Residential metal roofing
Metal roofing Los Angeles: built strong, backed for 20 years
Metal roofing gives a Los Angeles house a covering that shrugs off hundred-degree afternoons, stands up to embers and still suits a modern build or a Spanish Revival. We are California Green Roofing, a metal roofing company in Los Angeles with our own crew, and we plan every panel, trim and flashing on paper before any steel is cut.
Licensed, bonded and insured
License CSLB #1100046
Crew based in Reseda
Detail A // standing seam, double lock
Metal roofing guide
Why metal
Metal roofing Los Angeles: why it fits this climate
Los Angeles wears a roof out quietly: months of dry heat, UV that turns asphalt brittle, Santa Ana gusts and, in some years, fire weather. The residential metal roofing Los Angeles homeowners choose today has to handle all four of them at once.
Metal roofing // charcoal seam
01
A Class A roof, not just a panel
Steel will not burn, and over the underlayment its fire listing specifies, it makes a Class A fire rated roof, the rating California requires in its Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones.
Class A
02
Sun reflected, not absorbed
Metal roofing in cool pigments sends far more sunlight back than dark shingles do, and the attic stays cooler through a long summer.
Cooler attic
03
Upkeep measured in minutes
No shingles to lift and no tiles to slip. A yearly look at the gutters, sealants and any debris keeps most metal roofing in good order.
Low upkeep
04
Easy on older framing
Standing seam weighs a fraction of clay or concrete tile. Most older houses take it without new structural work.
Light load
Profiles
Four metal roof profiles and where each belongs
Metal roofing is a family of systems rather than one product. The profile decides how the roof reads from the street, how it sheds water and whether a single fastener is left out in the sun. Four profiles cover almost every house we see, and each has a street it suits best.
Standing seam metal roof
Flat pans between raised ribs, joined by a seam folded shut on the roof itself. Hidden clips let each panel slide as the steel heats and cools, which makes this the longest-lasting metal roofing profile and our first choice for most homes.
Rib
1 to 1.5 in, 12 to 18 in apart
Fasteners
Concealed clips
Suits
Modern and mid-century homes, solar
Stone coated metal roofing
Steel pressed into a barrel tile, shake or shingle shape and finished in bonded stone granules. From the curb it reads as tile or shake at a small fraction of the weight. The tile profiles suit Spanish Revival and Mediterranean houses.
Profile
Barrel tile, shake or shingle
Fasteners
Hidden in the overlap
Suits
Spanish Revival, HOA streets
Metal shingles
Interlocking steel or aluminum shingles with a low stepped profile. They give a textured, familiar roof line and handle cut-up roofs with many hips and valleys well.
Profile
Low stepped shingle
Fasteners
Hidden in the interlock
Suits
Craftsman and ranch homes
Exposed fastener panels
Corrugated and ribbed sheets screwed straight through the face. They work on a shed, a garage or a patio cover. On a house, though, every screw is a rubber washer aging in the sun. That is why we keep these panels off main roofs.
Profile
Corrugated or trapezoidal rib
Fasteners
Screws through the panel
Suits
Sheds, garages, patio covers
Section // four profiles side by side
Stone coated steel // tile look
Tile to metal roof conversion that keeps the look
Red barrel tile defines plenty of Los Angeles streets, and few owners want to lose that character. A tile to metal roof conversion with stone coated steel keeps the curve, the color and the shadow line while cutting the weight to roughly a sixth, and the panels will not crack under a foot or a falling branch.
This metal roofing comes in colors chosen to sit with the clay roofs around it, so the house still belongs on its block.
Panels hang on wood battens rather than lying flat on the deck. That thin air space carries heat up and out at the ridge, keeping the attic cooler than tile laid tight.
Ceramic coated granules bonded in acrylic hold their color instead of chalking, and a damaged panel can be replaced on its own.
Beneath the battens goes new underlayment, and that matters more than most owners expect: on an old tile roof it is usually the underlayment, not the tile, that has given out.
The seam
How a standing seam metal roof moves with the heat
On a south slope a metal roofing panel can run more than a hundred degrees hotter on a July afternoon than at a January dawn, and it lengthens and shortens with every one of those swings. How a roof handles that movement decides how long it stays tight.
Double-lock seam // clip beneath
That movement is where poorly detailed metal roofing fails. Screw a panel down tight and the steel fights its fasteners until the holes wear oval and leak. A standing seam metal roof avoids the fight: concealed clips let each panel slide along its length, and a mechanical seamer folds the joint shut on your roof.
