One Green Upgrade

The owners of this 12 year old home in Reno knew that their "25 Year" asphalt shingles were coming apart. They wanted to do something distinctive and beautiful and not only get a new roof, but upgrade their home as well. By installing a new Omega Tile in coated steel over their existing shingles, they not only changed the look of their house, but by using recycled steel and not adding to a land fill they helped the environment at the same time.

Roof Upgrade, Craftsman-Style - Reno, NV

The owner of this classic Craftsman-style home in Reno was ready to upgrade his asphalt shingle, but being an artist, he wanted something beautiful and distinctive. Omega Roof made these metal tiles in natural steel and the goal was achieved. Even though the new roof is only a couple of years old, this unique material looks like it was there from the beginning, yet will last for many generations to come.

Big Time Asphalt Upgrade

This is the kind of scenario we see over and over. Our customers' 16 year old "30 Year" roof, which had already been repaired multiple times, finally wore out its welcome. The owners got sick of the regular wind damage and decided to upgrade to a beautiful metal tile. Nice choice!

Marin County, CA Before & After

The owners of this A-Frame, hill-top home in Marin County, CA, were having repeated wind damage issues with their relatively new asphalt “50 year” shingles. They saw the Omega Shake in solid copper on their neighbor’s home and decided that they liked it enough to make the change themselves. Because their home sat right on a wind-swept ridge, both the original wood shake and the new asphalt shingle were unable to deal with the regular gales. At once, they eliminated their wind issue and upgraded their home by switching to a metal roof in copper. This material, comprised mostly of recycled material, will continue to age and streak over the years adding a classic, beautiful, natural look to the home, and the mechanical fastening system will ensure the highest possible resistance to wind damage for generations to come.

1957 Metal Shingles

OK, well maybe not THIS month – how about November, 1957?! Yes, the photo, taken the summer of 2008, is of a house just south of Reno, Nevada, that was originally built in 1957. Still has the original metal shingles, and there’s no apparent end to their life expectancy even now. In this part of the world, there is simply no other material that can offer this kind of long-term usefulness. I know that there were some repairs done a few years back – it turned out that some of the original nails had corroded though – improper application, it turned out – but even then the roof performed over 40 years without any service, and with that completed it has another few generations of performance still in the tank.

Seeing this first hand just confirms what I tell my clients every day – metal is absolutely the best value in roof materials. Period.

Gualala, CA copper job

This 25 year old residence near the California coastline was damaged when a storm caused a tree to crash into the structure. The owners took the opportunity to renovate the home. Given its Asian flavor, they decided that a copper tile roof would complement the architecture. Omega Roof was chosen as the supplier and consultant for the project. After installation of the copper tiles, a special patina chemical was field applied to the new panels in order to emulate the appearance of a copper roof that had been on the home for decades. Mission accomplished.

Rusty Steel Diamond Shingles - Squaw Valley

Notice the detailing of these Patagonia Diamond roofing shingles. Gorgeous! And check out this distinctive profile in varying materials here.

Squaw Valley, CA - Natural Steel Diamond Shingles

For this project, our customer asked for something distinctive, unusual and environmentally friendly. The home is in Squaw Valley, so the roof had to stand up to the high-altitude mountain environment too. We showed them our exclusive Patagonia Diamond Shingles, which are made of a natural heavy gauge steel that will rust and give the building an old, rustic appearance in a very short time. In an alpine environment, this heavy gauge steel has an extremely long lifespan and it's as close to zero maintenance as you can get with a high-altitude roof.

Both the customer and the contractor loved the finished product and already the neighbors are responding to how beautiful such a simple product can be. In fact, to photograph the home, I visited the neighbor, who expressed his interest in re-doing his own roof with the Patagonia Diamonds.

This is more of a hand-fitted roof than a production roof, which lends its unusual appearance. Because the pieces are very small, the installation is a little more intricate than the typical production roof, so there's a lot of attention to the details. And because of the high-guage metal, you get a very stout, rigid assembly.

There's certainly nothing else like this on the market. It accomplished the owners' goals of being beautiful, green and distinctive. Not only that, they've solved their roofing issues for many decades to come.

Want more images of this beautiful profile? Check 'em out here.