On Saturday, 9 July 2016 22:08:04 UTC+1, Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp wrote:
On Sat, 09 Jul 2016 21:48:01 +0100, "James Wilkinson"
wrote:

On Sat, 09 Jul 2016 21:18:32 +0100, Weatherlawyer wrote:

On Friday, 8 July 2016 16:37:18 UTC+1, Mr Pounder Esquire wrote:

Many years ago when I lived in Australia some houses had "tin" roofs.
Apparently when it rained the noise was awful.

Made up for, no doubt, by the fact it was raining.

The tin has several inches of insulation under it. The major problem is preserving the weather seal at joints. Tin flexes in violent winds and expands and contracts a lot more than stone or clay. Large sheets being both a blessing and a downfall. I imagine going around the finished product with a soldering iron might be the only way to cure that.

Wouldn't the solder tend to come away from the steel when flexing occurred on hot sunny days?

I recently had a shed roof [Corrugated Steel] replaced, one of the
items charged for that was not included with the original was a tub of
grease. This it turns out was to lubricate the overlapping flashing
that covers the wall/ roof at the edges that don't drain.

Not sure how long it lasts though and I don't see any grease nipples
anywhere for the service.

Would it have been to allow movement as things expand and contract?

Zinc reacts with sunlight so they used to paint the roof after putting it on. It comes ready treated these days. Why would they use a metal flashing that could rust?