2014 WHITEPAPER

STANDINGSEAM
Beating Ther m al Expansion w ith Floating Panels

2
WHITE PAPER
""NOBUILDINGMATERIALONEARTH
RESISTSTHEFORCESCREATEDBY
TEMPERATUREFLUCTUATION.""
Temperature Differential
Figure A
Buchinger , Ken, M BCI. "Contr olling
Ther m al M ovem ent of Standing Seam
M etal Roofs: Sliding Clips and Beyond."
M BCI, Inc. Houston, TX, 2012.
A&B Con t r act in g| White Paper
Ask any builder to nam e the fir st enemy of r oofing longevity and
hear the sam e answ er ever y tim e: ther m al m ovem ent.
This explains the tr end in custom hom e building tow ar ds the
standing seam r oofing system . W hen a pr oject r equir es fifty-year
dur ability and unm atched sur face str ength, designer s and
builder s incr easingly tur n to standing seam m etal applications.
Roof Dest r oyer : Th er m al M ovem en t
What keeps the manufacturer of asphalt shingles
awake at night? Temperature fluctuation. Depending
on geographic region, a typical single-ply roof can
swing in temperature more than 150? F throughout
the year. (See Figure A.) For a seventy-five degree rise
in temperature, each fifty linear feet of roofing
material will expand a half-inch or more.
Nothing destroys a roof faster than the expansion and
contraction of its materials. Such movement creates
forces that push and pull against fasteners, tearing at
nails and shredding the materials, themselves. The
result: individual shingles fail as soon as the
three-year mark, with complete replacement of an
asphalt-shingle roof required after just fifteen years.
No M at er ial Is Im m u n e
Tile, metal, stone? no building material on earth
resists the forces of temperature fluctuation. Even a
small, 10? F expansion of the temperature differential
will significantly shorten the expected life of a roof.
This is the reason the manufacturers of asphalt
shingles recommend against insulating at the
 St an din g Seam Solu t ion s
3

Corrugated
Roofing Fastener
Neoprene washer

""EVENMORESIGNIFICANTIS
ROOF-LINEINSULATION,SUCHASTHE
RADIANT-BARRIERPRODUCT,KOOL
Figure B
PLY.""
roof-line. (See Side Bar, "Temperature Differential.") If
a roof 's asphalt shingles cannot radiate heat into the
attic, their peak temperature will rise ten degrees
higher than a roof with a vented attic.
Even a roof clad in corrugated metal, famous for
deflecting solar heat, will suffer the effects of thermal

Tem per at u r e Dif f er en t ial

The extremes of thermal movement
placed on a roofing system are
driven by multiple sources. Ambient
air temperature may make up the
bulk of the expansion range. But a
roof can soar in temperature sixty
degrees or more above ambient
temperature. What accounts for this
excess heat?
Designers and engineers must also
consider roof color, hours of direct
sun exposure, and roof angle. Any
of these factors are further
magnified by a southern-facing roof
design, as well as both the width
the panels and total roof
square-footage.
Wind and cloud coverage do reduce
the magnifying effect of each of the
factors, moving the temperature
differential closer to that of ambient
conditions. Humidity also plays a
similar role, though to a lesser degree.
Perhaps the most under-considered
factor is the presence of roof-line and
attic insulation. Attic insulation will
certainly drive roof temperatures
higher. Even more significant is
roof-line insulation, such as the
radiant-barrier product, Kool Ply,
which prevents a single-ply roof from
shedding a good portion of heat
energy down into the attic.
 A&B Con t r act in g | White Paper
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movement. Within the first year, expansion and

contraction of the metal panels will begin to enlarge
the substrate holes and loosen each fastener. Every
screw will work its way loose. Pre-fabricated holes in
the panels will enlarge. Over time neoprene washers
are exposed to the elements and break down,
eventually letting in water.
The inevitable damage is a function of the installation.
To install corrugated metal on a roof, a screw is driven
through the panel and into the substrate. (See Figure
B.) The screw is the Achilles? heel of the corrugated
metal roof. The panel expands and contracts with the
sun, tearing at the screws, little by little. After just
fifteen years, thermal movement will begin to cause
widespread panel failure.

Th e Solu t ion : Elim in at e Fixit y

By contrast, a standing seam roof is erected without a

single fastener driven through any panel. (See Figure
C.) Notice how the hold-down clips (colored red) are
fastened to the roof beneath the metal panels. In other
words, only the hold-down clips are screwed or nailed
to the substrate. The panels, themselves, are not
penetrated by through-fasteners, of any kind.
Neither are panels fixed to each other. The seams
between panels are only crimped. (See detail "A" of
Figure C; and see Figure D.) The crimped seam allows
free thermal movement longitudinally; panels
expanding at different rates simply slide past one
another. More importantly, panels also slide past the
hold-down clips, leaving fasteners completely
undisturbed. The roof suffers no damage from
thermal movement. Additionally, each panel will
contain several ?stiffening ribs? running length-wise.
Stiffening ribs behave like accordion structures,
 St an din g Seam Solu t ion s
5

As part of warranty maintenance on

a corrugated metal roof, all screws
and washers require replacement
every five to ten years.

