When to replace shingles?

We have been in our present home almost ten years and see no obvious problems with the roof, except that there seems to be an enormous amount of grit in the gutters.

We have no idea when the current shingles were installed, so how do we tell when it's time to replace them? The previous owners left a few spare shingles but, apart from the marking "CertainTeed Roofing Collection" and a series of 1234 markings along the anti-stick tape, these seems to be no way of knowing how long they could be expected to last.

Obviously, waiting until the roof starts leaking is not a good idea.

Perce

Reply to
Percival P. Cassidy
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I'm no expert but excess grit is a sign:

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I remember grit and curled shingles when I replaced mine.

Reply to
Frank

I don't see any curling -- unlike the severe curling on the shed roof before I replaced the shingles about three years ago.

The Web page to which you referred talks about "more grit than normal" (or words to that effect) -- but what is normal? There is much more grit in the gutters on the SW-facing side than on the NE-facing side. But even the SW-facing side still looks its normal color.

How long do shingles typically last? Or is that a "How long is a piece of string?" question?

Perce

Reply to
Percival P. Cassidy

I keep looking at my roof because it is at or near the end of the 25 year warranty period. Still looks good and while there is always a little grit in the gutters when I clean them it does not appear excessive. My first roof in the house when new only lasted 15 years. Builder had, what I believe is called winging, by saving on nails. I think they were 20 year warranted but builder had voided it with improper installation.

I guess if your shingles are not curling or roof does not leak you should be OK for the time being.

Reply to
Frank

I don't think the amount of grit is a reliable indicator. Signs of curling, cracking, being brittle, is what I'd look for. Especially the cracking. When it's at EOL, you'll start to see cracks in the shingles, pieces breaking off, even though there are no leaks.

I had a numbskull that I used to work with that built houses on the side. He looked at my roof from the ground one time and told me I needed a new roof. 15 years later, the roof still wasn't leaking, but needed to be replaced because of damage from Sandy. At that point it was finally starting to show signs of cracking.

Reply to
trader4

During my college years, I worked for over a year at Malarkey Roofing in Portland Oregon. Picked thousands of three-tab shingles from the shingle machine.

The roofing shingles are made from thick wood based felt that is first saturated with really hot asphalt. Then coated on both sides with thicker, hot asphalt. The back side is coated with mica dust to keep it from being sticky, and the front surface is coated with a pattern of colored stone granules. The material then goes through press rollers to firmly imbed the granules in the hot asphalt. After cooling, the sheet goes through a die cutting machine, which produces the shingles. That is where I worked.

The grit or granules are on your shingles to reflect as much heat and light from the sun as possible. Light colored granules will protect the shingle longer than dark colors. All asphalt evaporates and oxidizes over time. This includes your highway paving, and your roofing. Eventually all the asphalt coating will evaporate and you will be left with the saturated felt, which will then evaporate and you will be left with yellow/brown wood felt.

The roofing shingles will not leak until the asphalt is completely gone. As the asphalt in the felt evaporates, the felt will shrink and cause curling shingles.

The sunny side of your roof will loose it's granules first. Our previous house had to have the ridge shingles replaced before the buyer your complete the deal. They were of a different manufacturer from the three-tab shingles. All the granules were off and the felt was showing. the rest of the roof was fine and good for many more years. Both were about 20 years old.

the loss of granules is a normal thing. Hail, heavy rain, freezing/thawing, all contribute. Same thing happens if you walk on the roof. Just watch for the felt to begin showing, or the color of your roof changing to something you don't like. that will tell you to redo the roof.

Paul

Reply to
Paul Drahn

Just before it leaks if you think economics, when it looks bad if ur into aesthetics , around here the best time is after a hailstorm if you have good insurance.

Reply to
Fat-Dumb and Happy

Be sure to look at the southern side, or the side closest to the equator. With a pitched room, it gets more sun. I can't see that side of my roof from the ground, but I can see the northern side, which looked fine even when the southern side looked like a little girl's curls.

I have a friend who was married to a physical therapist. I sat down, and lifted and folded my legs -- they fold better than most other people's, so that one calf and foot is entirely on top of the other, and the top knee is resting on other foot -- and she told me if I sat like that, I'd need physical therapy. Now it's more than 20 years later and it's still the most comfortable position I have.

