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Committed to reshaping the world
Simply Sustainable
Today’s architects and contractors are committed to reshaping our world for the better. Metal Sales is committed to providing the building products, systems, data, technical expertise and support to help them do it.
Sustainability
Metal Sales is committed to improving our environment and our company’s impact on it. It starts with being a strong voice for sustainable design and construction, and we back that up in a number of ways. We offer architectural strategies, solutions and products that focus on energy efficiency, LEED certification and Net-Zero building. We’re the first metal manufacturer to offer Fluropon Pure coatings and to be included in the Declare program. And our products help contribute to critical environmental project certifications, such as LEED, ENERGY STAR and the Living Building Challenge.
But our products are only one part of the commitment. The other is how we operate our business. By de-centralizing manufacturing and operating facilities around the country, we reduce transportation for shipping and, therefore, fuel used. Our fleet is equipped to reduce fuel consumption in a variety of ways, including electronic engine monitoring to capture data that helps us re-train more fuel-friendly driving habits. We’ve even upgraded lighting throughout our offices and plant to reduce energy consumption.
Lastly, we partner with vendors and other organizations that share our view of the importance of building sustainable social responsibility because, together, we can multiply our effect, our impact, and our influence for future generations.
How We're Creating a Sustainable Future
Metal Sales’ commitment to environmental sustainability focuses on three primary areas: (1) manufacturing products that enhance and improve the environmental footprint for the structures on which they are used, and educating key audiences about the environmental benefits of these products; (2) operating all aspects of our business such that we constantly monitor our environmental footprint, and educate our associates about the importance of the actions we take to reduce it; (3) and partner with organizations that are equally committed to build sustainable social responsibility.
Here are some of the ways we're committed to sustainability:
The vast majority of Metal Sales products are made from steel, the world’s #1 most recycled material. The steel we use contains a minimum of 30% recycled content and are 100% recyclable at the end of their long lifespan.
Also, compared to asphalt shingles, Metal Sales residential roofing products are far better for the environment. A very small percentage of asphalt shingles are ever recycled; most are landfilled. Plus, asphalt shingles are petroleum-based products, which further tax our world’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Metal Sales products enjoy very long life cycles compared to alternative products. Products that don’t require replacement (or require less frequent replacement) during the lifespan of a building are generally preferred. The long life cycles of Metal Sales products makes them both financially and environmentally efficient.
According to the Metal Roofing Alliance, you can expect a metal roof to last at least 2 to 3 times longer than a regular roof. In general terms, count on a metal roof lasting 40 to 60 years and beyond.
To put it in context, the average life span of an asphalt roof is 12 to 20 years. That lifespan can be shorter depending on the pitch of your roof and the climate in your area. Made of oil impregnated paper or fiberglass, asphalt begins to deteriorate as soon as you expose it to normal weather. A metal roof, however, will never decompose.
Other roofing materials like wood shingle, shake and tile have varying degrees of weather-related problems that lead to breakdown. Wood shingle and shake roofs often need replacement before twenty years. Concrete tile roofs can crack and warp in the freeze/thaw cycle of more northern climates.
All of the above roofing materials are well-outlasted by metal roofing, which retains its good looks and durability decade after decade after decade.
Metal Sales products optimize energy and minimize construction waste. All Metal Sales color coating systems are ENERGY STAR® listed, and many are certified by the Cool Roof Rating Council. In both cases, these accreditations signify that Metal Sales products help to reduce the solar heat load on homes and buildings and thereby help reduce energy expenditures for cooling.
Metal Sales architectural metal roof and wall panels can be applied as the outermost component of a thermally efficient building envelope. As a component, they can contribute toward LEED credit for building certification.
The following information is provided to assist design teams in selecting materials to meet their project objectives and is based on LEED v4 for New Construction & Major Renovations
Metal Sales continues to develop methods that enable renewable energy technology to be more easily integrated into our products and systems. Examples include the easy integration of polycrystalline and thin-film laminate photovoltaics, micro wind turbines, solar heating and rainwater harvesting systems into our metal roofing systems.
Micro Wind Turbines
These smaller, lightweight but powerful devices are easily attached to the standing seams of Metal Sales roof systems. Specially engineered clips, which do not compromise the roof’s weathertight integrity by penetrating the metal roofing panel, are used.
The roof also maintains its ability to expand and contract freely in times of temperature differentials.
Solar Heating Integration
The sun beating down on a roof is obviously the primary source of unwanted solar heat gain in a building. Cool coating technology helps to significantly reflect the sun’s energy away from a building.
