Metal Shake Roofing in Anchorage & the Mat-Su Valley
Stone-coated steel with the texture, shadow lines, and wood tones of a cedar shake roof. You keep the look and lose the splits, the rot, and the cedar upkeep.
Metal shake is stone-coated steel made to look like a cedar shake roof: textured panels, deep shadow lines, and wood-tone colors. Underneath is steel with a protective metallic coating and stone granules bonded on top. From the street it reads as shake. It doesn’t split, cup, or rot, it carries a Class A fire rating where untreated cedar has none, and it lasts somewhere past forty years.
Metal shake vs cedar shake
Cedar looks right on a lot of Alaska homes. It also fights freeze-thaw, shade, and moisture every year it’s up there.
- Upkeep. Cedar needs moss treatment and split or missing shakes replaced. Metal shake needs a look at trim, flashing, and sealant now and then.
- Moss and rot. In shade and wet, moss holds water against cedar and the wood goes soft. Steel doesn’t rot.
- Fire. Untreated cedar carries no fire rating. Stone-coated steel is Class A.
- Lifespan. Metal lasts somewhere past forty years. A cedar roof’s end shows up as splits, cupping, soft spots, and shakes worn thin.
Most cedar roofs come off rather than getting roofed over, often with solid sheathing added over the old spaced boards. Cedar shake roof replacement →
What does metal shake look like up close?
Reads as a shake roof
Deep shadow lines and wood-tone granule blends read as shake from the driveway and the road. On a log home or a house in the spruce, it fits the setting the way cedar did.
Reads as steel
On a ladder, you can tell it’s steel with a stone finish, not split wood. If real wood up close matters most to you, metal shake won’t fool you from three feet away, and we’d rather say so now.
Colors run to wood tones. Pick from full-size samples outside in daylight, not a screen, because low winter light and snow change how a color reads. Colors and finishes →
How metal shake handles Alaska wind, snow, and hail
It’s the same stone-coated steel system as our metal shingles, in a shake profile, with the same ratings. The panels lock together and are built to resist uplift in winds up to 120 mph, which matters in a Chugach wind event on the Hillside. They’re tested against wind-driven rain up to 110 mph, rated Class 4 for impact, the top rating, and Class A for fire.
Snow behaves the way it does on metal shingles. The stone texture holds it more like a shingle roof, so it comes off in smaller slides than standing seam. Smaller slides still land hard off a second story, so guards over doors, decks, and walkways still matter. Snow guards →
Tired of patching cedar?
Text a photo of your roof and we’ll tell you what we see.
Metal shake on log and timber homes
Metal shake fits log and timber homes, from Lazy Mountain and the Butte out to Big Lake. It keeps the wood look that suits log walls, spruce, and birch, with steel underneath. On a home that had untreated cedar, it trades a roof with no fire rating for a Class A one.
Going from asphalt to a shake look
You don’t need cedar on the house now to get a shake roof. If you have one sound layer of asphalt and the decking checks out from the attic, metal shake can often go right over it. Code generally allows one roof-over. With two layers already up there, or decking that needs work, it’s a tear-off, and decking is included in the price either way. If you’d rather have the look of shingles, the same steel comes in a shingle profile.
We put metal shake on homes in Palmer, Wasilla, Knik-Fairview, Eagle River, and Anchorage, and out to Girdwood.
What a metal shake roof costs
More than architectural asphalt up front. Against cedar, you’re weighing forty-plus years of steel against a wood roof that needs regular upkeep. The price depends on size and pitch; hips, valleys, and dormers; tear-off or re-roof; what’s under the old roof; snow guards; and access. Decking is included, and the estimate is written line by line. Metal roofing compares shake with standing seam. Metal roof cost →
Every job starts with a free inspection.
Photo report and a written price within 24 hours, and no pressure after it.
Metal shake questions
The questions we get most often about metal shake roofs in Anchorage and the Valley. Don’t see yours? Text us and a roofer answers.
Text my rooferIt’s the closest match to cedar that we install. From the street it reads as shake, it doesn’t split or rot, it carries a Class A fire rating where untreated cedar has none, and it lasts somewhere past forty years. The tradeoff is up close: on a ladder, you can tell it’s steel.
Somewhere past forty years, which usually means one metal roof outlasts two asphalt roofs. The panels are only as good as what’s under them, so every replacement also gets ice and water membrane at the eaves and valleys, new flashing, and ventilation sized to the attic.
About as quiet as a shingle roof. Stone-coated steel goes down over a solid deck and underlayment, so rain doesn’t drum on it the way it does on bare panels over an open shop. On most houses the attic sits between the roof and your ceiling, too.
Wood tones, in granule blends that are matte and textured. Pick from full-size samples outside in daylight, not on a screen, because low winter light and snow change how a color reads. Hold the sample up against your siding, trim, and windows before you decide.
That’s your insurer’s call, so ask your agent what a new roof does to your premium before you choose. What we can tell you is what’s going on the house: stone-coated steel with a Class A fire rating and a Class 4 impact rating, replacing untreated cedar that has no fire rating.
Full replacements run roughly May through October, and most homes take two to four days. Inspections happen year-round. If the roof is under snow, we check what we can and the attic, and tell you what we couldn’t see. Booking early helps you get a spot near the front of the season.
Let’s see what metal shake would take on your house
Text a photo or book an inspection. You get a photo report and a written price within 24 hours, and no pressure after it.