofer removed the old vents and did not patch the holes in the planks. He just installed the metal shingles right over the holes. The salesperson tells us this is acceptable "as long as the hole is small" stating that it is a metal roof and strong enough to stand on even if there is a hole in the roof. Is this true?
Guest User

10/13/2010
Should be fine if the hole is small enough.
Eric Novotny
An informed customer is the Best Customer!

10/14/2010
Generally speaking this can be done, yes.
Todd Miller
Isaiah Industries, Inc.

11/1/2010
You'll never know how much I appreciate the effort people like you put forth to answer questions for laymen like myself. Thank you for your time. I have a question about the above topic too. I live in a manufactured house near Albuquerque, NM (very dry, very windy), and my pitched, shingle roof has 10 louvers (plastic covers for 12" x 12" holes - 5 on each side). I'm installing 26 gauge metal roofing over the shingles, and a local roofing company suggested venting at the peak. I can't do this because there is a beam there, but I wonder if I can't just leave them open so that the air can run up the crease. It sounds like you're saying yes. However, if that's the case, I can't understand all the concern about possible leaks under metal roofing at all. Also, I have a number of venting pipes that are fitted at the tops with hardware which is wider than the pipe. How is this typically handled? is the pipe cut, and then re-riveted with a binding strip of some kind (or something)? Finally, is there any data about the long-term failure rate for the o-rings on the screws if they are properly installed (not squished)? It's hard to believe that anything could last forever in this hot, dry climate, and then the screws would provide a perfect path for snowmelt to enter the attic. Thank you again for your time.
Ken Best

12/5/2010
A ridge vent can still be cut on either side of the beam and covered with a proper width ridge cap if you want to vent through the ridge. You should be able to remove that vent cap via drilling out the rivets and just cut the metal to the dimension of the pipe penetration and then re-install the cap with some zip screws. The screw gaskets tend to hold up very well when installed properly.
Eric Novotny
An informed customer is the Best Customer!

12/6/2010