I don't know aobut your friend but I give her a little bit of the benefit of the doubt that if she sees people all day long that need physical therapy, she forgets what regular people are like. But for other reasons she was a real ding-a-ling, crackpot, and obnoxious too.

Reply to
micky

Generally, as long as your shingles are laying flat, your roof shingles are still in good condition.

The granules on the top surface of the shingles are intended to protect the asphalt the shingles are made of from the UV light from the Sun. As that asphalt deteriorates, not only do the shingles start to lose granules, they start to curl into distorted shapes.

Here's a couple of roofs where you see that the shingles are just starting to curl. Both of these roofs still have a good 5 years of life in them, if not more.

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If the shingles on the above two roofs aren't replaced, then the curling will continue to get worse. When you see shingles that look like this:

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Then the roof is at the end of it's life.

And, if the shingles still aren't replaced, you can end up with shingles that look like this:

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And, at that point, it's possible that some of the roof sheathing has rotted under those curling shingles and the homeowner would incur additional costs to have that rotted wood replaced.

If there are trees in your yard and the tree branches rub on your roof, it's a good idea to prune those branches. Otherwise the branches can brush the granules off the shingles and shorten the lifespan of those shingles.

Reply to
nestork

I would only point out that a roof in that condition is extremely vulneable to storm damage. Get a wind storm in the right direction with enough force and it will tear off those shingles, then the ones beyond it, etc. Now you have water pouring in, exensive damage and an emergency. Instead of replacing the roof when you want, at the right price, etc, you may be doing it when you have few choices. How lucky do you feel?

I would never let a roof get even close to the state of that pic before replacing it.

Reply to
trader4

Same here. I had to replace my ridge shingles after 11 years. But the rest of the shingles were still fine. The ridge shingles were organic CertainTeed. There was a class action law suit about the CertainTeed shingles, but I was too late on that. The ridge shingles were curling, cracked and bare of rock in many places. Nice write-up on shingles. Thanks.

Reply to
Vic Smith

Most 3 tab shingles are rated for 20 years, Architectural are usually 30 years, but there are some rated for 40 years. Toss in varying weather conditions and plus or minus 5 years.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Sounds to me that he was correct. He just didn't have the timing right!

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Thanks. when I was at Malarkey, we made 3-tab shingles for many different companies. Certainteed was one of them. Same old stuff, different wrapper! At that time, the U/L label id number was always Malarkey's.

Paul

Reply to
Paul Drahn

New shingles shed granules, so are we to assume the granules in the gutters are a new development and not old accumulation? I'd first email Certainteed with the number code and ask them. Can't contact the previous owner or check for a building permit for roof install? Then I'd go for how it looks....not curled, cracked or bare of granules? Then I'd assume I might have another 10-20 years on the remaining expected life of the shingles. Mine are new so I don't need to worry :o)

Reply to
Norminn

In that case, I think you need a new roof

I'm just not sure when.

Reply to
micky

Siding too, in another 20 - 25 years.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

In my experience the only real reason to replace them is that the tabs break off, usually during a wind storm. If you get there "in time" before the next storm hits and use roofing tar to glue the broken tab back down/back in place, or use new shingles, or suitable sizes pieces of new shingles, and slide them under the existing ones and glue it all down, you can make the roof last till almost ever last bit of "grit" is gone from the surface. The key is repairing all the problem areas as soon as they appear. Also, if the tabs are no longer glued down, even if still good, you can save them by gluing them down. Most recently they have started selling caulking gun style clear roofing cement. Stick a tub in your caulking gun and it's easy to shoot glue under any loose tabs and get them glued back down. And the clear looks a lot better then black smudges for the repairs.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

I just had a roof redone with Malarkey architectural shingles. The roofer said they were $8 a square cheaper then the "name brand" that I can't remember right now. He thought they were probably the same shingles but with slightly different colored chips. From what you are saying Malarkey is the maker of many brands and from what you know they are all made the same on the same line?

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

How about if they appear during an intense storm with

50 mph wind gusts and heavy rain? With a roof at it's end of life, that can happen. Then you have potential water damage to deal with too. Also, I've never seen a roof with the shingles anywhere close to having lost all the surface granuales where there were not other serious problems, like cracks in many places where water is starting to get in.

In my experience, when you try to push something, it often just leads to more problems.

Also, if the tabs are no longer glued

Reply to
trader4

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