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After 15 years, a homeowner begins to see granules building up in the gutter following each rainstorm and starts wondering if this is normal or the early signs of a more serious issue. Asphalt shingle roofing is the most popular roofing material on American homes, and its popularity is due to cost, availability, and a useful life suited for the time most people own a home.
Beyond appearances, the U.S. Department of Energy notes that roof color and material selection can impact a homeowner’s cooling costs during the summer, so it’s a factor to consider when choosing shingles.
These are questions that are posed by homeowners repeatedly and tackled by Evergreen General Construction #1 LLC, often enough in the field that, with a clearer picture of the way asphalt shingle roofing comes together, wears out, and gets fixed, the whole process is less stressful.
What Asphalt Shingles Are
Scrape back the granules, and you will find a fiberglass mat underneath, saturated in asphalt, and the tiny stone granules on top are doing more than they are credited for. They absorb ultraviolet light, and if they were not there, the asphalt would bake and crack in just a couple of years as opposed to decades. Most asphalt shingle roofing sold in the country comes from just three manufacturers: GAF, Owens Corning, and CertainTeed, and each one specifies the length of its warranties by the individual product line, not with one blanket guarantee.
A crew can strip and replace an average roof in one to three days, materials sit on the shelf at nearly every supply house, and a torn shingle doesn’t require a specialist to fix. Asphalt shingle roofing also holds up reasonably well from the Gulf Coast to the Rockies, assuming the specific product was matched to the climate rather than picked purely on price.
Types of Asphalt Shingles
Walk into a supply yard and the types of asphalt shingles stacked on pallets fall into a handful of categories, each with a different price tag and a different number of years it’s expected to hold up.
Three Tab Shingles
The cutouts along the bottom edge give three tab shingles their name, splitting each strip into three even tabs that lie flat once installed. They’re the lightest option on the shelf and the cheapest to buy and hang.
Wind ratings usually sit around 60 to 70 miles per hour, low enough that several manufacturers have quietly stopped making them as architectural styles took over the market. Landlords and owners of detached garages still reach for three tab asphalt shingle roofing when the budget is tight, and the building isn’t the primary residence.
Architectural and Luxury Shingle Options
Two or three layers bonded together give architectural shingles their thicker profile and the shadow lines that make a roof look less flat from the street. Some products are as wind resistant as 110 miles per hour, and even 130 miles per hour on some products, which is a real difference in hurricane and tornado prone areas.
If someone is changing out the three tab shingles with architectural asphalt shingle roofing, they will invariably say how much the house looks better after the work is finished. They’re heavier than standard architectural products, often carry warranties stretching past thirty years, and cost more per bundle.
Someone planning to stay in a house for the long haul tends to gravitate toward this tier, even though the lower installation cost of asphalt shingle roofing compared to genuine slate is part of the appeal to begin with.
Asphalt Shingle Roof Installation
Even the highest quality asphalt shingle roof installation can fail if it’s rushed or installed by an inexperienced crew, particularly around flashing details that are not attended to until they fail.
How Asphalt Shingles Are Installed
The old roof typically is removed first, all the way down to the wood deck, where the crew can inspect for soft spots, rot, and nails that are left protruding from the previous roofing project. After the deck passes inspection, underlayment is installed, then ice and water shield is installed on eaves and valleys (these are optional and only required in colder climates), and a metal drip edge is installed around the perimeter.
The first course is laid with a starter strip, and then the shingles are laid up the roof on top of each other, each supported by four to six nails as needed to resist local winds. The flashing should be installed around chimneys, skylights, and vent pipes before installation of the ridge cap.
Anyone just curious how asphalt shingles are installed, you will find that most failures are a result of some sort of shortcut in that process, not the shingles. If all those steps are not taken and followed, asphalt shingle roofing can last 10 years or more longer than a roof that failed to take one or more of these steps.
Ventilation and Flashing Requirements
Vents only work in pairs. Unlike flashing, a job that does a whole other thing, sealing the gaps where water creeps in at the junctions, valleys, chimneys, etc. One of the most frequent causes for asphalt shingle roofing to leak years after installation prematurely is a missing flash detail.
How Long Do Asphalt Shingles Last?
Ask five roofers how long do asphalt shingles last, and the answers will group around the same range, but with plenty of warnings attached. Three tab shingles typically make it 15 to 20 years. Architectural products usually reach 20 to 30, and superior lines can extend toward 40 in the right climate with proper airflow underneath.
