Shingle

Watch out for the OC Duration. They will have a LOT of problems in the very near future with the way their adhesive strip goes all the way across with no breaks. It traps moisture at that point and it will rust out the nails. Just a word for the wise!

At this moment, I think the OC Duration Tru Def is far and away the best shingle. The fiber embedded in the nail strip is a real break through to minimize nail blow throughs. Their adhesive strip is the quickest to seal and strongest. The colors are what the Duration Premium used to be and are very attractive. 2nd would be Certainteed, none are cut to spec any better.

FWIW, I think GAF and Atlas are the worst. I wouldn't put either on a roof unless the Customer absolutely demanded it.

Nothing better than a 10 yr. warranty on lifetime product!

I vote CT. Can't wrap my head around a 210 lb shingle. Maybe I'll try GAF on my shed 1st.

OTOH, I did recently replace a CT XT 25 w/ A TAMKO Heritage.

IKO is getting really popular around here. I usually just show the warranty, pronounce them as junk, give a slightly lower price and ask "When can we start?"

where are you from Mike? some markets don't have the same brands as others.

Up until the thime GAF bought them, I thought Elk had the best product on the market for the past 10-12 years. In the past 6 months I,ve had 2 Tamko and 2 O.C. failures of roofs I've put on in the past 18 months. Now both of those companies have backed their warranties, labor and material. That is very good news. I fear the more storms we have, the faster they need material and the faster they have to produce. If this continues we'll have major defaults across the nation. But at the moment I would say GAF is at the top with Certainteed a close second.

I know that all of the different companies make good shingles and in fact I know they could all make shingles that would last for 50 years.....But they won't. the reason for this is that if they did, they couldn't sell as many shingles because the demand would fall. The trick is to make them "good enough" to get through about 1 or 2 home owners and then fail and be replaced. The right materials are expensive and if they put in all of the right materials, they would be at a competitive price disadvantage because the rest of the manufactureres are cheating if you will.

They "cheat" for a while and make a lot of money, and then they get caught and they lose market share and tons of money. It has happened so many times before it is like a broken record. The only thing different is the time that they continue to make good product varies.

Globe made great shingles for years when they were owned by the original owners. It was sold to a large insurance company and they let the pros run it and things stayed the same. Then it was sold and continued to run on momentum for a while but the failures got to be more and more. It was sold about 6 times in Globe's last 15 years and by the end, they were making junk that would not last for 4 years.

I remember Bird and Sons did the same thing as did Celotex, CertainTeed, GAF, Fry roofing, .... You get the picture.

I think that they are all making good product now, but the kicker is going to be the lack of proper ventilation, expecitally on the older buildings. they have been re-insulated and sealed and it is cooking the shingles on the roofs. The newer truss roofs with the raised energy heel at the plate will make the ventilation more effective and I would expect that the roofs on those buildings will last longer than a similiar roof on an older building that is not ventilated properly.

What is the Best? Lord only knows

Metric is a French thing I believe . . . or not . . .

hey, I'm just a roofer . . . what do I know . . . .

gaf is just now changing here in NY

I would have thought english cut meant metric though ?????

OS,

That would be the Tamko Heritage shingle. Lays 5" to the weather. Not sure if they are 36" long . . . might be 39" but I do know they are still standard exposure.

Which one? I don't know of any standard size laminates anymore.

OS,

"Standard" laminates are still available, but from a different manufacturer.

Now I understand what you are saying. About 4 to 5 years ago. I don't think there are any standard size laminates anymore!

Yes, I only recall the Landmark going from English the Metric. Want to say it was 6-8 years ago.

As far as 3-tabs you gotta back to the Nixon years?

I know all to well about them, I at one time had the unfortunate experience of working for them before starting my company.

I do not have one single positive thing to say about that company nor my time working for them. I saw this coming along time ago. Its a crying shame honestly.