Residential Metal Roofing Executive Report

Metal Roofing and Wind Resistance

Issue #71 | March 31, 2017 | Todd Miller

Greetings! We apologize for taking a few weeks off from publishing the Executive Report while we held the Metal Roofing Summit in mind-March. This very successful event pulled together nearly 100 of the best and brightest home improvement contractors from across North America. We had a great time of sharing and learning from each other, with educational tracks covering Leadership, Marketing, and Sales. We are already planning for the 2018 Summit and looking forward to bringing in more great speakers, events, and workshops. This annual event is dedicated entirely to helping successful contractors be even more successful.

In this issue of the Executive Report, we will look at fresh ways to promote the Wind Resistance of metal roofing. As you may recall, in recent issues, we have looked in depth at Increased Home Value, Beauty, Low Weight, and Fire Safety.

Like many of the metal roofing benefits surrounding protection and security, selling the benefit of Wind Resistance starts with building the need. During the Needs Analysis portion of your presentation, it is critical that homeowners come to realize how their roof provides ultimate protection for their home and their belongings. They need to realize that, if anything jeopardizes the protection given by their home’s roof, then the protection of everything inside their home is jeopardized.

Next, it is great to explain how most roofing materials depend upon gravity and their own weight for wind resistance or, at best, upon failure-prone sealants. Everyone understands that gravity can be overcome if the force is great enough and also that sealants are uncertain at best and eventually bound to fail. If you have a small stack of business cards, fan them out on the table in front of you as demonstrate how every shingle tab is prone to uplift – nothing mechanical holds the shingles in place.

Then, you can explain the interlocking nature of the metal roofing panels you sell. Explain how a mechanical lock between the panels holds them in place, rather than just gravity or some sort of glue. The homeowners will appreciate the difference.

It is also important to explain that, contrary to what they may think, the greatest chance of wind damage on a roof is not on the side the wind is hitting. Instead, the greatest pressures are actually the uplift pressures on the back side of the roof created by wind hitting the roof, being directed up over the home, and creating a whirling vacuum effect on the other side. This explanation can help homeowners understand that the impact of winds on a roof is greater than the impact of wind hitting them as they stand in their yard.

The wind tests performed on metal roofs consist not of some giant fan and a wind tunnel but of an uplift pressure test. The product being tested is installed on top of plastic bagging which is then filled with air. The resulting pressure is trying to push the metal panels off of the roof deck. This is similar to the vacuum pressures created on the back side of the roof during a windstorm. This is how the most strict wind tests are performed on metal roofs.

Finally, as you talk about Wind Resistance, be certain to discuss how, because other products depend upon gravity or glues for wind resistance, those products lose Wind Resistance as they age. However, because metal roofs feature interlocking panels, they do not lose Wind Resistance with age and will perform the same in 30 or 40 years as they do when they are new.

Please feel free to contact me anytime that I might be of help to you as you work to grown and improve your business in its promotion of residential metal roofing.

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