Additionally, the thermal energy that remains can be used to help heat air and water for building operations. Today, standing seam metal roof systems are successfully being employed to accomplish this.
Polycrystalline Photovoltaic (Solar) Panels
This solar-energy-producing technology is very effective, but also heavy. Metal Sales structural standing seam roof systems provide the structural strength to support expansive arrays of PV panels.
Polycrystalline PV panels are attached to the standing seams of a Metal Sales roof by using specially engineered clips, so that installation of the panels does not compromise the roof’s weathertight integrity by penetrating the metal roofing panels.
The roof also maintains its ability to expand and contract freely in times of temperature differentials.
Thin-Film Laminate Photovoltaics (Solar)
This technology is an excellent choice for Metal Sales standing seam roof systems.
The long, flexible and light-weight rolls of PV laminate are manufactured to adhere perfectly onto the flat surface of each roof panel.
Unlike polycrystalline panels, this option maintains the aesthetic form of standing seam metal roofs but may not perform as optimally as polycrystalline in less sunny environments.
The Living Building Challenge (LBC) certification program, administered by the International Living Future Institute, takes a broad view of sustainability and embraces the philosophy of a restorative future by looking at a building’s performance over time. In fact, certification is not granted until the building has been occupied and its performance documented for one year.
The Institute’s Declare Label is an ingredients-based eco-label around the Red List of “chemicals of concern” that have human health and toxicity impacts. Declare aims to provide transparency and open communication by allowing manufacturers to voluntarily share their product sources, materials and manufacturing locations.
Metal Sales is the first metal panel manufacturer to be included in the rigorous and exclusive Declare™ program. Metal Sales has fully disclosed all of the ingredients in the Acrylic Coated Galvalume® roof and wall panels through Declare, and they are designated as being Red List Free on the Declare Label.
Metal Sales has fully disclosed all of the ingredients in the Acrylic Coated Galvalume® roof and wall panels through Declare, and they are designated as being Red List Free on the Declare Label.
For more information, please visit www.declareproducts.com
Retro-Master® High Performance Retrofit Roof Systems
Metal Sales Retro-Master®metal roofing retrofit systems allow a new insulated high-performance metal roof to be installed directly over any existing old or inefficient roof, whether it’s sloped or flat. These systems do not require removing the old roof, and instead use the existing roof as a platform on which to build the new roof.Facade Rehabilitation
Facade rehabilitation is also achieved more affordably using lightweight Metal Sales wall panels as rainscreen cladding. To do so, a layer of continuous insulation is added to old masonry or EIFS walls. Next, adjustable vertical subgirts are put in place to attach the new wall panels and to correct for walls that are out of plumb. Then, pristine new lightweight Metal Sales wall panels are installed as a new facade.By operating 21 manufacturing facilities throughout the continental U.S. and Alaska, Metal Sales is able to produce finished products close to where they will be installed. This translates into big savings in fuel expenditures for shipping and smaller and more efficient delivery trucks.
Metal Sales is committed to providing the building products, systems, data, technical expertise and support to help them do it. As a building material manufacturer, we contribute to sustainable design and a healthier environment by what products we make, how we make them and how we operate as a company.
Well over a decade ago, the sustainable design movement took firm root in the U.S., and today Metal Sales continues to develop and supply products under the critical lens of green building. Metal Sales set out to better understand how its own wall cladding and roofing products compare to other alternative materials and systems relative to sustainability.
High-Performance Roofing
Cool roofs are designed to maintain a lower roof temperature than traditional roofs while the sun is shining. Cool roofs – like those made by Metal Sales – promote the more efficient use of energy. The low thermal mass of metal roofing means that it dissipates heat very quickly once the sun goes behind a cloud or sets for the day. Other roofing materials have greater thermal mass and will continue to radiate captured heat into the structures beneath them even when the sun is not shining.High-Performance Siding
Metal wall panels can provide a tight building envelope for less air loss and better thermal performance. Today, the preferred method of exterior wall construction involves using continuous insulation located outboard of thermally conductive steel framing. Accommodating this additional layer of continuous insulation requires that wall cladding materials are located further outboard in cantilevered fashion, sometimes as much as nine to ten inches away from steel framing members. In this design configuration, reducing the weight of the cladding material to prevent sagging is paramount. Metal Sales single skin wall panels are an ideal choice owing to their light weight. Weighing from just one to one-and-a-quarter pound per square foot, the lightweight nature of Metal Sales wall panels means they can more easily be employed in high-performance exterior wall construction.
Our Involvement
U.S. Green Building Council
International Living Future Institute℠
