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I have heard (if you'll excuse the pun) that the sound of rain on this type of roof can keep one awake at night. I have also seen huge sheets of frozen snow/ice come flying off them in the winter. In a Northern climate, how is the insulation affected when using a metal (ie. easy conductor) roof versus asphalt? Does anyone have any experiences or best practices to share?

they are very common in places that used to be/still are very cold and have lots of snow, like Quebec.

It's always interesting to see how geographic location plays such a role in the use and availability of building materials.

Here in Australia, you would be hard pressed to find one suburban street that didn't have any metal roof cladding.

There are a few things to note about this type of roofing, and they are relate to the properties of the material, specifically its (thermal) mass;
Firstly, sheet roofing requires a higher grade (i.e. thicker) insulation, as the steel/aluminium has a thinner/lower mass than say tile and has a tendency to allow heat to escape quicker.
Secondly, sheet roofing is very noisy. And I don't mean just the sound of rain, which can at times be deafening during a severe storm, I refer to the sound of the creaking and stretching noises that are unavoidable during summer (and winter) as the metal expands and contracts in the changing weather.
Thirdly, depending on building code regulations, it may infact be illegal to use sheet as a cladding material in cyclonic regions. This is due to the fact that, if not fastened (tied-down) 'to code' the sheeting will act as a sail in high winds and tear the roof off, if not the whole building apart. A slightly rational fear of mine is being hit by sheet metal during a storm.
And fourthly, sheet roofing requires slightly different roof members, so builders/contractors may need to install new battens, etc, in order to comply with local building codes.

One thing to note about the shown profile/style of cladding is that it has a higher ratio/percentage of flat pan profile to rolled. That is, compared to conventional corrugated sheeting, there are more areas of flat metal. What that means is that this particular profile is more likely to be noisy, and energy inefficient (see points 1, and 2).

Having said all that, sheet roofing is cheaper, (in this country) aesthetically pleasing, relatively maintenance free, and ever so slightly sustainable. I prefer to specify it in my buildings when I can.

We have a metal roof on our log cabin in northern Vermont. It seems to be a pretty common choice up there. For one thing, a lot of us have woodstoves that serve as the main (or in some cases, only) source of heating in the winter - a metal roof can really put you at ease knowing sparks might fly out of the chimney at any time. We have about 18 inches of insulation under this roof and it has always struck us as energy-efficient. As for the noisiness - we love it. The raindrops sound wonderful, and since they're muffled by insulation there's no danger of them being too loud. I can't imagine noise being a problem with this type of roof unless your house is surrounded by trees with falling branches and the like. Another great thing about metal roofs is the sheer range of colors they come in now. They can really brighten up an otherwise dull building, guesthouse, garage, etc.

A metal roof painted the exact color of terracotta with clay pigeons and finial . . . a little slice of Portugual. http://stylenorth.ca/blog/2008/08/inspiration-memories-of-madeira/

After a few hail storms in the midwest they would be quite dimpled.

I never saw metal roofs where I grew up in MA, but here in VT they're fairly common. We put one on our new house because we love the modern look, and it was inexpensive and practical. The snow does pile up - and dramatically slide off - if you don't install snow guards.

Installation photos: http://www.vtecobuilder.com/?p=46

Winter Photo

Fall Photo

Hail storms: for cosmetic damage simply check the hail warranty (ie., make sure that there IS a hail warranty, and that the coverage is reasonable for your area).

If you're worried about structural damage to the roof, there's a reasonably simple solution -- require that the roof system pass UL 2218 Impact Resistance testing at the Class IV level. Any storm which damages it would have pretty much destroyed any roofing material.

Geography and weather play a huge role in whether you have a metal roof. I live in the central southern half of the united states....we don't have harsh winters, but we do get our share of storms....my sisters old townhouse sat in an open field outside of town and had a metal roof and when a storm rolled into town.....it felt like the end of the world was coming it was so scary.

I have a metal roof on a cabin in upstate NY. it was installed last summer, right over the asphalt shingled roof. Looks good. One drawback so far: Morning condensation rolls right off the roof and would hit the decking and splash back against the siding, discoloring the wood and encouraging mildew. With the asphalt shingles dew sort of meandered around and hung on or evaporated before dripping over the eaves. Oddly enough a hard rain doesn't cause as much splash back as the drips of morning condensation/dew. So we had to install gutters and leaders, which kind of diminishes the clean look we were enjoying.
Speaking of leaders, now the condensation makes noise as it goes down the pipe and hits the elbow at the bottom of the leader. It's a constant loud tap, tap, tap sound, every morning. (right next to the bedroom window, naturally)
Any suggestions to muffle that noise? I was thinking of running a length of plastic rope down the inside of the leader pipe. Maybe something just at the bottom, in the elbow? I'm afraid of clogging the pipe when whatever i put in there freezes. Help! Any thoughts? Thanks

Anyone with experience in the PNW?

My grandmother's house in British Columbia, Canada, has a metal roof. It seems to do fine with rain and hail (not that we get that much hail here), and it's not even too noisy with the insulation cutting down the sound. In the winter it can be a pain when the snow falls off the roof, as it doesn't slide off flake by flake as it snows, but rather in large sheets as it accumulates enough weight to start sliding. As her roof slopes towards the front door and driveway it results in large snowbanks on the front walk and across the driveway, and therefore lots of shoveling of heavy, wet snow.