Matt has two sides finished on the shed we’ve been working on since last year. The front will be open, so he only has one side to go. He also needs to finish the gable ends.
For the walls of the shed we’re using the metal we took off our roof a few years ago when we had shingles put on it.
30 years ago when Pap and Matt built our house metal roofs were just beginning to get popular again in our area. We took a long time to decide on the perfect color for the metal. It only took us a few months of living in our new house to realize the only way to see the red roof was from the sky or from the high ridges that surround our home.
It was the first metal roof they had ever put on. They followed the instructions of the day, but later wished they had went about the process differently.
The roof was insulated and stripped with 2x4s before the metal was screwed down.
We moved into the house about three days before the girls were born in September. The first heavy rain came in November when Matt was gone hunting and I was here alone. The sound of the rain was deafening. I sat on the couch and wondered if the roof was going to fall in on me and the babies. Of course it didn’t—it was just very loud, especially since I had never lived in a house with a metal roof.
Another weird thing that resulted from the way they installed the metal was that in the perfect conditions (about once a year) when the temperature outside and inside reached a certain place there was condensation. That condensation would run down the walls and find its way through the window jams and door frames in streams of water.
Eventually Matt pulled all the metal off, plywooded the roof, and put the metal back on. That helped dampen the sound of heavy rain and completely stopped the condensation.
With metal roofs like the one we had the screws need to be changed out every 10-15 years to ensure a good seal. Matt decided instead of replacing all the screws again, he would have them switch the metal out for shingles.
The men who did the work tried to buy the metal from Matt, but he said he better hold onto it. I’m glad he did.
He used some of it to redo a few of our raised beds and now it’s being used on the shed.
I’m sentimental about all sorts of things—including the metal. Nice to think about how it covered our heads and all we owned through the ups and downs of life.
I’m glad it’s still with us in the shed and raised beds.
Last night’s video: Appalachian Family Eats A Traditional Supper Together.
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
Loved hearing this story about metal roofing and how Matt is so good at recycling just about anything. Love to all in this coming holy season. Prayers for Mr. Norman and his beloved brother. I care very deeply about anyone who has siblings who are ill or lost and loved so much by their brothers or sisters. God bless everyone today, tomorrow and always.
Wow! I absolutely love all these stories about metal roofs. I also love the sound of rain falling down on a metal roof. I can remember my grandma’s old home place out in the country having a metal roof. I would listen to the rain falling on it and the sound was so sweet. Those memories will never fade away.
God bless you all and have a wonderful day in the Lord. By the way it is raining here in Bassett this morning, but sadly no metal roof here today. Matt and Tipper, I to love that red tin color on your shed. Glad that it was saved for that purpose. You will enjoy it for years to come.
Hi Tipper, Matt and Acorns. I’m running so late today, it is already tomorrow. I loved the video of y’all finishing that wall. That snipper is as handy as Matt. I have built 4 houses for myself and my family. I’ve helped roof 3 for other folks. I ended up homeless after each home was finished and I was divorced. It was a cycle I got stuck in, like the Twilight Zone. Get married, by him a dog, send him thru college, build a house, get a divorce. Three times. This last time I Found myself close to doing it again and stepped back. Ed was 12 yrs old and his sister was 18. She was in SC with her Daddy; that’s a whopper of a long story. Anyway, Ed’s Daddy gave him (turns out we paid him for it, $3K and that’s another story, LOL) an old trailer he had and moved it to the land we live on today. No doors, windows, electric, plumbing, floors, insulation, or heat source. So, I got busy and built a trailer. That one lasted till a heavy snow piled 3 feet of snow on the roof. The living room ceiling was sitting on the back of the sofa that morning when we got up. I shoveled off the snow and propped up the side wall and roof with 2×4’s. I was in college and working 3 jobs, so I hired a man to repair the wall and roof. After he finished his work it poured the rain into the trailer down that back/side wall like a waterfall. That trailer was finished. My Daddy bought the trailer we live in now and here we are. Daddy left it to Ed when he passed away. The rain pounds on this trailer so loud sometimes we can’t hear each other talk. The rain runs in on the same back wall since the tornado of 2012. It is tiny, 644 sq ft, and it gets screaming hot in here in the summer, but it is the longest we have ever lived anywhere. Ed thinks of it as Home. We are thankful for it. At least we are not homeless. I keep everyone here and up Wilson Holler in my prayers. I love y’all.
Way to go, Matt! Always a use for good building materials. Besides, you & that metal have a history now. And a red shed just says “Farmstead!” Goes with a red tractor. Like you all, I did not realize that about replacing the screws. Of course that is not about their holding power but about the seal just under the head deteriorating over time. Our roof is mostly a 12/12 pitch which may be saving us about now. Once upon a time nails with lead caps were used. I remember Dad using them on the barn when I was a kid. I also remember chewing on those heads which I guess is one big reason they are no longer used; too likely to happen and men have been known to carry nails, tacks, etc in their mouth when they need both hands. Lead is supposed to mess with our minds.
