Roofing Specialists Inc installs zinc roofing in Georgia. The proof stands at Lake Rabun: a VM Zinc roof on a house where the roof planes cross over a courtyard at angles no standard detail covers — every panel joined with a double-lock standing seam, folded by hand. Zinc is our second architectural metal, alongside copper, and it is installed with the same hundreds-of-years-old technique we are the only installer in the Southeast still using.
The Lake Rabun roof
Some roofs are rectangles. This one isn't. The planes meet over a courtyard, and a seam that wanders would show from across the lake — so every seam had to run true through every transition, where one plane hands off to the next. The work was photographed while it went on, panels going down and seams being folded, because that is the part of a roof that decides whether it is still sound in fifty years. The full story is in the journal: a zinc roof on Lake Rabun, and the project page carries the photographs.
What VM Zinc is
VM Zinc is the architectural zinc that went on at Lake Rabun. It goes on bright and settles, over its first seasons, to a soft matte gray — no glare, no shine asking for attention. Against trees, stone, and water it sits easy. And it is a roof you install once and hand to the next owner.
The seam matters more than the metal
A zinc roof is only as good as its joints. Ours are double-lock standing seams: each panel edge folded together twice, by hand, with no exposed fasteners to back out and start a leak. The technique is hundreds of years old, and we are the only installer in the Southeast who still uses it. On a plain rectangle, a sloppy seam hides. On a roof like Lake Rabun's, it can't. The same standard governs our copper work — and the two metals are compared head to head in copper vs. zinc roofing.
Where zinc belongs — and how to get one
Zinc suits contemporary architecture and complicated roofs: long planes, crossing planes, buildings that want a quiet metal skin. We are based in Roswell, Georgia, work across the Southeast, and travel up to 1,000 miles from Atlanta for landmark projects. If you are designing or building with zinc in Georgia, the conversation starts with the drawings.
— Gary Shank