On long runs we pin each panel at one point, usually the ridge, and let the rest float. The movement then goes into the clips instead of the flashings. With nothing left to work loose, a well-built seam roof needs very little attention.
Floating clips
Panels slide on the clips. No screw carries the strain.
Double-lock seams
Folded twice to 180 degrees against wind and driven rain.
Hemmed panel ends
Ends hook over the eave trim with no exposed fasteners.
One piece to the ridge
Each panel runs in one length from eave to ridge, with no end laps.
Fire and sun
A Class A fire rated roof with a cool roof finish
Since the 2025 fires, many Los Angeles owners have asked what their roof would do in an ember storm. Metal roofing is a large part of the answer, but only when every opening around it is closed properly.
01 // fire
The assembly earns the rating
The Class A rating belongs to the tested assembly of panel, underlayment and deck, not to the steel alone. Around it we seal the eaves and ridge with metal closures and fit ember resistant vents, because embers get into a roof through its gaps.
02 // sun
A finish that stays cool
We specify factory PVDF finishes in colors rated by the Cool Roof Rating Council. They keep their color for decades, and we choose one that meets the cool roof rule in the Los Angeles Green Building Code, which applies whenever more than half a roof is replaced.
03 // wind
Held down in Santa Ana wind
Clips sit closer together at eaves, rakes and corners, where uplift is strongest, and the double-lock seam keeps neighboring panels locked together along their full length.
Ridge vent // ember closure
Materials
Steel roofing, aluminum and the specs to compare
The metal and its coating matter as much as the profile. Here is the metal roofing we install, what each type suits, and the details worth checking on any written scope.
| Metal roofing | Where it fits | Gauge and finish |
|---|---|---|
| Galvalume steel | Most inland homes, standing seam and shingles | 24 gauge, PVDF cool finish |
| Galvalume steel, lighter | Stone coated and shingle systems | 26 gauge, stone or PVDF |
| Aluminum | Homes within about a mile of the ocean | .032 or .040 in, PVDF finish |
| Stone coated steel | Tile and shake looks, HOA streets | Steel core, stone granules |
Salt air shortens the life of steel. Near the coast we use aluminum, which does not rust.
Six details to get in writing
Before you sign with any of the metal roofing contractors Los Angeles has to offer, us included, ask each one to name these six details in the scope, not just the color. A scope that leaves any of them blank cannot be compared like for like.
| Detail | What to ask for in writing |
|---|---|
| Gauge | 24-gauge steel roofing for standing seam, not 26 |
| Finish | PVDF such as Kynar 500, not SMP |
| Clips | Closer spacing at eaves, rakes and corners |
| Underlayment | High-temperature synthetic, rated for metal |
| Openings | Metal closures and ember resistant vents |
| Warranty | Workmanship years in writing, apart from the finish |
Installation
Metal roof installation Los Angeles: how our crew builds it
Every metal roof installation Los Angeles homeowners book with us starts at bare wood. Can a metal roof be installed over shingles? The code allows it in limited cases, but we strip every roof to the deck, because the wood under an old roof is the one part nobody has seen for many years.
01
Measure and draw
Every plane is measured, and the panel layout, trims and flashings are drawn before anything is ordered.
02
Strip to the deck
The old roof comes off to bare wood, and damaged sheathing is replaced and photographed.
03
Dry in
High-temperature synthetic underlayment goes down, with membrane in the valleys and along walls.
04
Panels on clips
Metal roofing panels arrive formed to length, go onto hidden clips and are seamed shut.
05
Flash and walk
Trims, flashings and closures go on, then we walk the job with you.
Panels on clips // dried in deck
Our own metal roof installers, start to finish
The metal roof installers on your house are our own crew, based at our yard in Reseda and working under our CSLB license. We back their workmanship with a written 20-year warranty, and one company answers for the whole roof, from the first measurement to the last closure.
Most metal roof replacement Los Angeles projects we take on begin with a worn tile or shingle roof, and our metal roofing services carry the job through final inspection. Comparing systems first? Our guide to roof installation in Los Angeles sets tile, asphalt and cool roofs side by side, our roof replacement page walks through a full tear-off, and a leaking metal roof goes to our roof repair team.
20 YR
Written workmanship warranty on every metal roof we install
Solar
Standing seam metal roof with solar panels, no racking holes
Few roofs take solar as cleanly as standing seam metal roofing. If panels are in your plans, the roof and the array should be designed together.
A standing seam metal roof with solar panels needs no lag bolts through the deck. The racking clamps onto the raised seams and never pierces the waterproofing. The roof also outlives the array, which spares you a re-roof halfway through the panels’ working life.