Ron, I wish I could just hang around our landfill or home construction sites and pick up some of the so called scrap lumber and other building materials that are thrown away. I try to save just about all of my scrap/ leftover lumber from my building projects. As for tractors, I am an old red Farmall man, I have a saying “if it is not red leave it in the shed!” Nothing with a sweeter sound than a good running old M Farmall. I will admit I also like listening to the bigger models of the 2 cylinder JD when they are pulling a heavy load. They will be walking and talking.
My grandpa built the house my mother, later me and my children were raised in around 1920. It is a big old two story farm house. He put a tin roof on it. To this day the house has the same roof. It has only required periodic painting (always green) over the years. Growing up my bed was under the window overlooking the porch. No insulation of any kind in the porch roof. I loved to hear the rain on it but lived in terror of hearing the wind rattle that roof in the dark. I was sure it would blow us away. To this day I do not care for much of a wind.
I go camping quite a lot and I love the sound of rain on my tent – it’s not as loud as that on a tin roof, but noisy just the same!
Praise God, Matt is a conservative man, that’s the best way to go, God bless you friends have a great day, please continue to pray for my brother, he is very weak and nauseated, he is very sick, thank you for praying I love you and God bless you
Norman, I’m so sorry. I will keep praying!
To me rain on the roof is like listening to music. I listen to rain on a tin roof growing up in SC. Have slept through too much hurricane rain and too many hurricanes here in Florida, but I still love the sound of raine on the roof.
I remember summer storms coming up on Wiggins Creek. Though the storms were sudden oftentimes you could smell them and hear the rain approaching. That was your warning to run for cover. Did I head for the house? No! I sought shelter in the barn. I’d pull together a couple of hay bales and lie there and listen to that heavenly music emanating from the sky.
I have a metal roof now, over shingles. The ceiling, not the roof, is insulated. Due to ambient noise it’s hard to hear the rain from inside house but I have an attached carport where I often go to sit during summer rains.
My neighbors and I unknowingly hired a meth head to replace our shingle roofs with metal after a bad hail storm. He brought bright blue to a rental house, instead of the green I ordered. The tenants said they would put a “now frying” sign in the yard if I had the Moby Dick Restaurant color installed. The other neighbors’ houses flooded after the first rain. A real roofer found that the metal was inverted and funneled every drop of rain inside their homes, making me luckier than the other two victims. Come to find out the addict was wanted for doing similar things in two surrounding counties. He went to jail for theft and dealing drugs. While trying to recoup a few dollars, I sold my bright blue metal, and later found out it was cut to fit a pole barn 50 miles from here. Metal roofs sure are pretty when installed correctly.
The house I grew up in had a metal roof and I loved hearing the sound of the rain coming down on it. I am glad you and Matt kept the metal and are using it for the shed. It’s looking great! Now you can see the color and actually enjoy it. It sure was put to good use.
‘Waste not, want not’ as the saying goes – and things we don’t think we need any more we often find do come in handy down the road. Matt had good foresight with that metal and now you all reap the benefits in not just re-use, but memories of when your Pap and Matt first installed it, to now putting it to use in the garden and shed….and the shed is looking good Matt. I have thrown out things more than once only to find later on I sure wish I had kept it. What a great feast for last evening meal from the pork roast with sauerkraut to the blueberry upside down cake – and that you all joined together to share it. May the Lord continue to comfort, bless, and guide you all through each day.
We have a metal roof and I love to hear the rain on it, but when it’s storming heavily it’s almost too deafening! It’s so neat how you’ve been able to repurpose the old metal roof for various projects around your place. I, too, love the color!
Morning everyone. You know Tipper, you wanted to see red on your house. Now you sort of see red, just on the shed instead. I look at things that way so I don’t kick my self. Back when we had our mountain house. I looked at it one day and said it would look like a barn if it was red. It’s a Gambrel style. It did turn out beautiful. Wouldn’t you know, not long after, houses around us were being painted the same color. I had my son tear down an old shed when we bought this place. I got rid of everything to neighbors. One said he was working on his chicken coop. I should have saved the tin. Oh well. No I’m not kicking myself. Anna from Arkansas.
“Waste not, want not…”
“Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without…”
Well, Matt’s now using it up after it was worn out as roofing. He needn’t do without, because he was able to make do. I’m sure the money he was offered would have come in handy, but the trouble of having to later go out and get siding was avoided. He knew what he was going to do with all that metal, and now he’s done it!
