cutting metal roofing (straight)

[NoTrespassing]

A circular saw with a fine pitch carbide tipped blade is all you need. (like a plywood blade) Snap a line and saw it. Wear safety glasses and ear protection.

Kevin

 

[Evasive1]

Since you are screwing the wood down the wood does not have to be one long board. Lay down a chalk line and put down several straight shorter boards.

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

What I usually do is swap the metal blade from the skillsaw into the table saw and use that.

Steve

 

[mopower440]

I went and bought some snips today and tried them out on a piece of scrap, it was harder to cut straight with them than it was freehanding the saw, so i wasted my money on those..so i found the straightest board i could and screwed it down like you all said and it worked out pretty darn good, only thing with that is it leaves the edge pretty rough so i have to take a grinding wheel on the end of my drill and smooth it down..hope it doesnt rust too quickly on the cut edges. Thanks for the ideas everyone!

 

[Inspector507]

Put some kinda paint on that raw edge, it will show rust soon.

 

[mopower440]

i really hate to paint on it and ruin the looks of it, what about putting some good grease along the edge or something like that?

 

[Junkman]

I would use old bad grease ..... no sense in wasting good grease on a rusty old piece of metal. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[mopower440]

the metal is not rusty yet..lol.. keep your fingers, toes, eyebrowes and whatever else crossed, the inspector is coming out monday to inspect what i have done so far, i was supposed to call him after i had the footings done, he inspects in 4 sequences, footings, plumbing, electric, and i think concrete, i called him to ask him something and told him how faralong i was and he said he needed to come take a look before i go too much farther, so i told him to come on out monday when im off work. Far as i can see, everything should check out ok. Good thing i got those posts bolted down!

 

[mdbarb]

Dunno if this is corrugated metal or what but what if you didn't cut the piece at all. Just line up one edge with the edge of the roof and let the other side overlap the previous piece of metal by the extra foot or so?

 

[Inspector507]

He is not using the type you can overlap like that. If he was it would be simple /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.

 

[mopower440]

Things are kinda slow right now, been raining hard for 2 days so nothing is getting done..i am back to trying to decide on metal or wood siding again because of how it was trying to cut that peice of metal for the roof straight..as i said, i ended up strapping the straight board to it for a guide for the saw and it worked, but there is going to be all sorts of cutting needed for the siding to go around the 2 windows, the man door and the overhead door and i really dont want to mess up a bunch of metal by cutting it all crooked and stuff, so im really debating on this right now. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[keeney]

1. Use an abrasive style metal-cutting blade for a smooth edge.

2. Use another piece of the roofing metal as the straight edge, or the factory-cut edge of a piece of plywood. These will be straighter than any 2x4 you will ever find.

3. If you want a really finished edge, cut it about 3/4" long, and then find somebody (a siding contractor) with a really long metal-bending break, bend over the edge to form a hem.