quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Synthetic felt is vastly superior to organic felt. I don’t know why they even make organic felt anymore.

Yet nothing beats peel and stick underlay, though you do pay a price premium for it. I'm not a huge fan of the Tyvek type stuff. And the last re-roof we did was with GAF shingles, which have held up very well in the Florida heat and hurricanes.

The peel and stick you refer to is ice and water shield. It isn’t meant to be used as a vapor barrier, but as a last line of defense against water intrusion, particularly from ice damming. The synthetic underlayment outperforms organic felt as a vapor barrier. It would be expensive, and unnecessary, to do the entire roof in Grace.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris42:
Got a new GAF about 9 years ago. Timberline sounds familiar. Replaced a 22 year old roof that had served well, but was obviously getting old.

Common around here are black streaks in the shingles apparently caused by some mold. New roof has a 50 year warranty.

EXCEPT the anti-mold / anti-stain warranty part is only good for 10 years. Prorated.

We now have the same mold we had before. Compensation - about $600.

Not a fan of GAF.

I have had friends try to put claims in on the roofing warranties. Usually a few hundred dollars if anything at all. The roofing warranties are pretty much worthless.

How about a metal roof?

For 30+ years my parents had a shingle roof on their house. Had to have it replaced twice - once from age, the next from hail damage - and went with a metal roof about 10 years ago. It still looks great and there haven't been any issues with it, at least not yet anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Synthetic felt is vastly superior to organic felt. I don’t know why they even make organic felt anymore.

Maybe they do, but it would be a crime to use it. The new underlayment is available in larger widths, and in most cases is 1/3 the weight of the felt or less. Many of them are rated for long term exposure if installed with cap nails, and are tough enough that the shingles are just there for protection from the sun. I like the Roof Guard products.

quote:

Originally posted by SPWAMike0317:
r0gue,

Depending on your location, ask about ice guard as part of the underlayment.

Ice&Water will be standard practice in valleys and overhangs if appropriate for his area.

quote:

Originally posted by rtquig:
One thing I have to ask, how many layers of shingles are on your house? If it is two you must take them off and the ice damn is a good idea. If you have only one roof, it might pay to just roof over the existing roof. That also depends on how bad your first roof is. If your first roof is shot and pieces of shingles are curled up and coming apart, it is worth it to rip off the first roof. I like the GAF hurricane. They are heavier and last longer. During Superstorm Sandy, the utility I worked for had 52 out buildings. I was in charge of replacing and repairing 16 of them.

Roof overs are not too common, and another practice that should be wholly abandoned due to accumulated weight. Always have a roof completely stripped, so the sheathing can be examined.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
Redoing my roof last year I found that there are some color/types of shingles that reduce your heat load enough in summer to earn Energy Star ratings. If you have large electricity bills in summer, you might want to see if your chosen type of shingle comes in Energy Star flavors.

The shingles with reflective coatings aren't effective and don't last. While the color of a shingle can have some effect on how hot the roof gets, other factors of the home and roofs construction are much larger influence. I would not expect anything from "energy star" shingles, unless they are much improved from the ones I'm familiar with.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris42:
Got a new GAF about 9 years ago. Timberline sounds familiar. Replaced a 22 year old roof that had served well, but was obviously getting old.

Common around here are black streaks in the shingles apparently caused by some mold. New roof has a 50 year warranty.

EXCEPT the anti-mold / anti-stain warranty part is only good for 10 years. Prorated.

We now have the same mold we had before. Compensation - about $600.

Not a fan of GAF.

No ones "anti-mold" warranty is going to last. It's out there in the sun, and conditions that create mold or algae on a roof vary wildly. If this is the only reason you're not a fan, you'd feel the same about whatever brand was up there.

When we do a roof, observing the old one will tell us what the story is, and I've never relied on just the shingle. If you have aggressive algae or mold, these or a similar product are in order:

https://www.amazon.com/Shingle...-Full/dp/B009AW3Q64/

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Synthetic felt is vastly superior to organic felt. I don’t know why they even make organic felt anymore.

