- Elevating Exteriors – From Concept to Completion
- Elevating Exteriors – From Concept to Completion
If you want the lowest upfront cost, a wide range of colors and styles, and a roof that's easy to patch or partially replace after storm damage, composition (asphalt) shingles are usually the right call for a typical Skagit Valley home. If you're planning to stay in your home for decades, live somewhere exposed to wind off the Skagit flats or the Strait, own a place near saltwater on Camano Island or in Anacortes, or you're tired of scrubbing moss off a shaded roof every couple of years, a metal roof's higher price tag often pays for itself in fewer service calls and a much longer service life. Neither option is universally better — the right one depends on your lot, your budget, and how long you plan to own the house. Alpine Exteriors installs both systems across Mount Vernon, Anacortes, Burlington, Sedro-Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood, Camano Island and Bellingham, and the trade-offs below are the same ones we walk homeowners through on every estimate.
Composition shingles — sometimes called asphalt or architectural shingles — are the roofing material on the majority of homes in Mount Vernon, Burlington and La Conner. They're built from a fiberglass mat coated in asphalt and topped with mineral granules, and they come in dozens of colors and profiles that match the craftsman, farmhouse and Northwest-contemporary styles common in the valley. Because so many local roofers install and stock them, materials are easy to source and a damaged section can usually be patched without replacing the whole roof, provided the shingle line hasn't been discontinued.
The upfront cost is the biggest draw — composition is typically the least expensive way to re-roof a house here, and installation is faster than most metal systems, which matters if you're working around our wet-season install windows. The tradeoffs show up over time. Skagit County's combination of heavy winter rain, mild temperatures and heavy tree cover means moss and algae take hold quickly on any roof that doesn't get regular sun — shaded roofs in Sedro-Woolley's foothill lots and wooded parcels around Anacortes are especially prone to it, and left untreated, moss holds moisture against the shingle and shortens its life well below the 25–30 year range manufacturers advertise. On the Skagit flats and anywhere exposed to wind funneling off the Strait — La Conner and the open stretches around Stanwood — a standard shingle can lift or lose granules in a sustained blow, so we spec higher wind-rated shingles and a tighter nailing pattern for those sites rather than treating every roof the same.
Metal roofing here usually means either standing-seam panels with hidden fasteners or exposed-fastener screw-down panels, in steel or aluminum with a factory paint finish. It's less common than composition on older Skagit Valley farmhouses, but it's become a regular request for new builds and re-roofs on Camano Island, waterfront lots in Anacortes, and homes in the foothills toward Sedro-Woolley.
The appeal is longevity and how it handles this specific climate. A smooth metal surface sheds moss and algae far better than a granulated shingle, which matters on the shaded, tree-lined lots that make up a lot of Skagit and Whatcom county real estate — though it isn't moss-proof, and debris still needs to be cleared from valleys and low-slope sections. Standing-seam panel systems generally carry higher wind-uplift ratings than shingles, which is worth paying attention to on open, exposed sites near the Strait or the flats. Heavy winter rain runs off metal quickly, and in the occasional snow and ice the foothills see, a slick metal roof sheds snow load rather than holding it, which lowers ice-damming risk at the eaves. Steel and aluminum panels with a quality coating also hold up well against the salt air that works on fasteners and flashing near saltwater on Camano Island and other waterfront properties. Expect a 40–60 year service life from a well-installed system, roughly double what you'd plan for with composition.
None of that comes free. Metal costs noticeably more up front — often close to double a composition job — and it requires an installer who works with metal regularly, since a poorly detailed standing-seam roof can leak at penetrations just like anything else. Exposed-fastener panels need their screws checked and occasionally re-driven or replaced over the decades, especially on windy sites, or they become the roof's weak point. Rain noise is a common worry; with solid decking and standard underlayment it's rarely an issue in practice, but it's worth discussing if you're converting from shingles to metal on a home with an open attic. And if a panel is ever damaged, matching the color and profile years later can be harder than swapping a shingle bundle.
