Most people in Columbus come to metal after a second or third asphalt roof has aged out faster than they expected — hail one spring, ice dams the next winter, granules in the gutters, and the sense that they're buying the same roof over and over. A metal roof is a different purchase: higher up front, installed by a different method, and judged on details that have nothing to do with shingle brands. What follows is what the work actually involves, so you can tell a thorough bid from a cheap one.
A proper job starts with the deck, not the panels. Once the old roofing comes off, the sheathing gets walked and probed — plank decking on older homes around Upper Arlington and Clintonville often has gaps or soft spots at the eaves where years of ice damming have worked in, and that has to be corrected before anything goes over it. Then underlayment: self-adhered ice-and-water membrane at eaves, valleys, and around every penetration, with high-temperature synthetic over the field. Standard asphalt felt doesn't belong under metal, because the underside of a metal roof gets hot enough in July to cook it.
After that, the choice of panel drives everything. Standing seam uses concealed clips that let the metal expand and contract with temperature, with no exposed screws in the field — it's the system most homeowners picture, and it's what most residential roofs in central Ohio get. Exposed-fastener ribbed panels cost less and install faster, but every screw is a gasket that will need attention down the road. Stamped metal shingles and stone-coated steel are a third path, usually chosen when an HOA in Dublin or a historic-leaning street wants a profile that reads closer to shake or tile. The flashing is where the roof is actually won or lost: chimney counterflashing cut into the mortar rather than smeared with sealant, valley metal with proper hems, pipe boots rated for the heat, and a ridge detail that vents without letting snow blow in.
Square footage matters less than you'd think. Pitch, the number of valleys, hips, dormers, and penetrations, the amount of custom trim, and whether panels can be roll-formed on site in continuous lengths all swing a bid substantially. So does what's underneath — one layer of shingles versus three, and how much decking needs replacing, which nobody can fully know until tear-off. Gauge and coating matter too: a PVDF finish holds color better over decades than a standard polyester, and 24-gauge steel dents less readily than 26 when a hailstorm comes through.
Ask any roofer you're considering how the panels accommodate thermal movement, what fastener and clip system they use, what underlayment they're specifying by name, and how they handle the valley and chimney details. Ask whether the manufacturer's finish warranty and the installer's workmanship coverage are two separate things, because they are. Ask who will actually be on the roof. And ask for proof of license and insurance — Capital Ridge Roof Systems is licensed and insured, and any roofing company bidding against us should be able to put the same documentation in your hands without hesitating. Financing is available if spreading the cost makes the difference between doing it right and doing it twice, and we take the common payment methods.
Metal roof repair is its own skill set, and plenty of shingle crews won't touch it. The most common call is an exposed-fastener roof where screws have backed out or the neoprene washers have hardened and cracked — that's a fastener replacement across the field, often with oversized screws, not a patch. Other frequent issues: failed sealant at a pipe boot, a panel damaged by a falling limb, flashing that was caulk-dependent from day one and has finally let go, or oil canning that looks alarming but is cosmetic and doesn't leak. Hail is the gray area; dents in a steel panel are usually aesthetic unless the coating has fractured, and it's worth having that assessed before filing anything.
Where repair stops making sense is when a roof was through-fastened without allowance for expansion, when panel ends have rusted from unhemmed cuts, or when dissimilar metals were mixed and corrosion has started at the contact points. At that point you're replacing a system, not fixing a leak. We'll tell you which one you're looking at. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8AM to 6PM, for Columbus, Gahanna, Dublin, and Upper Arlington.