Yet nothing beats peel and stick underlay, though you do pay a price premium for it. I'm not a huge fan of the Tyvek type stuff. And the last re-roof we did was with GAF shingles, which have held up very well in the Florida heat and hurricanes.

The peel and stick you refer to is ice and water shield. It isn’t meant to be used as a vapor barrier, but as a last line of defense against water intrusion, particularly from ice damming. The synthetic underlayment outperforms organic felt as a vapor barrier. It would be expensive, and unnecessary, to do the entire roof in Grace.

Depending on whether you want a vapor barrier or not, is a matter of the construction of the roof. Roofing felt actually falls into the "water proof vapor permeable" area, as do most of the new roof underlayments. Ice&Water is of course, not, and you can get a Roof Guard or similar that isn't either. Doing a whole main roof in Ice&Water would be silly, but depending on the conditions, we've done pretty large areas with it. Frankly, now that fluid applied flashings are readily available, and beginning to be used as homewrap, I'm waiting for "Ice&Water in a can," especially considering that the fluid applied flashing is already available in vapor permeable and non.

Custom home builder here with over 36 years of building homes.

We have been using GAF shingles since they bought out Elk and have had zero call backs. The synthetic paper is definitely the way to go and as others have said make sure to get a very qualified company to do the work. Price is not the only consideration.

If you go onto the GAF website you can type in your zip code and find a list of Certified Master Elite contractors. Get a couple of them to give you quotes...

Good luck.

I'm going GAF. Picking a color and getting on with it.

Thanks all!

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Synthetic felt is vastly superior to organic felt. I don’t know why they even make organic felt anymore.

Yet nothing beats peel and stick underlay, though you do pay a price premium for it. I'm not a huge fan of the Tyvek type stuff. And the last re-roof we did was with GAF shingles, which have held up very well in the Florida heat and hurricanes.

The peel and stick you refer to is ice and water shield. It isn’t meant to be used as a vapor barrier, but as a last line of defense against water intrusion, particularly from ice damming. The synthetic underlayment outperforms organic felt as a vapor barrier. It would be expensive, and unnecessary, to do the entire roof in Grace.

No, here in Florida most all roofs are going with a complete peel and stick underlayment instead of hot mopped 90# tar paper. They only (hot mop_ tar where the peel and stick underlayment overlaps. )


https://paulbangeroofing.com/peel-stick-underlayment/

My neighboorhood was hit by a devastating storm this spring. Every roof in the area had to be replaced and I mean everyones. I ended up just going with a roofer that was near my location in STL American Roofing & Exteriors

Since they were an Owens corning platinum preferred contractor I basically had to choose one of their products. I was told I would get a better warranty by going with that brand. I really dont know the technicalities of that statement.

I paid for the upgrade to architectural shingles in the duration series which I think was worth it as I dont see many people choose the 3 tab stuff anymore.

https://www.owenscorning.com/e...tion-series-shingles

From what I can tell the warranty seems about as good as it gets but if you are paying out of pocket I believe its cheaper to go with GAf.

https://www.owenscorning.com/en-us/roofing/warranty

My town does not require ice shield so the roofers did not use it since insurance was not paying. They also used the general tar paper instead of a synthetic barrier, Im thinking that was also due to how much the insurance was paying. I think I would prefer the synthetic and would highly suggest asking for it if you are having your roof replaced.

I just had a roof replacement with Timberline HDZ shingles. I'm pretty happy with them. They did use the synthetic underlayment instead of the black felt. They have a great warranty and are guaranteed for super high wind speeds.


Timberline HDZ®

In Northwest Montana Certainteed products are most common; we used their Presidential TL Line eight years ago for a new construction home & couldn't be happier.

In some areas the ice guard is required by local (or maybe state) building codes. Any contractor worthy of the name should be able to tell you if that's the case in your situation.