Best asphalt shingles?

by philg

Some choices are even tougher than Hillary Clinton v. Donald Trump…

We’re using a conventional wood-frame house as a combination of office and home. It was built in the late 1960s with perhaps 10 inches of fiberglass between the rafters. There are cathedral ceilings everywhere, hence no possibility of insulating an attic (no attic! Also no basement; architects back then were smart enough to foresee that America would become less cluttered and there would be no need to store anything). The basic shape of the house is the same as a double-wide trailer home. (But of course Zillow estimates the value at about $1 million due to the proximity to Boston and the general impracticality of building anything new in Massachusetts.)

A local architect suggested putting nail-base foam panels on top of the existing roof deck. This gives 3.5 inches of foam and and then another 0.5″ of OSB to which shingles can be nailed. Apparently this is a fairly common retrofit insulation technique for old-yet-modern-style houses like this one. There would be some foam injected into any gaps between the panels.

We then have a choice of whether to do ice-and-water shield over the entire roof or just the lower 6′. The advantage of not doing the whole thing is that maybe water vapor would have a better chance to escape?

On top of the ice-and-water shield we then have to pick shingles. This is where I am hoping to get answers from readers! Consumer Reports tested shingles in 2009 and found that high-end Owens Corning Berkshire Collection and CertainTeed Grand Manor were the best (strongest). Owens Corning Oakridge and CertainTeed Landmark were pretty good at about one third the price. The roof is only about 3750 square feet including budgeted waste, so I don’t think that the shingle price difference will be that large in the overall context of the project.

What do folks who’ve been through this recently have to say? How did you choose a shingle and what did you choose?

One more idea: Should we try to hold out for another year and get the Tesla solar energy tiles? It looks like a good product, but I wonder if it will be shipped within my lifetime. Also you probably wouldn’t want to do the north side of your house with these, right? So then you are supposed to find matching non-solar shingles for the north side?

[Note that this continues the theme of why you want to rent rather than buy; the brain of the homeowner is entirely filled up with boring stuff.]

13 thoughts on “Best asphalt shingles?”

  1. If you are going to spend more $, use it to upgrade to something other than asphalt shingles. The US is just about the only country where they make their roofs out of paper. Asphalt shingles, even the highest grade, are a fundamentally cheap ersatz material – the difference between the expensive and cheap ones aren’t that great, so if you are going with asphalt just get the cheaper ones. If you really want a nice and (semi) permanent roof, go with some other material – metal, tile, plastic slates, anything but asphalt .

    As far as the insulating panels, figure out what your payback is – chances are it doesn’t really pay – you’ll spend thousands and save a couple of hundred every year – it will take decades to get your $ back.

  4. Find a good roofing contractor that has been in business for 20+ years; go with his recommendation.

  5. People in Tahoe are putting in Meal roof panels with foam backing like shown here. http://www.mbci.com/products/insulated-metal-panels/insulated-roof-panels/cfr/

    These are custom ordered to fit the roof desired but then provide a 30+ year roof life. They are easy to install so very little labor. They are fire proof. They shed snow well. They can be repainted easily after 10-20 years to improve appearances. I am not sure if this is the exact product but is sort of like what I see getting installed.

    Good Luck.

  6. Attached is a 6 minute video that is the best reference I know of on this
    topic. The guy in the video is a Boston-area contractor that is also the host of the PBS show This Old House. His name is Tommy Silva of Silva Brothers Construction. If he gives free estimates and if I lived in Boston I would have him at least bid on such work as the bid in itself might teach me something. On the show his judgements appear to be sound, as opposed to the roofing guys around here that push to increase the bill with work that doesn’t solve a real problem, and may even create some.