Hail and wind account for a lot of that gap between the warranty number and what a roof actually delivers. The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety publishes hail and wind resistance data that’s worth checking before buying shingles in a storm prone area. A yearly walk around the yard, checking the ground near downspouts for loose granules, tells a homeowner more about how their asphalt shingle roofing is actually aging than any warranty document ever will.
Roofing Cost Factors
The asphalt shingle roofing cost varies depending on the shingle tier, roof size and roof slope, as well as the geographical location of the project. Roofers charge for materials and labour in 100 square feet of roof surface, which is the old roofing term. Three tab products sit at the bottom of the price scale, while architectural and luxury shingles cost more upfront but tend to need replacing far less often.
| Shingle Type | Typical Installed Cost per Square Foot | Typical Lifespan |
|---|---|---|
| Three tab | $3 to $5 | 15 to 20 years |
| Architectural | $5 to $8 | 20 to 30 years |
| Luxury | $7 to $12 | 25 to 40 years |
Local labor rates and how hard the roof is to access swing these numbers quite a bit, so a quote from a nearby contractor beats any national average for budgeting a real asphalt shingle roofing project.
Knowing the asphalt shingle roofing cost breakdown ahead of time, materials versus labor versus tear off and disposal, makes it easier to spot a quote that’s missing something.
Repair and Replacement Considerations
A ten year old roof with one bad spot is a repair job most of the time. A twenty five year old roof with granule loss scattered across several slopes, or one that’s had three individual leaks in three different places, is generally past the point where patching makes financial sense.
A roofer who reviews asphalt shingle roofing for a living can often tell which category a roof falls into before climbing the ladder.
Asphalt Shingle Roof Repair Signs
A handful of cracked or missing shingles, granules appearing in the gutter after a windstorm, nail heads that have worked their way back out, or a pinpoint leak bound to one section of flashing all point toward emergency roof repair in Puyallup instead of tearing the entire thing off.
These typically require replacement of a single shingle, re-sealing of the flashing joint, or fixing of venting gaps in that spot. When a problem is detected early, repair costs remain low due to only needing to repair the corner of the roof rather than the entire asphalt shingle roofing system.
Asphalt Shingle Roof Replacement
If shingles are curling or cupping across the majority of the roof, if light can be seen through the deck boards from inside the attic, or if a homeowner has just had two or three random repairs in a few short years, asphalt shingle roof replacement becomes even more logical than patching it.
Anything from sagging spots to moss that’s seeping under the edge of the shingles or a roof just reaching the end of its useful life all point to the same thing. A full tear off will also reset your warranty as of the day the new asphalt shingle roofing is installed.
Evergreen General Construction #1 LLC handles inspections, repairs, and full tear off replacements for asphalt shingle roofing throughout the areas it serves. Call (208) 695 3167 or send an email to 1evergreengc@gmail.com for a roof evaluation or a written estimate.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should a roof get inspected?
Once a year is a reasonable baseline. Anyone who’s just been through a bad hailstorm or high winds should add an extra check right after, rather than waiting for the annual one.
Can new shingles just go over the old ones?
A lot of building codes technically allow one layer over another, but most roofers steer clear of it. Putting more weight on the house can trap moisture between layers of old and new shingles, concealing what is really going on underneath on the deck.
Will homeowners insurance cover storm damage?
That depends a lot on the policy you have and how old your roof already was at the time of the storm. Many policies allow insurance companies to depreciate damages over time as your roof ages. So it’s always a good idea to review your policy carefully and document damage with photos soon after a storm.
Is there a bad season to have roofing work performed?
Most roofing crews will want to perform the work in late spring through the end of fall because the intense cold will make the shingles brittle and will keep adhesive stripping from properly sealing the roof. That said, an experienced crew can usually work through winter if a repair genuinely can’t wait.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Saver Program: supports the information on cool roofing and how material choice affects home cooling costs.
- Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS): supports the guidance on wind and hail resistance ratings for roofing products in storm prone regions.
- National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA): supports the industry standards referenced for installation order, attic ventilation, and typical shingle service life.
- Insurance Information Institute (III): supports the general information on how roof age and condition factor into homeowners insurance claims and depreciation.
