Patented Metal Roofing System Arlington VA

Alpha Rain has developed a new patented metal roofing system for Metal Roofs in Virginia, we are putting this patented roof on many homes in the Arlington VA area.  Watch the video below to learn more about why you should choose us to put on your metal roof if you live in the Arlington VA area, or click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UJU9XAgoZA&feature=share 

Metal Roofing VA Oil Canning

What in the world is oil canning? In the vernacular of metal roof installers oil canning is when a metal roof, particularly standing seam metal roofs, has bulges and ripples in it. This phenomenon occurs for a plethora (I always wanted to use that word in a blog) of reasons. The main culprit is the roof deck. Think of it this way, the deck of the roof is the bones and the metal roofing VA is the skin. However the bones lay, that is how the skin is going to lay. If the deck has as little as a 1/8 inch deflection then that panel will not lay flat. Here are some more reasons, if the master coil is slit with more tension on one of the decoilers then it will keep that tension in that coil and the panel won’t lay perfectly flat. Add to that humidity and when the humidity around the roof is different it will oil can.

These types of roof also expand and contract with heat or cold weather. A 50 foot panel will “stretch” as much as ¼ of an inch between the summer and winter months. In these panels we actually use clips that allow the panels to expand and contract. If you compare the new steel panels with the old tin panels you can see that we have made some headway on reducing oil canning. However we don’t think we will ever be able to eliminate it altogether.

For more information on oil canning and other elements of standing seam metal roofing VA please visit us at AlphaRain.com or call us at (540) 222-1642

Metal Roofing Va Energy Efficient roofing system

Radiant Therma Vent

Metal Roofing VA introduces ventilation to the roof and attic. It reflects radiant heat with the use of a radiant barrier and it stops the conduction of heat in the summer and cold in the winter into the attic space.

How it works: the drip edge at the lower edge of the roof has an air gap below it where air can enter. As the air under the roof is heated by the sun, and as hot air rises exiting the vented ridge vent then cooler air is drawn in at the eave. As long as hot air rises (we don’t think a law can be passed to stop that) then this becomes an automatic air ventilation machine. There is a Styrofoam panel with grooves in it to enhance the air movement and to create a thermal break where cold or heat cannot be conducted into the house.

The home above is located in Charlottesville, Virginia and you can see how the panels are being installed right on top of the foam panel. The radiant barrier is under the panel and the air pathway is under the panel as well.

We will be happy to show you a prototype of this system where we actually disassemble a model of this unique but effective approach to ventilating older homes.

For further information please call 540-222-1642 or visit our website @ AlphaRain.com for Metal Roofing VA.

Metal Roofing Ventilation Charlottesville VA

This is a two-part blog about metal roof ventilation system for Charlottesville VA.  One thing that I have noticed is that not too many contractors or roofers understanding the importance of ventilation for attics or for roofing systems.  In this part, on the blog, I’m going to focus on ventilation in the attic.  Have you ever wondered why some attics are a lot hotter than others in the summer?  Most of this is due to poor ventilation if you have ridge vents in your roof which allows a way for the hot air in the attic to escape, but no way for the air to enter at the bottom of your attic you are doing a disservice to yourself.  For air to escape you must have a new way for air to enter, Hot air always rises, so as the hot air heats up and rises you need a way for the fresh cooler air to enter.  The proper way for this is through a soffit vent or through our custom metal roof vent which is placed at the bottom of the roof when the roof is installed.  Our custom metal roof entry even allows for fresh air to enter below the metal roof and flow into your attic.  This is very important to many old houses that do not have any soffits or way to vent air into their attics from the bottom of the roof area.  We have made a video what I have linked to it below that shows a sample and that I will explain exactly how this process works.  In Part two I will talk about Vented J Channel and how we installed a complete patented roof ventilation system in addition to venting the attic.

Check out our website AlphaRain.com or call us at 540-222-1642

Everything You Need to Know About Snowbirds

I noticed we don’t have any information about snowbirds on our website. Since we just had about 16″ of snow this seams to be a relevant topic. Why do we need snowbirds? After it snows 6″ or more metal roofs will generally release the snow in a sheet of ice on the first sunny day and anything under this avalanche is in jeopardy.
If there were more snow it generally slides off in one huge mass. There are two styles of snowbirds pictured below.Snowbirds

Both the red and green snowbirds are powder coated the color of the roof metal. Painted snowbirds only take a few snows before the freezing action of the snow pulls all of the paint off. The snowbird on the right is made of bronze and used on copper roofs. All these snowbirds are attached with two set screws on the standing seam metal roof so as to not penetrate or mar the metal or paint. Please let us know of any questions you have at AlphaRain.com or call us. (540) 222-1642

Also check out our video here:

Snow Birds Warrenton VA Metal Roofing (540) 222-1642

Paul Dysart from Alpha Rain Metal Roofing shot a live video from his house to show you why snow birds are so important to have on your roof.  Paul’s house is located in Warrenton VA.  This video was shot February 14, 2014.  Paul compares a standing seam metal roof with snow birds and one without snow birds to show you the difference.  Please visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XScH5ZYEz0s to watch the video.  Alot of clients ask Alpha Rain how they can stop the snow from hanging off their roof or falling off in large quantities which can be very dangerous.  Paul covers that in this video and you can see clearly how effective these snow birds are in controlling the snow and ice.  These snow birds also stop ice damning and help the roofs control melting snow and ice which in turns protects the roof from heavy snow building up on gutters.  Alpha Rain has installed snow birds all over Virginia especially in the Warrenton VA Metal Roofing community.

Metal Roofing in Virginia vs. Metal Roofing in Europe.

In the heart of the historic district in Innsbruck Austria is the world famous Golden Metal Roofing of Maximilian I. Built in 1500 to quiet the rumor that the King was out of money this gold gilded copper shingle roof has 2,657 shingles. It is regilded with gold leaf every several years to keep it vibrant and shiny.

This was Maximilian’s residence and he could be seen often on the balcony with his 3rd wife, Bianca Maria Sforza of Milan. The roof is 52 feet wide and 12 feet tall.  We have put on many copper roofs but we haven’t been asked to gild them in gold…….yet!

If you would like us to install a golden metal roofing for you we would be happy to accommodate you, as we install similar metal roofs in va.

Metal Roofing VA – Warrenton

Metal Roofing Warrenton VA we have made a description of our metal roofing patented energy saving ventilation system, we want to talk about Warrenton VA and the metal roofs we are installing in that area.  We have been working on a new patented roof ventilation system that can save a lot on energy saving by basic air movement.  The test example that we did was on a house that had little or no ventilation, no ridge vents, and no soft vents.  We installed our ventilation system and had amazing results. Check out the video below to see what we did!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNHqQbZAQbc

Standing Seam Metal Roof Installation Middleburg VA

Metal Roofing Installation on a job near Middleburg VA, we are taking off an old barn tin aluminum roof shown in the video and replacing it with a 35-year warranty metal roof by Sheffield Metal Manufacture.  We are going to show the new metal roof, and explain what oil canning is and how to keep it from happening as much or more depending on what you are installing it on.

Fabral Metal Roofing

Fabral Metal Roofing is a manufacture that produces pre-painted metal roofing coil and metal wall products.  This video is to talk about the quaility and product Fabral has from a metal roofing contractors view point.  Also we are going to talk about Fabral Metal Roofing caulk that is custom from Fabral for their metal roofing colors.