Each clamp grips the rib with set screws that press on the seam, never through it, and is rated for the weight of the panels and the wind they catch.
Wiring runs down the seams and enters the house at one flashed point, the only planned opening in the whole system.
Attachment
Seam clamps, no racking holes
Service
The array lifts off, the roof stays whole
Layout
Panel width chosen to suit the racking
Wiring
One flashed entry, planned ahead
Planning solar? Tell us before the panels are ordered. We choose a panel width that suits your installer’s racking and time our roofing permit with theirs. The array can then go up soon after the roof passes final inspection.
Seam clamps // nothing drilled
Straight answers
Noise, heat, dents and rust, answered plainly
Most doubts about metal roofing come from barns and old tin sheds. A modern residential roof behaves very differently, and these are the four worries we hear most.
01
Rain noise depends on the deck
Over solid decking and underlayment, rain on metal roofing sounds much like rain on any other roof. The drumming people remember comes from panels over open framing, and stone coated panels are quieter still.
02
Heat stays outside
Does a metal roof make your house hotter? Not with a cool finish over a vented attic. Steel holds little heat and cools quickly after sunset instead of warming the attic into the night.
03
Dents are rare here
Heavier gauges and stone coated panels resist denting, and damaging hail is rare in Los Angeles. A branch heavy enough to dent steel would have broken tile.
04
Rust is designed out
Galvalume carries an aluminum and zinc layer beneath the paint, and exposed cut edges are hemmed or tucked under trim rather than left raw. Scratches get touched up with matching finish paint.
Questions
Metal roofing questions from Los Angeles homeowners
Short, straight answers to what owners ask us before they commit to metal.
Is a metal roof worth it?
For most Los Angeles homes you plan to keep, yes. Metal roofing outlasts asphalt by decades, reflects heat, resists embers and needs little upkeep, which makes it a roof you rarely have to think about. On a house you will sell soon, or a roof that only needs a repair, it is harder to justify, and we will tell you which case you are in.
Does a metal roof lower your insurance?
It can. California’s Safer from Wildfires regulation requires insurers, the FAIR Plan included, to recognize steps such as a Class A roof and ember resistant vents. Asphalt and tile can be Class A too, so what counts is the rating rather than the metal, and each carrier weighs it differently. Ask yours, and keep our written scope and photographs for the file.
How long does a metal roof last?
A well-built steel roof commonly serves 40 to 70 years, and a PVDF finish typically holds its color for decades of that. Stone coated steel sits in a similar range. What shortens any metal roofing system is sloppy work at the flashings and openings, and that is exactly where our crew spends the most time.
Will my HOA approve a metal roof?
Usually, when the profile suits the street. Stone coated metal roofing reads as tile or shake from the curb, and standing seam in a quiet color fits most modern blocks. We prepare the drawings and color selection for the review, and nothing is ordered until approval is in writing. In a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone the city reviews the change too, and some zones expect clay tile to be replaced with clay.
Does a metal roof need a permit?
Yes. The City of Los Angeles requires a permit for a re-roof, and a metal roof is inspected like any other. We pull it, schedule the inspections and hand you the final sign-off along with the warranty and the photographs of your deck. Permitted work also shows up in the property records a future buyer will check.
Is metal safer in an earthquake?
It is lighter, and weight matters when the ground moves. A standing seam roof puts far less mass on top of the walls than clay or concrete tile, leaving less load swaying above the frame, and that is one reason owners of older houses make the switch. Tile can also slip or break loose in a strong quake, while seamed panels stay locked together.
Can metal go on a low slope roof?
Yes, within limits. Mechanically seamed standing seam is rated for lower pitches than shingles or tile. That makes it a natural fit for the shallow roofs on many mid-century and modern Los Angeles houses. On a low slope, the city’s cool roof rule requires a highly reflective finish, which usually means a light color rather than charcoal. A roof that is nearly flat still calls for a membrane system instead, and we will tell you plainly if yours is one of them.
Do you repair metal roofs too?
Yes. Our roof repair team handles loose trim, failed sealant at a flashing and damaged panels. As a metal roof company that installs these systems, we start with the places metal roofing tends to leak and fix the cause rather than smearing sealant over it.
Plan it
Book a site visit with our metal roofing crew
Send the address, a line about the house and the metal roofing profile you like. We come out, measure the roof and leave you a written scope with the drawings. If you already have plans or photos of the roof, send those too.
Metal roofing Los Angeles // site visit
Call
Service area
Los Angeles, California
License
CSLB #1100046, bonded and insured
Hours
Open daily, 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM