Are Metal Roofs Better In Winter?

Amidst a particularly bitter midwinter, it is important to be prepared for strong winds, hail, severe storms and snowfall, and the most important part of this preparation is knowing your roof can handle the conditions.

Fortunately, galvanised corrugated roofing sheets provide a cost-effective, robust solution that protects a building even from weather that in the UK can often come by surprise.

This makes them, in more than a few circumstances, a better choice for handling harsh winters than a more conventional shingle roof.

The first part of this is down to the metal itself; snow glides off of the metal surface into either the gutters or the ground.

This can, in instances of exceptionally heavy snowfall cause problems with what has been described as the “avalanche effect” where snow on the roof builds up and falls to the ground in a heavy and potentially hazardous clump.

This tends to be exceptionally rare in the UK, but if you are at all concerned with this, then a simple solution is to add snow breaks that will control the flow of snow off a roof.

Whilst this glide is helpful, the strength and durability of a metal roof mean that snow accumulation is not as significant an issue as it can be for shingled roofs, where a build-up of snow can cause damage to shingles or even potentially compromise the entire roof’s integrity.

As well as this, some metal roof designs are made with insulation in mind, which stops warm air from escaping and helps to avoid increased heating bills during a time when the energy cap has increased by orders of magnitude.

As long as the gutters are kept clear so that melting snow can easily slide down and you brush the snow away from corners and ridges where it can sometimes get caught depending on the roof’s design, a metal roof is a much better option from November until March.