Chose a steel roof over shingles for a job in Leduc and now I'm dealing with expansion noise

Last month I had to pick between doing a standard asphalt shingle re-roof or switching to a standing seam metal roof for a house in Leduc. The homeowner really wanted the metal for longevity so I went with it, even though I warned them about the potential for noise. Now the sun heats it up during the day and when it cools down at night, the panels make these loud pinging and popping sounds as they expand and contract. It's so bad the customer called me back three times already thinking something is loose. I checked all the fasteners and everything is fine, it's just the nature of the material. Anyone else run into this with metal roofs in Alberta's temperature swings and have a fix that actually works?

2 comments

2 Comments

cora_ramirez21d ago

Gotta make sure whoever installed it used expansion joints or slip clips, not fixed fasteners. If they screwed the panels tight into the purlins without allowing for movement, that noise is just gonna keep happening. I had a buddy in Calgary who fixed this by swapping out some of the fixed clips for slide clips, especially on the longer panels. Also check if they left enough room at the eave and ridge for the panels to grow and shrink. If everything's too tight, you're basically trapping the metal and it'll pop and ping till it finds a way to move. Thicker gauge metal helps too, 24 gauge is way quieter than the thin 26 or 28 stuff.

allen.william21d ago

Actually that's not quite right about thick gauge being quieter. Thicker 24 gauge is stiffer, which means it transfers more vibration and sound through the structure compared to thin 26 or 28 gauge that flexes and dampens things. I've seen it firsthand where a barn roof with 24 gauge sounded like a drum in the wind, but the same building with 26 gauge was way more quiet because the panels could just flex a bit. The thinner metal actually absorbs more thermal movement too without fighting the clips as much. Tough part is thin metal dents easier from hail or walking on it, so there's always a trade-off. Just saying thicker isn't automatically better for noise control like most people assume.