Two profiles cover most residential metal roofing in Florida: standing seam and 5V crimp. Standing seam hides every fastener under a raised vertical seam. 5V crimp is screwed through the flat of the panel with a sealing washer, so the fasteners are visible from the ground. Both are genuine metal roofs, both are supplied off the same catalog, and both are fabricated to exact length and delivered crated.
One factor can settle the choice before you look at anything else. If the house is in Miami-Dade or Broward County, 5V crimp is not an option. Not at a higher price, not in a heavier gauge, not with a letter from an engineer. We would rather say that in the second paragraph than have you find out at plan review.
Where the house sits decides more than what you like
Florida's High Velocity Hurricane Zone is defined in the Florida Building Code. Section 202 of the 2023 code puts it plainly: the zone consists of Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Inside that line, a roof covering has to carry approval for HVHZ use. Outside it, statewide Florida Product Approval governs.
The 5V crimp we supply is approved under FL24397.1 in 0.032 inch aluminum, and under FL24397.2 and FL24397.3 in 26 gauge steel. Those approvals are for use outside the HVHZ. They do not reach Miami-Dade or Broward.
Most of the standing seam line does hold HVHZ approval. SL100 is approved under FL41812.05-R1, SL150 under FL41812.02-R1, NS150 under FL41812.01-R1, M100 under FL41812.03-R1, and M150 under FL46540.02-R0 in 24 gauge steel and FL46540.03-R0 in 0.032 inch aluminum. One profile in the line does not. NS100, the 1 inch nailstrip, is approved for use outside the HVHZ only, in both 24 and 26 gauge. Approval numbers get revised, so have your contractor verify the current revision at floridabuilding.org before anything is submitted.
The practical effect is this. In Coral Gables, Hialeah, Pembroke Pines or Fort Lauderdale the real comparison is not standing seam against 5V. It is one standing seam profile against another, and 5V simply is not in the conversation. In Ocala, Sarasota, Jacksonville, Naples or Pensacola both are on the table and the rest of this page matters. Palm Beach County, worth saying because it surprises people, is not inside the HVHZ.
Standing seam and 5V crimp, side by side
| Standing seam | 5V crimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Fastening | Concealed. Clips or an integral nailing flange, hidden under the next panel | Exposed. Screwed through the pan with a weather-seal washer |
| Panel coverage | 15.5 in to 17 in depending on profile | 24 in nominal |
| Materials we stock | 24 ga steel; 0.032 in aluminum on M100 and M150 | 26 ga steel or 0.032 in aluminum |
| Seam or rib | 1 in or 1.5 in raised seam | Flat pan with crimped ribs, no seam |
| Minimum slope | Per the profile's approval | 1/2:12 with lap sealant, 3:12 without |
| Florida approvals | FL41812 and FL46540 series | FL24397.1, FL24397.2, FL24397.3 |
| HVHZ (Miami-Dade, Broward) | Approved, except NS100 | Not approved |
| Published material warranty | 20, 35 or 40 years by substrate and coating | Quoted per panel, gauge and finish |
| Solar later | Seams accept clamp-on mounting with no roof penetration | Mounting penetrates the panel |
| Relative material cost | Higher | Lower |
What each one actually looks like on a Florida house
Standing seam reads as a series of crisp vertical lines with a shadow between them. A 1.5 inch seam throws a deeper shadow and reads harder from the street than a 1 inch seam, and it covers slightly less width per panel, so you see more lines across the same roof. On a large simple plane, SL100 at 17 inches of coverage lays up with the fewest seams in the line. On a smaller, more articulated roof, the tighter line spacing of a 1.5 inch profile usually looks better proportioned.
5V crimp is the old Florida vernacular. It is what is on the cracker houses, the Key West cottages and half the fish camps in the state, and on the right house it looks correct in a way standing seam does not. The panel is flat between crimped ribs at 24 inch coverage, so it reads quieter and wider. If you are restoring something with a porch and a tin roof heritage, 5V is not the budget compromise. It is the right answer.
Both come off the same color program. Have a look at real installations in the metal roofing gallery before you decide from a chip.
Exposed fasteners are a maintenance decision, not a quality judgment
This is where the honest difference sits, and most comparisons blur it.
On 5V crimp, the screws hold the panel down and a rubber washer under each screw head keeps water out. That washer is a wear part. It sits in full Florida sun, it compresses and relaxes with every hot afternoon and cool night, and over a long service life it is the part of the roof most likely to need attention. That is not a defect. It is how a through-fastened panel works, and a well-installed 5V roof with the right fastener has a long and unremarkable life. It does mean somebody should be looking at fasteners periodically rather than never.