It’s that kind of resourcefulness that you’d wish everybody had, except for the fella who makes and sells the metal who’d kind of wish you didn’t… 😉
We have a metal roof on our cabin, but we can’t really hear the rain making that wonderful tinkling sound. There are too many layers of plywood and insulation and wooden boards inside. I am not complaining…it is a cozy and warm home that my hubby built for us forty years ago. We love sitting on the front porch and listening to the rain on the carport roof. In the fall, the sound of acorns hitting the carport is so loud that it sounds like someone shooting. We do hear acorns hitting our house roof, but not too loudly. We had a used, and pretty much uninsulated, 1961 trailer with a tin roof when we were first married. We both loved the sound of the rain, but not how cold it was in winter. My hubby is just like Matt about saving things for later use. We would never have thrown away that red metal either. We are getting more snow right now, and the grandbabies are chomping at the bit to get outside to play in it. It’s 36 out, but feels like 22. I better finish my coffee and get ready. Have a great day everyone!
Having grown up in a house with a tin roof and precious little if anything in the way of insulation, not to mention no central heat, I guess I became accustomed to the sound of rain on the roof and going into a cold bed in the winter. In sharp contrast to you, I absolutely love the sound of rain on a metal roof. To me it is like a symphony, with a heavy roll of drums when there’s a downpour and the soft whisper of hushed string instruments when the rainfall is light. I know of no more soothing sound, unless possibly it’s the gurgling, contented song of a mountain creek. I suspect there are others among your readers, especially those who are older, who will feel at least somewhat similarly.
Jim, I think you and I are about the same age. (I’m making my 84th trip around the sun.) To learn that you, too, grew up in an old house without central heating means we share that as well.
We heated out 2 story home in Raleigh with 2 fireplaces (dining room and living room) and the kitchen stove heating the kitchen. I was a teenager when we added a Siegler oil-fired space heater and a water heater to the bathrooms. I think the latter was due to new laws requiring it.
I still prefer an unheated bedroom but must confess to using an electric blanket instead of 3 quilts. 🙂
This house has a metal roof and is 8 yrs old. I love the sound of rain on it but it’s much quieter than the tin roof on the pine log house my daddy built in the1930’s. I slept upstairs under the slope growing up and to me rain was a loud but soothing sound. The best part about this one is that it only has a gutter on part of one side over a wheelchair ramp. I love watching rain roll off. Since I’m on a hill water doesn’t stand in the yard. The screened porch is a good place to nap in appropriate weather. I found a used wicker couch a few years ago that I call wicked instead of wicker. It grabs and won’t turn loose on those days and on some that require a blanket. I don’t fight it much. There are piles of tin here from old sheds and barns that I hope can be reused as you did your metal. I’m a re-user too.
My daffodils are trying to out-do themselves and the 14 degrees yesterday morning didn’t seem to hurt them. I hope it didn’t hurt the fruit trees.
Thanks again for all you do.
I often refer to myself as “Frugal Frannie” because my entire life I have looked for ways to reuse and repurpose. It’s so satisfying to both my practical side and my sentimental side. I was just giddy as I watched you and Matt getting that second wall up on the shed. Knowing Matt is planning camping “trips” with the boys out in the shed just makes finishing even sweeter. I watched several videos last night of Granny singing with Paul. It made me teary but I got a real chuckle after one song when she quite frankly asked him, “does that suit ya?” I decided that was the last video because it not only made me smile, it produced a chuckle. She was just the cutest little lady and what a kind and thoughtful man is your brother, Paul♡
The red tin looks great on the shed! We are like that too. We try to use what we have when working on a project. That’s how my hubby built our greenhouse! I’ve enjoyed watching the shed go up!!
I love the sound of rain on a metal roof, we have that on our covered back porch and it can be loud. It’s weird you had condensation issues, we had that problem in our 2 of our houses we bought through the years, but we didn’t have a metal roof, just shingles. Our kitchen cabinets had bulkheads above them instead of open space like we have now in our home. I believe what caused the condensation was no insulation in the bulkhead, and both of those houses didn’t have near the insulation in the attics like what is in our current home.
Our hope is get a piece of land close the grandbabies in TN. The son-in-law and I have a long-running, half-serious, half-joking conversation of our wish list and honey-do list once we arrive. One thing the whole family agrees on on is that we must reserve space in any outbuilding we might have to have a nice nap area on rainy days 🙂
I sure enjoyed the video last night. Im glad too that you kept the metal as it helped you get one of your dreams of having a shed. Thank you for sharing your wonderful life with us.
The red is beautiful. I love red barns and sheds. I also love the black baccer barns that dot the landscape when we go home to KY. We have metal on our roof now, but there is no sound when it rains. An Amish man installed it and told us if we were looking for any sound from it we would be disappointed.
My grandparents had the old metal that was loud like you’re talking about. I can remember as a child being in the bed and a storm coming through thinking I was gonna be struck dead where I laid. I did love the sound of a small shower on it.
I’m sentimental too about things. Lol, I have to be careful as I could probably be a hoarder.
When I married our first home was a single wide metal roof mobile home. I loved hearing the sound of a gentle rain on the roof, especially when I was sleeping during the night. Even now at 72 years old I like to be under my metal roof shed when it is raining and find myself wishing I had a cot and could sleep under the shed. I did the opposite of Tipper, I have put metal roofs over all of my outside building that once had single roofs,