Shingle Roofing

The Grades

Three tab. Cheapest, lowest wind rating, shortest life. We rarely recommend it here. In a hail market the money you save gets spent again sooner, and it is the grade most likely to be brittle when we come back to repair it.

Architectural. Two bonded layers, heavier, better wind ratings. This is the default for most DFW replacements and what most insurance work lands on.

Impact resistant. Tested to resist a two inch steel ball dropped twenty feet, the UL 2218 Class 4 standard. Our hail frequency actually tests it, and many Texas carriers discount premiums for it. Get the discount number from your agent, not from a contractor.

What Decides How Long It Lasts

What moves your real number more than the brand on the wrapper:

• Attic ventilation. An under-ventilated attic bakes shingles from underneath and it is the most under-diagnosed problem we find.
• Nailing. Correct count, correct placement, not overdriven. Bad nailing voids the warranty and is the leading cause of blow-off.
• Flashing and penetration details. The field of a shingle roof rarely leaks. The details do.

We install the major manufacturers, and on a properly ventilated roof with correct nailing the difference between comparable lines is smaller than the difference between a good and a bad install.

Check The HOA Before You Pick A Color

Neighborhoods across the northern suburbs run architectural committees, and plenty of them have something to say about roofs. Frisco, Prosper, Trophy Club, Southlake and Colleyville are full of communities where the recorded covenants name approved shingle colors, sometimes an approved profile, and occasionally a specific product line the builder used on the whole subdivision.

That matters for two reasons. Submittal and approval can take longer than the roof does, so we want the request in early rather than the week the material is ordered. And some committees have never been asked about impact resistant shingles, which usually come in a shorter color range than the standard line. A homeowner who wants Class 4 and a specific color sometimes has to pick one. We will pull color samples out on your driveway in daylight, since a chip inside a house lies about what the roof will look like.