Here's how the two systems generally compare for a typical Skagit County re-roof. Treat the cost figures as planning ranges, not quotes — your actual number depends on roof pitch, tear-off scope and access.
| Composition Shingle | Metal Roofing | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost (installed, per sq. ft.) | Roughly $4–$7 | Roughly $9–$16, depending on panel type |
| Typical lifespan here | 20–30 years, often at the lower end under heavy tree cover | 40–60 years with a quality coating and sound fasteners |
| Maintenance | Periodic moss/algae treatment, gutter clearing, occasional shingle repair after wind | Debris clearing at valleys, periodic fastener checks on screw-down panels; less frequent overall |
| Appearance | Widest range of colors, profiles and traditional looks | Clean modern or standing-seam farmhouse look; fewer color choices, visible panel lines |
For a lot of homes on the Mount Vernon and Burlington valley floor, composition shingles remain the practical choice — winds are generally more moderate there than on the open flats or waterfront, and if you're managing moss under mature trees, a few years of granule loss on a shingle roof is a lower-stakes problem than it would be on a roof that's already at the top of the budget. If you're closer to the water — La Conner, Anacortes, or a waterfront lot on Camano Island — the combination of salt air and wind exposure off the Strait tends to tip the math toward metal, since the long service life and better wind performance offset the higher install cost over the years you're likely to own the home. In the foothills around Sedro-Woolley, where occasional snow and ice show up in a way it doesn't on the valley floor, metal's ability to shed snow load rather than hold it is a genuine advantage, though we still recommend snow guards over entries and walkways so a slick roof doesn't dump snow where people are walking. Stanwood and Bellingham properties fall across both patterns depending on tree cover and exposure, so the honest answer for most homeowners there comes down to how long you plan to stay and what you're comfortable spending now versus later.
The Washington State Energy Code doesn't specify a roofing material, but it does drive decisions around ventilation, attic insulation and underlayment that apply to both systems — proper ridge and soffit venting, for instance, matters as much under a metal roof as under shingles, and ice-and-water shield at the eaves is worth having on either system given how often this region cycles through freeze-thaw in the foothills. Alpine Exteriors builds both composition and metal roofs to meet those code requirements as a baseline, not an upgrade, and part of every estimate is telling you honestly which system fits your specific lot rather than defaulting to whichever one happens to be sitting in the shop.
It's more than cosmetic. Moss holds moisture against the shingle surface, and in a climate with as much winter rain as Skagit and Whatcom counties get, that trapped moisture accelerates granule loss and can work its way under shingle edges over time. On shaded lots — common in the Sedro-Woolley foothills and wooded parts of Anacortes — regular moss removal and control strips at the ridge make a real difference in how long a composition roof actually lasts versus its rated lifespan.
A properly installed standing-seam metal roof generally has a higher wind-uplift rating than a standard composition shingle, which is one reason it's popular on exposed sites near La Conner, the open flats, and waterfront lots on Camano Island. That said, wind performance depends heavily on installation detail — fastening pattern, panel clips and edge flashing all matter — so the difference between a wind-rated roof and a vulnerable one often comes down to the installer, not just the material.
With solid roof decking and standard underlayment, rain noise from a metal roof is rarely noticeable inside a finished living space — most of what people picture from a bare tin shed roof doesn't apply once there's decking, underlayment and insulation between the panel and the room below. It's a fair question to raise for a bonus room or attic space with less insulation, and worth bringing up during your estimate.
Sometimes, but it's not automatically the right shortcut. Installing over an existing layer can work for certain exposed-fastener panel systems if the decking underneath is sound and it's allowed for your situation, but it also traps whatever moisture or moss damage is already in the old shingles and can complicate future repairs. In most cases we recommend stripping the old roof so the decking can be inspected and any rot or damage from years of Northwest rain gets addressed before the new roof goes on.
The right roof for a house in La Conner isn't always the right roof for one in Sedro-Woolley, even a few miles apart — tree cover, wind exposure and how long you plan to stay in the home all change the math. Alpine Exteriors (WA contractor license ALPINI751OW) installs and repairs both composition and metal roofing across Skagit, Island and Whatcom counties, from Mount Vernon and Burlington to Anacortes, Camano Island and Bellingham. Contact us for an on-site look at your roof, and we'll walk you through which system fits your specific situation and budget — no pressure toward whichever material happens to be easiest for us to install.
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