The Types of Tin Roofs for Houses

Tin Plate

• While Paris is known for its zinc-plated roofs, tin-plated roofs became more widely installed in Canada in the 18th century and the United States later. Thomas Jefferson installed a standing-seam tin roof on Monticello sometime after 1770, notes the National Park Service, and it became the country’s most common roofing material in the 19th century. Nowadays, a homeowner's metal roof selection includes tin plate, galvanized -- steel coated with zinc -- or copper. Tin plate roofs can last 30 to 50 years in a dry climate. With the application of roof coatings to combat rust and provide protection, the roofs can last more than 50 years. Exposure to salt air shortens a tin-plated roof’s life.

Advantages

• Tin plating metal provides excellent resistance to corrosion by the atmosphere, more than is available from lead, copper or zinc, writes architectural writer David P. Rigney in “Sheet Metal Roofing Techniques.” Tin-plated roofs require painting with an elastomeric coating -- essentially a coating that dries to a rubbery consistency -- to maintain this protection. The process of coating entails preparation work to remove surface rust with a wire brush, washing the roof, rinsing it, allowing it to dry and applying the coating.

Terne Plate

• Terne plate involves dipping sheets of iron in an alloy of tin and lead, giving it a duller finish than tin plate. Tin comprises 10 to 50 percent of the coating. During the colonial era, terne contained a balance of 80 percent lead and 20 percent tin. Given the health risks found from exposure to lead, metallurgic fabricators moved to an alloy of zinc and tin by the 1990s. Terne can be applied to stainless steel, carbon steel, copper, bronze, tin and titanium, notes the Metal Initiative, a program by the metal industry to promote metal use in construction. A terne plate roof can last up to 100 years, the group states, and stand up to marine environments.

Tin Shingles

• Roofs made of tin shingles, not much used in the current era, feature embossed designs to resemble tile or wood. Tin shingles are made to interlock and can be found made of tin, galvanized steel and galvanized iron, as well as zinc or copper. A stamp forms the shingles from tinned iron, and the shingles are retinned after stamping, which damages the initial coating.