Metal Roofing &
Fencing Insights.
Practical guides for Ontario homeowners on standing seam roofing, metal fencing, weather protection, and premium exterior upgrades.
226 articles — page 8 of 10
Chimney Flashing on a Metal Roof: Crickets and Counter-Flashing
A chimney is a wall in the middle of your roof that water has to get around. The cricket behind it and the counter-flashing let into the masonry are what make that work.
Gate Hardware: Hinges, Latches and Closers for Metal Gates
The top hinge on a gate is in tension, not shear — which is why it is always the one that fails. A working guide to hinges, latches, closers and pool gate hardware.
Metal Roofing on Heritage and Victorian Homes
Metal is not a modern intrusion on a Victorian house. It was original practice on porches, bays and mansards. Doing it well means panel scale, period colour and asking about approvals first.
Window and Door Flashing Details in a Metal Siding Wall
Openings are where walls leak. Sill pans, jamb flashing, head flashing with end dams and a drip — the sequence and the reasoning behind each layer in a metal-clad wall.
Heat Cable on Roofs: When It Is a Fix and When It Is a Symptom
Heat cable does not melt a roof clear. It keeps a drainage channel open through ice. Sometimes that is exactly the right tool, and sometimes it is a very visible sign of a problem upstairs.
Powder-Coated Fence Problems: Chips, Rust Bleed and Sticking Gates
Coating chips, orange streaking at the ground line, and a gate that only sticks in one season each point at a different cause. What is a touch-up and what is a post problem.
Manufacturer Warranty vs Workmanship Warranty: What Each One Actually Covers
One covers the product, the other covers the installation, and most roof problems fall on the installation side. How to read both documents and find the gap between them.
Ice Damming: Why Some Houses Get It Every Year and the Neighbours Do Not
An ice dam needs a warm roof deck and a cold eave at the same time. The differences between two identical-looking houses are real and they are almost always diagnosable.
Powder Coating vs Wet Paint for Metal Fencing and Railings
Two very different ways of putting a finish on steel or aluminum. One is a thick, oven-cured film applied as dry powder; the other is liquid. Each wins in situations the other cannot handle.
Thermal Movement on Very Long Commercial Panel Runs
A long steel panel changes length by tens of millimetres between a January night and a July afternoon. Where that movement goes — floating clips, one fixed point, and trim that slips — decides the roof.
Panel Clips Explained: Fixed Clips vs Floating Expansion Clips
The clip is the part of a standing seam roof nobody sees and everything depends on. It carries wind uplift into the deck while letting the panel change length with the seasons.
Hanging Christmas Lights on a Metal Roof Without Drilling
No nails, no screws, no staples. Here's what actually holds on metal roofing, what magnets will and won't do, and how to do the job without getting on the roof at all.
Integrating Skylights Into a Standing Seam Roof
A skylight in a standing seam roof needs a curb, a cricket, and a panel layout planned around it before the first panel goes down. Flashing kits made for shingles do not translate.
Sizing and Bracing a Gate So It Does Not Sag
A rectangular gate frame is a mechanism until you triangulate it — and the diagonal has to run from the top hinge corner down, or it is doing nothing useful.
Contemporary Architecture and Flat-Profile Metal
Modern designs ask metal to be a flat plane, which is the hardest thing sheet metal does. Panel flatness, joint layout, finish direction and the real cost of eliminating overhangs.
Inside and Outside Corner Treatments for Metal Siding
Corners show every error in a wall — out of plumb framing, missing furring, panels pinned at both ends. The corner options available in metal, and what each one demands behind it.
Snow Load and Roof Structure: What Actually Governs Capacity
Roofs rarely fail from uniform snow. They fail from drifts, from sliding snow landing on a lower roof, and from loads nobody accounted for. Here is what determines capacity and who to ask.
Do You Need a Permit for a Roof Replacement in Ontario?
The honest answer is that it depends on your municipality and on what the work involves. Here is what typically triggers a permit, who should pull it, and how to get a definitive answer in one phone call.
How Powder Coat Holds Up to Ontario Winters and Road Salt
The bottom foot of a fence takes salt spray, plowed snow and freeze-thaw all winter. Powder coating is a barrier, and once that barrier is breached the substrate underneath decides what happens next.
Metal Roofs and Lightning: What the Physics Actually Says
The most persistent myth about metal roofing. Lightning is attracted by height and geometry, not by roofing material — and metal is non-combustible, which matters if a strike does occur.
Plumbing Vent Boots and Pipe Penetrations on a Metal Roof
The boot is the shortest-lived component on a metal roof and the one most often installed in the wrong place. Where it goes and how it is sealed decides how long it lasts.
Automatic and Powered Gates: What the Site Needs
Power, drainage, run-back space, safety sensors and a plan for what happens in a January ice storm. Automating a gate is a site problem before it is a hardware problem.
Trim, Flashing and Accent Colour: The Details That Finish a Roof
The panel colour gets all the attention, but the trim decides whether the roof looks sharp or unresolved. Matching versus contrasting, what to hide, and the parts people forget to paint.
Installing Metal Siding Over Existing Cladding
Going over old siding saves tear-off and disposal, and buys you a set of problems: flatness, fastener reach, buried moisture damage and every detail at the openings getting deeper.