Install Residential Metal Roofing
Most Nassau County homeowners thinking about residential metal roofing have two questions that come up pretty much every time: “What’s the actual process?” and “What happens to my house while you’re doing it?” You want to know what a proper job should look and feel like-from the first visit to the final cleanup-so you can spot shortcuts before they become problems.
I’m going to walk you through the whole thing, step by step, the same way I’d plan and install a metal roof on your lived-in home. Not a new build where everything is clean and straight. I’m talking about your cape with the weird dormer, your split with the low-slope addition, your colonial with the three layers of shingles someone thought was fine twenty years ago. We’re going to fix those issues alongside the new roof, because that’s how residential metal roofing actually works when you care about solving ice dams, hot attics, and making your house tighter.
The whole process breaks down into four main stages-inspection, tear-off and dry-in, panel installation, and final walk. Each one matters. Each one has moments where you can look at what’s happening and know whether you’re getting a quality job or not.
If we don’t start with how your house is built and how you live in it, the rest of the plan is guesswork.
Step 1: Walk the Attic and the Roof Before Talking Panels
On a typical 1950s cape in Levittown, I always start in the attic, not on the roof. I want to see how your trusses or rafters are framed, whether you’ve got enough insulation, how the ventilation’s working, and if there’s any sign of past leaks that bled through. That tells me whether we’re dealing with hidden deck damage, condensation issues, or framing that shifted over sixty years. Metal roofs don’t fix structural problems-they just last long enough to make them really obvious if we don’t catch them first.
Once I’m up top, I’m looking at the condition of your shingles, the pitch of each section, how your valleys drain, and whether old work-dormers, skylights, additions-was flashed correctly the first time. A lot of Nassau County homes have two or three different roof sections that don’t quite match, so panel layout has to account for that. I’m also checking your soffits, fascia, and how the old drip edge was done, because that’s all coming off and getting replaced with metal trim that needs solid backing.
The First Visit: Attic, Roof, and Your Wish List
While we’re up there and inside, I’m listening to what you actually want to solve. Maybe you’re tired of ice dams in the valleys every February. Maybe your upstairs is ten degrees hotter than downstairs all summer. Maybe you just watched three neighbors get new asphalt and decided you’re done re-roofing every fifteen years. All of those concerns pair with something I see in the attic or on the deck-blocked soffit vents, no ridge ventilation, dark shingles baking the sheathing, or gutters that can’t handle the water volume your valleys dump during a storm.
Here’s an insider tip I give everyone: if a contractor shows up, walks your roof from the outside, and hands you a panel color chart without ever asking to see your attic or talk about underlayment and ventilation, be really cautious about their metal plan. Residential metal roofing done right begins inside your house, not on top of it. The quote that skips that part is just selling you panels, not solving what’s actually happening to your home.
Step 2: Tear-Off Day and Getting Your House Watertight Again
Tear-off day is where your old story ends and the new one starts. That’s when we strip off every layer of shingle, felt, and old flashing down to bare plywood or boards, protect your landscaping with tarps and plywood runners, and get a clean look at what the deck really is. Honestly, this is the part that makes or breaks a residential metal roof, because the messy middle-finding rot, fixing weird framing, re-nailing loose sheathing-matters way more than whether you picked charcoal gray or bronze panels. Rush through this stage to get metal up fast, and you’re building a gorgeous roof on top of problems that’ll cost you twice as much to fix later.
One windy November in Massapequa, I replaced a twenty-year-old shingle roof on a split-level with a standing seam system, and during tear-off we found a half-rotted valley hidden under an old dormer that had been leaking slow for years. The shingles looked fine from the ground, but the deck was spongy and the fascia behind it was shot. We rebuilt that whole valley with new sheathing, added proper step flashing and ice barrier, then laid the metal panels over a structure that was finally solid. That job is still my favorite example of why the messy middle is the part you should care about most-not the final color or the before-and-after photo. When that metal roof hits its twentieth year and it’s still tight and quiet, it’ll be because we didn’t skip the part nobody sees.
Dry-In: The Part You Don’t See, But Feel Every Storm
If your contractor skips talking about underlayment, that’s your first red flag. Once the deck is sound, we roll out high-quality synthetic underlayment across the whole roof and add peel-and-stick ice barrier along every valley, eave, and sidewall-basically anywhere water likes to sit or back up. Metal panels are waterproof, but underlayment is your second line of defense if wind ever drives rain sideways under a seam or if a fastener backs out over time. In coastal areas or anywhere you get nor’easters, that layer is what keeps your attic dry when the weather gets nasty. We’re also adding drip edge and rake trim at this stage, making sure every edge is sealed before the first panel goes down.
Once the deck is sound and dry, now we can make it waterproof. That’s your freeze-frame moment number two: underlayment on, edges trimmed, and the whole roof looking like a tight gray blanket with clean lines. If it looks sloppy or patchy at this stage, the metal’s just going to hide the sloppiness-not fix it.
