On Tuesday we began installing the metal roof. Guy showed up in the morning and we finished installing the fascia boards, we installed the eave end flashing, and put on the Grace Ice and Water Shield. The Grace really isn’t needed, but we had to put it on to adhere to building codes. Its purpose is to protect the bottom edge of the roof from ice dams, but the house will never have ice dams for a variety of reasons: the amount of insulation, the roof is metal with a steep pitch (snow will slide off), and there are no gutters. Hopefully code will catch up on this mark.
Devin (who is proud of the fact that he has done a number of metal roofs in the last year) arrived in the early afternoon and we began putting it on! By the end of Tuesday we were half-way done with the South roof. On Wednesday we had help from Guy, Devin, Craig, and Adam. Unfortunately, we were not able to finish. There are three more panels to put on as well as the gable fascia board flashing and the ridge cap. This morning I put tape over the ridge to keep out the rain that we will be getting today and tomorrow. Adam and I will finish the roof up on Sunday.
Thank you Devin, Guy, Adam, and Craig!
Guy, Devin, and Spartan installing the metal panel. Reaching over three feet to put in the furthest screw was challenging since the screw had to puncture the metal. On Adam's suggestion, we predrilled holes for the north-facing roof.
We used a vise grip on the end of a rope to lift the panels up. We put gorilla tape on the jaw to protect it from scratching the metal.
Devin and Spartan pose for the camera
Adam, Devin, and Spartan working on installing the north-facing roof
Design & Construction of Spartan & Hannah's Home 
Hey Spartan,
What’s been interesting about our roof is that how the snow DOESN”T come off readily, given a 12:12 pitch metal roof. I think the main reason is because the roof is so well insulated that there is no layer of warmth coming up from below to give it a little layer of moisture to help it slide. I think this is going to be a counter-intuitive new reality of super-insulated homes.
Cheers on your progress.
Dave
Adam mentioned that the snow wasn’t sliding off your roof. If your hypothesis as to why is correct, then it would seem to me that an un-heated house, like my house currently is, would be in a similar position, yet, the snow was sliding off of the sheathing quite readily. I don’t think we had more than a few inches on the roof at any one time–and even that didn’t last. I suspect that there is more at play than the amount of heat exiting the house. Perhaps it has to do with the type of snow and other weather conditions? -Spartan
Roof colour might come into play? I’m building a 5:12 slope roof and plan to use metal. Since it’s only ‘warm’ for 2 months a year in Nova Scotia I plan to use dark colors to hopefully shed snow more easily and maybe reduce heating costs. It sure made a big difference with infield science class experiments in high school.