Commercial Metal Roof Replacement: A Royse City Before and After

The building at the top of this post is a Total Pro Roofing job in Royse City: a commercial building finished with a new dark standing-seam metal roof. Before the job, it had an old corrugated metal roof with rust running down the panels.

If you own or manage a shop, warehouse, office or storefront with a metal roof that looks like the "before" photo below, this post walks through what a commercial metal roof replacement involves, what to look for on your own building, and when replacing makes more sense than another round of patches.

The before: an old corrugated metal roof

Here is the same Royse City building before the work started.

Look closely and you can see the story. Rust runs in streaks down the panel ribs and is heaviest along the lower edge of the roof. There is dark staining near the ridge, and vent pipes come up through the panels, each one depending on its own seal.

Rust on a metal roof starts where the protective coating wears through. Once it starts, it spreads along the ribs, around the screws and at the laps where panels overlap, anywhere water and dirt sit. A roof like this can keep most of the rain out for a while. But every rust spot is a future hole, and every patch is one more seam that can fail.

Why old metal roofs leak

Most leaks on older metal roofs come from a short list of places:

• Rust-through. Once rust eats through a panel, water goes straight into the building.
• Exposed fasteners. On corrugated and other exposed-fastener roofs, every screw goes through the face of the panel and is sealed by a rubber washer. Texas sun dries those washers out, and as the panels heat up and cool down every day, screws can work loose.
• Laps and seams. Where one panel overlaps the next, water can wick in, especially on a low slope.
• Penetrations. Pipes, vents and HVAC equipment all cut holes in the roof, and each seal ages.
• Storm damage. Hail dents panels and can do worse. On April 27, 2026, hail near Fate left holes in a metal roof. Wind can lift loose panels, too; on March 14, 2024, sheet-metal roof panels were blown off a Prosper strip mall.

Commercial Metal Roof Replacement: Standing Seam vs. Exposed Fastener

When it is time for a commercial metal roof replacement, the first big choice is the type of panel.

Exposed-fastener panels are screwed straight through the face of the panel into the framing below. They are common on homes, barns, shops and outbuildings, and they work. The tradeoff is that you have hundreds of screws and washers to keep an eye on over the years.

Standing-seam panels join at raised seams, and the fasteners are hidden under the seam instead of going through the face of the panel. That means far fewer holes in the surface of the roof, and panels that can move a little as they heat up and cool down. It is the system on the finished Royse City building at the top of this post.

Which one is right depends on your building: the slope, the framing, how you use the space and how long you plan to own it. Duane walks through the options with you after he has seen the roof.

Either way, metal is a long-term roof. The InterNACHI life-expectancy chart puts metal roofing at 40 to 80 years, compared with about 20 years for 3-tab asphalt shingles and about 30 for architectural shingles. How it is installed and maintained decides where in that range your roof lands.

Wind and hail on commercial roofs in North Texas

Big, older commercial roofs take a beating in North Texas storms. A few recent examples:

• August 26, 2026: A downburst in Tarrant County caused a partial commercial roof collapse in Watauga. An NBC 5 meteorologist put the winds at about 70 mph; the National Weather Service had not finalized speeds. The Storm Prediction Center's report for that day lists the damage reports.
• September 21, 2025: Storms tore a 45- to 50-foot hole in the roof of the Walmart Distribution Center in Sanger, with gusts up to 65 mph reported in Denton County.
• May 28, 2024: A derecho-type windstorm left behind a warehouse roof collapse in Terrell, a roof torn off a commercial building near Addison and roof damage at an auto parts store in Forney.

Closer to home, on August 9, 2026, a resident reported a microburst southeast of Royse City that destroyed a barn. Our post on roof repair in Royse City after wind and microbursts covers what to do when wind finds a weak spot. Rusted edges and loose fasteners are exactly the kind of weak spot it looks for.

Repair or replace? Signs it is time

A metal roof does not always need replacing. If the problem is a few loose screws, a failed pipe seal or one damaged panel, a roof repair may be the smarter move. These are the signs that point toward replacement instead:

• Rust that has eaten through, or rust across large sections of the roof
• Leaks in more than one spot, or leaks that come back after they are patched
• Loose, backed-out or missing screws across the whole roof
• Panels that are bent, lifted or loose at the edges
• Patches on top of patches
• Storm damage spread across the roof instead of in one area

If several of those describe your building, it is worth getting a straight answer before the next storm season. Our roof replacement page explains how a full replacement works.

What to ask before you hire anyone

Whoever you talk to, ask these questions before you sign:

1. How will the work be staged so your business can keep running?
2. What panel type, color and trim will be used, and how will the ridge, edges and flashing be finished?
3. How will pipes, vents and rooftop equipment be sealed?
4. If storm damage is involved, will they help document it and meet your adjuster?

If a storm caused the damage, check your commercial policy and talk to your agent soon; claim deadlines vary by policy. Duane can document the damage and meet your adjuster, and our guide to a roof hail insurance claim walks through the process. The Texas Department of Insurance also recommends getting at least three bids and never signing anything with blank spaces, and Texas law makes it illegal for a contractor or roofer to waive or promise to cover your deductible. None of this is legal or insurance advice.

Talk to Duane about your commercial metal roof

Total Pro Roofing works on commercial buildings as well as homes. If you own or manage a building in Royse City, Rockwall or anywhere in Rockwall County and DFW, call Duane Huddleston at (214) 545-8133 or request a free inspection. He will inspect the roof, show you photos of what he finds and tell you straight whether it needs a repair or a commercial metal roof replacement. The inspection is free, with no obligation.

You can see more of Total Pro's work in the gallery.