Step 3: Laying Out Panels, Locking Seams, and Nailing the Details
Panel layout is where a residential metal roof stops being a product and becomes part of your house. We snap chalk lines to align the first panel perfectly, then work our way across, locking each standing seam or overlapping each corrugated rib so the lines run clean and even. On a house with multiple sections-like a cape with a front gable and a shed dormer-we plan the layout so seams line up with windows, corners, and valleys in a way that looks intentional, not random. Skinny cuts at the edges look cheap and leak easier, so good layout means thinking three panels ahead and sometimes starting from the center rather than the edge.
One humid July in Oceanside, we converted a low-slope rear addition and a steeper front roof into one continuous standing seam system, which sounds straightforward until you realize the two sections had different decking heights and the transition was basically a mess of old flashing and shingles someone had layered over. We tore it all back, built a proper cricket to move water away from the valley, added extra venting along the soffit and a ridge vent across both sections, and then laid the panels so they flowed from front to back like one roof. The better underlayment and the venting made a noticeable difference-the homeowners emailed me their reduced AC bill the next summer and said their upstairs was finally comfortable. That’s what happens when you treat residential metal roofing as a system, not just a shiny layer.
Around Chimneys, Skylights, and Sidewalls
Around chimneys, skylights, and sidewalls, metal roofs live or die by their flashing. Every penetration needs step flashing that weaves under the panels, counterflashing that tucks into brick or siding, and sometimes custom pans or cricket caps to move water around the obstacle. Chimneys are the trickiest-we cut the panels to fit tight, seal the base with a pan, then step and counter-flash up all four sides so water sheds down the slope and never pools behind the stack. Skylights get similar treatment: a metal pan underneath, flashings that tie into the underlayment, and careful sealing so the skylight’s own flashing doesn’t fight with ours.
In coastal towns like Freeport and Long Beach, we build for wind first and looks second. That means tighter clip spacing on standing seam systems, heavier-gauge fasteners on screw-down panels, and extra attention to how the edge metal is secured-because a panel that lifts in a nor’easter isn’t just an eyesore, it’s a leak waiting to happen. We also use stainless or coated fasteners near salt air, check that every seam locks all the way down, and make sure ridge caps and hip caps are crimped and fastened on both sides. The goal is a roof that stays quiet and tight even when the wind is howling off the water at fifty miles an hour.
What Those Three to Five Days Actually Feel Like for Your Family
In Rockville Centre, a family was nervous about noise and disruption with two kids at home doing remote school and naps. I walked them through our schedule before we started-tear-off in the morning when the kids were awake, deck work and underlayment in the afternoon, panels going up over the next two days, and final trim and cleanup on day four. We staged materials in one corner of the driveway so they could still pull in and out, covered their AC unit and plantings with tarps, and did a magnet sweep and walkthrough every evening so the yard was clean and safe. We ended up finishing the whole residential metal roof in three tight days, and they still tell people the process was way less chaotic than their last shingle roof-because we planned it like we were living there too.
Your daily life during the install matters just as much as the technical details. Expect noise during tear-off-it’s loud, but it’s short. Panel installation is quieter, mostly cutting and fastening. Keep pets inside or in a back room during the day, because tools and scraps move around. Plan on your driveway being partially blocked, and let your crew know if you need access at certain times. A good crew will communicate every morning about what’s happening that day and every evening about what’s left, so you’re never wondering or worried.
Step 4: Final Walk, Freeze-Frames, and What to Look For Before You Sign Off
Four Freeze-Frame Moments you should see at key stages of a proper residential metal roofing job:
- Deck Bare: All old shingles gone, plywood or boards visible, any rot or soft spots marked and ready for repair.
- Underlayment On: Entire roof covered in clean synthetic felt, ice barrier at valleys and eaves, edges trimmed with metal drip and rake.
- First Panels Up: Initial run locked or fastened straight, aligned with layout lines, seams crisp and no gaps at the starter edge.
- Job Wrapped: Every panel down, all flashings tight, ridge caps and trim installed, no scraps or nails left in the yard, and your house looks like it just got a twenty-year upgrade.
Once the last panel is locked in, the job isn’t over until we’ve walked it with you. I’ll show you how the seams lock, where the flashings tuck in, how the ridge vents work, and what your gutters will do differently now that water sheets off metal instead of dripping through shingles. We’ll do a magnet sweep of your lawn, a final check of your soffits and fascia, and hand you warranty paperwork, photos of the underlayment stage, and care instructions. You should feel like you understand your new roof-not just like you paid for one.
If what you see at each freeze-frame matches this picture, you’re getting the kind of residential metal roof your house deserves.
At TWI Roofing, we’ve been installing residential metal roofing across Nassau County for years-on lived-in homes with real families, real schedules, and real problems we solve alongside the new panels. If you want someone to walk your attic, plan the job around how you actually live, and show you what each stage should look like before we start, let’s sit down and talk. Call us or fill out the contact form, and we’ll schedule a no-pressure visit to see what your house needs and walk you through the whole process-one freeze-frame at a time.