On standing seam, the fasteners live under the panel. There is no gasket exposed to the weather in the field of the roof, and the panel is free to move as it heats and cools without dragging on a screw. You still have flashings, penetrations and sealants that age, because every roof does.
We will not print a fastener replacement interval, because we have not found a figure for it that we can source. Anyone who quotes you one to the year is guessing. The useful version of that sentence is: budget attention on an exposed fastener roof, do not budget attention on the field of a standing seam roof. There is more on this split in our piece on exposed versus concealed fastener panels.
Wind: read the approval, not the brochure
Both profiles are tested and both carry real numbers. The numbers are not in the same units of meaning, and comparing them directly is the single most common error we see.
The 5V figures are maximum design pressures. In 0.032 inch aluminum under FL24397.1 the panel carries -71 psf. In 26 gauge steel under FL24397.2 it carries -52.5 psf, and with the enhanced fastener pattern under FL24397.3 it carries -63.5 psf. Fastener spacing drives all of it.
The standing seam figures are allowable loads with a factor of safety of 2.0 already applied. SL100 runs 67.3 psf with clips at 24 inches on center and 131 psf with clips at 6 inches. SL150 runs 86 psf, 108.5 psf and 116 psf as the clip spacing tightens. Because a factor of safety is already baked into those, they are not the same kind of number as the 5V figures and should never be set against them in a table as if they were.
What a homeowner actually needs from this is simpler. Your roof has to meet the design pressure calculated for your address, your roof zone and your building height. Your contractor gets that from the engineering, not from a brochure, and then picks a panel and a fastening pattern that clears it. Both profiles can clear typical Florida residential pressures outside the HVHZ with the right attachment schedule. Inside the HVHZ, only the approved profiles can be used at all.
Warranty: what is published and what we will not pretend to know
For standing seam, the coil producer publishes limited material warranty terms by substrate and coating, and they are the same regardless of which standing seam profile is roll formed from that coil:
- 20 years on AZ55 acrylic-coated Galvalume steel in mill finish.
- 35 years on Galvalume steel and aluminum coated with Sherwin-Williams Kynar 500.
- 40 years on Galvalume steel coated with Sherwin-Williams WeatherXL SMP.
For 5V crimp we do not publish a headline year figure, and you should be suspicious of anyone who does. That panel line runs on different coil, and we quote the term for the exact panel, gauge and finish on your job rather than a headline number, because the coverage is not the same across the range. A number we cannot show you in writing is not a number worth putting on a web page. The full picture is on our metal warranties page.
One thing applies to both. Oil canning, the slight waviness you can see in a flat metal pan under raking light, is not a defect and is not grounds for a warranty claim. It is a characteristic of light gauge metal. Look at a real roof in person before you order so you know what you are buying.
A warranty term is also not the same thing as a service life, and the two get run together constantly in roofing copy. We separate them properly in how long a metal roof lasts in Florida's climate.
Cost, and why there is no price on this page
5V crimp is the more economical way to a real metal roof. It uses a lighter gauge, it covers 24 inches instead of 15.5 to 17, there are no clips, there is no seaming equipment, and it goes down faster. Every one of those reduces cost. Standing seam costs more in material and in labor, and the reasons it costs more are the same reasons people choose it.
We do not publish price per square, because material pricing moves and because the number that matters is for your roof, your panel, your finish and your trim quantity. A contractor can put your project into Instant Metal Quote and have a real material list in minutes. If you want to understand what actually drives the material line before you get a bid, our breakdown of what moves standing seam material cost walks through it.
If you are still deciding between metal and asphalt shingles at all, that is a different comparison with a different honest answer, and we work it through in metal roof versus shingles in Florida.
How we would choose
- Check the county first. Miami-Dade or Broward means standing seam, and it means one of the approved profiles.
- Check the house. A historic Florida cottage, a barn, a porch roof or a fish camp wants 5V. A contemporary or coastal-modern house usually wants standing seam.
- Check the shoreline distance. Oceanfront, we quote aluminum, which is why M100 exists as a PVDF-only aluminum profile. 5V is available in 0.032 inch aluminum too.
- Check your appetite for maintenance. If nobody is ever going to look at the roof again, weight that toward standing seam.
- Check your plans for solar. If panels are likely within the roof's life, standing seam seams accept clamp-on mounting with no penetration, and that is a real advantage.
- Then price both. Not before. Pricing a panel you cannot legally install is wasted effort.
Where to go next
If you have a contractor, send them the 5V crimp and standing seam product pages and ask which profile they would specify for your address and your roof geometry, and ask to see the Florida Product Approval for the exact panel they are quoting. If you do not have one yet, our sister company handles installation and you can book a consultation or reach our sales team directly. Either way, decide the county question first. Everything else is preference.
