Going Metal … but not hard rock
Yesterday I was having a panic attack over 
getting a “metal” roof on our older home built in 1975. Probably 99.9 percent of our small city, has standard roofs made of clay tiles or old time shingles. The metal roofs that came to my mind were roofs in the form of wavy corrugated sheets of aluminum on the sheds behind our home. That’s not something I want on top of my house!
On the Internet I found that metal roofs are actually becoming more and more popular for houses. 
They are light weight (which is the main reason we are getting one) and are, of course, more fire resistant. Some of them, it depends on the color and what they are made of, are very good in our climate because they reflect the heat. (We were disappointed to find that you have to use the white ones to get the entire energy rebate but we were not convinced that was in our best interests in our desert, established neighbor-hood.) The other good thing I read was that they are typically faster to install, which should make the cost of installation go down, wouldn’t you say?
So … yesterday we went out riding to find metal roofs. And mistake of all mistakes I didn’t take any pictures. (How could I not take any pictures?) It turned out to be such a fun day! There are a lot of beautiful roofs out there; albeit most of the ones we saw were in the nearby mountainous community of Pine Valley, Utah where, of course, there is a higher than average risk of fire. And … there are a lot of styles and prices. We have an older home, will be here probably twenty-five years or so if we are lucky … and are on a very tight budget … so we have decided to go with the not so pricey newer styles that you can’t even tell from the road are metal. These are called vertical panels and they come in living color shades from rusts, yellows, white, red, blue, green and grays.
I’ve decided this is going to be okay. I can live with a metal roof (which I will no longer associate with a hot tin roof and neither should you). Not gonna tell you which color yet but stay tuned for details and pictures as we transition from our tile roof (which appearance wise I have loved but that is the sad previous story) to our new metal roof.
The question I have tonight: Can our old tiles be broken up to use as decorative fill for the extra driveways and other areas you would normally put gravel?
Sounds plausible to me! Are you planning to use a hammer? or maybe a big scyche (sorry can’t spell it). Maybe drive a tractor back and forth over it. You know if I could I’d volunteer to help.
Oh I forgot to ask, will you be lulled to sleep by the raindrops like I was as achild when it rained? I thought that was the best way to fall asleep.