Choosing Roof Shingles

There are a fair number of choices when it comes to which type of shingles to use on your roof replacement project. Price, longevity and looks are the most important criterea. In many areas there is a certain style and look used by the large majority of houses, and choosing anything different will make the house stand out like a sore thumb. You should know ahead of time the type of shingles your roof replacement will need in order to compare bids by at least three contractors. The most important types of shingle options will be discussed in this article.

Clay or cement tiles are used in many parts of the U.S. and throughout the world. These kinds of roof materials are very durable and can last up to forty years. One drawback of them is that they can break if people need to get up on the roof and walk around, like fixing an air conditioner or cleaning gutters, for example.

The roof material with the longest life is certainly slate. Slate roofs can last 100 years or more. This type of roofing is expensive, however, and can cost about six times more than asphalt roofs.

Asphalt roofs are in fact the most economical type of roofing material. These roofs can be expected to last 20 years or more. There are composite shingles made of asphalt and other materials that come with much longer warranties. For our roof replacement project this past year we used what is called an architectural shingle, and this has a warranty of 50 years. There were choices for thirty and forty year shingles as well. Each shingle is made from five layers of material, and therein lies the durability. They come in over a dozen choices of colors, and the shingles are made to look as if they have texture when looking at the roof. This is accomplished by having darker shaded sections of each shingle.

Wooden shingles were once very popular. They make an attractive looking roof, and they also offer good durability since they can be expected to last from 25 to 40 years or so. Many communities are now shying away from shingle shakes, as they are called, because of the fire danger involved in having a roof made from a flammable material. None of the other materials described above are flammable.