Drive any county road around Boyd and you’ll see them going up: barndominiums on acreage, with a shop on one end and a home on the other. Boyd has grown faster than any other town in Wise County by percentage, and a lot of that growth looks like this. The roof is one of the biggest decisions on one of these buildings, and the question I get most is simple: R-panel, PBR or standing seam?
I’m Blake Snow. I’ve been roofing for 30 years, I’m the third generation in a family roofing business that goes back 75 years, and our crews have completed over $80 million in roofing projects. Our Decatur office is about seven miles north of Boyd. Here’s how I’d think through a barndo roof.
Start with what’s under the roof
A barndo isn’t a hay barn. Part of it is a shop, and part of it is where your family sleeps. That changes the roof. Over the shop, you mostly need a roof that sheds water, holds up to wind on open land and is easy to maintain. Over the living space, you want house-grade flashing, ventilation and a plan for condensation. Our barndominium, shop and ag roofs page covers how we handle both.
R-panel: the workhorse
R-panel is a ribbed steel panel screwed through the face, with a sealing washer under each screw. It’s what you see on a lot of shops, barns and barndos around Wise County, and for good reason. It goes on fast, it handles big, simple roof planes well, and it’s a good fit for open spans.
The thing to know is the screws. Every exposed screw is a spot that needs to be driven straight and to the right depth, and after years of Texas sun the washers can crack. That doesn’t make R-panel a bad roof. It means it’s a roof you should have checked now and then, and re-screwed when the time comes. We do that kind of metal roof repair too.
PBR: R-panel with a little extra support
PBR stands for “purlin bearing rib.” It’s nearly the same panel as R-panel, but it has a small extra leg on the overlap edge. That leg sits on the framing where two panels lap, which gives the lap more support. PBR is common on metal buildings with purlin framing, which is how a lot of barndos are built. If your building has a metal frame and purlins, PBR is often the one I’d look at first. If it’s wood-framed with decking, R-panel may make more sense. We’ll look at your framing before we recommend either.
Standing seam: no screws in the weather
Standing seam is a different kind of roof. The panels are held down with clips hidden under raised seams, so there are no screws through the face of the panel. Fewer holes means fewer spots to maintain over the years, and the clean lines look sharp on a modern barndo or farmhouse-style build.
We run our own roll formers and a standing seam machine, so we form our standing seam panels in-house to the length of each slope, and our own crew installs them. On most barndo roofs that means one panel from ridge to eave, with no end laps. You can read more about why we form panels on site.
Standing seam takes more time and labor to install than exposed-fastener panel, so it usually costs more. Some owners put standing seam over the whole building. Others go with standing seam over the living area and R-panel or PBR over the shop. Both are reasonable, and we’ll price them side by side so you can see the difference for your building. For a closer look at the two, see standing seam vs. R-panel on a ranch house.
Gauge matters on big buildings
Gauge is the thickness of the steel, and a lower number means thicker metal. Every standing seam and R-panel roof we install is 26-gauge, which is thicker than 29-gauge. On a building with long, flat roof planes, thicker steel shows less waviness in the flat of the panel. Whoever you hire, ask for the gauge in writing. Our post on 26 vs. 29 gauge explains more.
Plan for condensation from day one
This is the one I see go wrong the most. When warm, humid air inside the building touches cold metal, it condenses, and bare metal over a heated or cooled living space will drip. The fix is planned at install: a vapor barrier or insulation under the panels, plus ventilation. It can be retrofitted later, but it’s harder and messier than doing it right the first time. Talk with your builder about how the walls and ceiling will be insulated, and make sure the roof plan matches.
Wind and hail on open land
Barndos around Boyd usually sit out in the open, so wind hits them straight on. Fastener patterns at the eaves, rakes and ridge count, and so does good trim at the edges. Hail is real here too: NOAA recorded 3-inch hail at Boyd on April 8, 2024, a week after 2-inch hail on April 1. Every metal roof we install is Class 4 impact rated under UL 2218, the highest impact rating. No roof is hail-proof, and metal can still dent, but some insurance companies give a credit for an impact-rated roof. Call your agent to ask.
Questions to ask before you pick
- Is the building metal-framed with purlins, or wood-framed with decking?
- What’s under the roof on each end: shop, living space or both?
- How will condensation be handled over the living area?
- What gauge is the steel, and is it on the estimate?
- Are the standing seam panels one piece from ridge to eave?
- What’s the workmanship warranty, and is it in writing?
About the photo
The photo isn’t a barndo, and it isn’t from Boyd. It’s a green standing seam roof we installed on a log-look home with a stone base and covered porch, the kind of country look a lot of barndo owners are after for their living space.
Nearby towns
We roof barndominiums, shops and barns all around southern Wise County and the edge of Parker County, including Decatur, Rhome, Newark, Paradise and Springtown. See all our options on the metal roofing page.
Let’s take a look
Whether you’re building a new barndo, re-roofing a 20-year-old shop that leaks at every screw, or just need a few panels replaced, we’d be glad to come out. Every inspection comes with a free digital photo report, and our residential roofs carry a 10-year transferable workmanship warranty.
We’re A+ rated on the BBB, and our Google ratings are 5.0 at all three offices: 86 reviews in Bridgeport, 13 in Decatur and 3 in Rhome. We serve the entire DFW Metroplex and towns within about 65 miles of Bridgeport.
Call (817) 733-9228 or request an estimate, and we’ll set up a time to walk your building with you.