Minnesota roofer handles details for watertightness and beauty /
There’s no business like repeat business! That’s why you care about any job, no matter the size — it could lead to a bigger job.
That’s how it worked for Diversified Roofing of Elk River, Minn., when asked to complete a tricky application of metal roofing on a home outside the Twin Cities. Bill Anderson had installed a roof for the owner on a previous project and the happy owner came back for this job.
The new construction roof called for the installation of standing seam metal roofing — two sections consisted of a steep-slope application and two were curved almost 180 degrees. From left to right at the front of the house, the roof featured a pitched roofing section, a curved roofing section, a pitched roofing section and another curved roofing section — all in 24-gauge bare Galvalume from Firestone Building Products.
Anderson says crews used a lift basket to get panels on the roof and it went rather smoothly. The most challenging part was designing and installing valleys that could handle rain coming from two large areas — not to mention the annual Midwest snowfalls.
“It wasn’t an ideal design for Minnesota,” Anderson says, “but we made it work.”
To create valleys capable of handling the snow and rain, Anderson used 4×10 sheets of matching flat stock. At the middle of the building, there is a saddle, so rainwater and snow can filter to both sides of the house.
“The way it was constructed, this was really the only way to make it work,” he says. “We get giant snowfalls here in Minnesota and ice dams can get to be obnoxious, especially where you’ve got a roof with a lot of pitch carrying water to an area where there is almost no pitch.”
To be safe, Anderson installed 100 feet of heat tape and the homeowner can plug it in as needed.
