[GBlist] Zappone roofs

["Doug Horgan" <Doug@bowa.com>]

I have used Zappone shingles. We put them on a new, clean roof deck (not a reroof).
I thought they were a nice system, they are simple and the flashings seem to be thought out well, the material is supposed to be almost all recycled aluminum. It's a pretty good looking roof, unusual for metal shingles in my opinion.
They are a little tricky in one regard: they need to lock together both horizontally and vertically (within a certain tolerance). I would think putting them over a cedar roof would be difficult because of the unevenness of the wood shingles below. If you had the top of one Zappone row just below the butt end of a row of cedar below, the next row of Zappone wouldn't lock in correctly. That's my impression anyway. You could make up for it by shimming but it's probably easier to demo the old roof.
The other thing is that they take FOREVER to install in comparison to asphalt. They have to be hand nailed, locked together, and each shingle covers about half what a single asphalt shingle covers. Nothing like slapping and shooting asphalt.
Of course they are likely to last much much longer. Anyone care to speculate on the life of a painted aluminum roof? Nailed with aluminum nails? Pretty long, I would suspect. Couldn't possibly be less than those crappy asphalt shingles. Plus they weigh less, are not toxic petroleum, and might even have less embodied energy. 
All in all I liked the system but would not bet on first cost being very competitive. Try local contractors and see if you can find someone who has installed them.

I would love to hear about other options! I'm planning my own roof right now.

D o u g l a s   H o r g a n
Customer Service Manager
BOWA Builders, Inc.
www.bowa.com



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