    My issue is that I have a low pitched, asphalt shingled roof that works great on one side but the other side facing prevailing winds, which gust every year up to 60-70 mph, suffers from at least a couple wind damaged shingles every year. When I replace the roof I will probably use one of Silva’s tips, reducing the “reveal” of the shingles (more shingle overlap thus increasing effective shingle strength) on the windy side. This requires more shingles for the same area but appears to be the best way to increase resistance to wind damage on low pitched asphalt shingle roofs. What the optimal “reveal” is in my situation is still an open question but I suspect it is in the 3 to 4 inch range on the windy side and leave it at 5 inches on other side..​

    TOH_Asphalt_Shingle_Roofing_Tips – 6 minutes.mp4
    ​

  7. I’ve used the architectural shingles from Home Depot (but ultimately supplied by contractor), can’t recall if Certainteed or Owens Corning, but I think either would be perfectly fine. They are around $25 per bundle, less in bulk. They look nice and I can’t imagine having to re-roof within 30 years. The nicest grade available from HD is plenty thick. Massive hailstorm this summer with near tennis ball sized hail tore up my cars but did no visible damage to shingles.

    Based on your description of the house, the most expensive shingles could look a little out of place. And, obviously, you don’t want 3-tab shingles that would look cheap.

    I would avoid the low cost contractor. I went with someone in the middle. Make sure its clear that they are stripping the old roof and not just shingling over the old. If you have valleys, understand how they are going to be handled.

    The only leak I had showed up about a year after the job and involved poor flashing around a bathroom vent housing. The contractor fixed it promptly under warranty.

    You may want to be present during the job. The crew will probably want to replace any bad sheathing and you might want to verify whether its bad since you’ll be charged by the piece. You may want to specify what quality sheathing they use for replacement and what they use for underlayment, for example 15 lb felt v. 30 lb.

  8. For the record, Tesla tiles are not a new idea. Solar panels integrated in cladding or roof panels have been introduced at least as far back as 2008. However, it turns out not that many actually want it. But I guess it’s like Apple, nobody wants something until the right company makes it.

    We installed insulated metal panels such as the ones linked above some 20 years ago and have nothing but praise. I wouldn’t install anything else unless forced to by some local regulations on what is allowed.

  9. Last month, Hurricane Mathew blew ten full shingles off of the 15-year old roof on my 60-year old FL house. I bought one pack (33 sq ft) of composite shingles for $26 from Lowes and used half the package doing the repairs. I’ve got two roofing contractors coming tomorrow, each to give an estimate on a new re-roof of 22 squares (1 square = 100 sf), including the garage. Each will give me an estimate for traditional shingles and metal. I estimate the traditional will be about $9000 and the metal about $18,000.

  10. I don’t know why Raleigh is opposed to having a second asphalt shingle roof simply added on top of the old one. Such a roof is my current configuration and I love that aspect of the roof. I’ve never had a leak. Wind may do minor damage to my top layer roof but has never damaged my spare roof below it. This also means I can inspect and maintain the roof twice a year or so and do not have to worry about roof inspection after every wind storm. My only regret is that I will need to give up this configuration after the next re-roof, because two is the limit and shingle roof removal is an all or nothing operation. All in all, having a second roof provides a lot of piece of mind, but is only practical 50% of the time.

    The ultimate asphalt shingle roof would be a Tommy Silva-style self-sealing membrane over the entire roof topped with asphalt shingles for thirty or so years, with a second layer of shingles added after year 30. After year 60 or so, start over and repeat.

    Your mileage may vary. Obviously your roof structure needs to be strong enough to handle the extra load.

  11. gec, I’ve been told that a complete new roof lasts longer than a shingle-over, but the explanation involves increased heat build-up and that may not be applicable in Mass. Around here a shingle-over is considered second-best. The main thing I hate about a tear-off is the inevitable flat tire or two that accompany the stray nails that escape the tarps and the magnet (if they even bother using a magnet).

  13. The secret to an asphalt shingle roof is the felt paper that the shingles get nailed to. That paper is what actually keeps the water out of the house. The shingles are there for decoration and to hold the paper down.

    That being said, insist on 40lb. paper. This is what they used under the much more expensive tile roofs.

    Best of all, the cost from upgrading from 15lb. or 30lb. paper to 40lb. is minimal.

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