Det ail 'A'

Bef or e Bef or e
seam in g seam in g

St if f en in g Ribs
Det ail 'A'

M ech an ically f ast en ed seam ,

u sin g eit h er a h an d cr im pin g t ool
or an elect r ical seam in g t ool

Figure C

6
""SOMEMANUFACTURERSWARRANTY
THEIRPRODUCTAGAINSTCORROSIVE absorbing horizontal movement.
FAILUREFORUPTOFIFTYYEARS.""
Building Ow ner s and M anager s
Association Inter national. "M etal Roofs and
Walls: Pr om oting the Futur e of 'Gr een' and
Sustaining the Envir onm ent."
Washington, DC, BOM A Inter national, 2014.
A&B Con t r act in g | White Paper
Th e Th r eef old Ben ef it
The standing seam system offers three primary
benefits:
- Fasteners remain undisturbed by panel movement
- Panels do not destroy themselves on the fasteners
- Fasteners are completely shielded from sun and
rain
With the screws permanently shielded, they need no
neoprene washers. By contrast, the neoprene washers
of corrugated metal roofing begin to break down after
only two or three years, with their performance reduced
to zero as early as year five. (All hardware on a
corrugated metal roof must be replaced every five to
ten years.) The design of standing seam makes washers
unnecessary, completely eliminating the weakest link of
metal roofing.
Standing seam panels warrantied for twenty years,
thirty years, even fifty years? Absolutely. Some
manufacturers of (unpainted) galvanized-steel
warranty their product against corrosive failure for up to
fifty years, knowing it will far out-live the warranty. As
long as the roof has been erected to float properly, the
M et al Roof in g an d Su st ain abilit y
Accor ding to The Building Ow ner s and M anager s Association (BOM A)
Inter national, standing seam r oof system s take advantage of ever y benefit
of m etal in the constr uction r ealm , including r etur n on investm ent,
sustainability, r ecyclability, low m aintenance cost, low life-cycle cost, and
w ide aesthetic options.
The base m etal m ater ial used for standing seam and cor r ugated panels
contains a m inim um of 25 per cent r ecycled content. M etal r oofing panels
ar e also r ecyclable once they m ust be r eplaced. This saves landfill space
and ener gy in the m aking of new steel.
Plus, the ver y fact of their dur ability m akes a m etal r oof an econom ic use
of building m ater ials. A standing seam r oof w ill have a useful life thr ee to
six tim es (com m only m or e) that of asphalt shingle.
 St an din g Seam Solu t ion s
7

Pu t t in g t h e pan els t oget h er

Squ ar e seam closed

Dou ble-lock ed st an din g seam

Figure D

manufacturer will have every confidence in its product.

The erector may offer a warranty of only ten to twenty
years. But that is the separate policy covering the labor
of the installation. The consumer can take as a
measure of materials durability the much-longer,
manufacturer 's warranty. Ken Buchinger, VP of R&D at
metal-panel manufacturer MBCI, also points to roofing
that is readily observed on structures significantly
older than fifty years, such as historic churches,
palaces, and agricultural outbuildings erected long ago.

Th er m al Cyclin g of In st alled Pan els

Once installed, when temperatures increase or
decrease below the installation temperature, each
Bu ch i n ger , Ken , M BCI . " Con t r ol l i n g
Th er m al M ovem en t of St an di n g
Seam M et al Roof s: Sl i di n g Cl i ps
an d Beyon d." M BCI , I n c. Hou st on ,
TX, 2012.

8
""PAINTEDMETALPANELSCOMEIN
UNLIMITEDCOLORS,ASWELLAS
MANYPROFILESOFSEAM. . ."" In general, standing seam is erected without fixity.
Haddock, Rob. "Penetr ations Thr ough
Standing Seam M etal Roofs." Facility
Executive M agazine. Tinton Falls, NJ,
Novem ber , 2009.
A&B Con t r act in g | White Paper
panel moves in both the upslope and downslope
directions, until it reaches a point of fixity.
However, in certain construction locations, such as
those in tropical-storm climates, municipal code can
require metal panels to be fixed on one side. As long
as a metal panel is fixed on only one side, the material
is free to expand in 180-degrees. Thus the advantages
of floating movement are only partially reduced.
In the case of a panel fixed on one side, the metal is
still free to expand and contract longitudinally.
Horizontally, the panel can still expand in the direction
away from the fixed point by means of the stiffening
ribs, which act as accordion structures.
Aest h et ic Opt ion s
Designers of commercial and industrial buildings have
long known the unlimited aesthetic options of metal
roof cladding. Only in recent years have residential
architects begun selling their clients on the range of
colors and rib profiles available with standing seam.
Painted metal panels come in unlimited colors, as well
as many profiles of seam and numbers of stiffening
ribs.
At t ach m en t Opt ion s
Builders and designers might wonder how to go about
attaching a condensing unit, walkway, or solar array to
a standing seam roof. After all, if the principle is to
avoid penetrating the panels, how can satellite dishes
or advertising signage or decking be safely attached?
Installers address this scenario by clamping to the
strongest points on the roof: the seams. According to
Rob Haddock, director of the Metal Advisory Group,
 St an din g Seam Solu t ion s
9

Ltd., the metal roofing

industry has developed
clamping hardware for any
and all seam profiles.
Clamping to a seam is like
clamping to a beam. It
relies on the high tensile
strength of the crimped
seam to provide a strong
anchor that will last the
lifetime of the roof, while
leaving the panels to cycle
with thermal movement.
Haddock does specify
certain best practices for
seam attachments:
- Round-pointed set
screws must be used
to avoid galling and
corrosion.
- Clamps must be
made of aluminum,
stainless steel, or
other non-corrosive
metals.
- For copper panels,
clamping hardware
must be brass.

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(281) 902-3897.
2014

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