Residential Asphalt Roof Replacement

Your Memphis roofing system is one of the most critical elements of your home. If it is in good shape, your home will look nice, and your family will be secure. Therefore, you must keep alert about those signs that tell you when you may need roof repairs or even new roofing shingles.

Admiral Roofing, a professional roofing company serving the Atoka, and Memphis, TN areas, will show you everything you need to know about your roof aging process. This information will allow you to make the best decisions on when to conduct repairs or invest in a new roof.

We’ll share with you this information through a six-part series that will start telling you why sometimes asphalt shingles may fail prematurely.

5 Reasons Why Your Asphalt Shingles May Early Fail

Usually, asphalt shingles roofs remain in good shape for more than 20 years when properly installed and maintained. However, some homeowners have seen their shingles getting wear and tear around half of their useful life. But why this may happen?

Next, you will see the five causes of premature asphalt shingle failure. This information is relevant for people living in the Midwest.

Reason # 1: Product Defects

Asphalt shingles are the number one roofing material in the United States. Homeowners prefer them due to the curb appeal they provide and their relatively low manufacturing cost. Besides, the shingles we find nowadays with fibrous glass mats are in the market since the early 1980s.

Thus, it is logical to realize how much competitive the asphalt shingles’ manufacturing market is.

Likewise, it is easy to think that manufacturers will seek to use the cheapest elements to offering low-priced products. Along with these reasons, you should consider that there is no real-time testing. So, you will realize why some shingles fail prematurely.

Manufacturers start reducing costs by adjusting the levels of quality. They have three fundamental elements:

• The mat, which is typically made from fiberglass
• The asphalt
• The colored ceramic granules: They not only give your shingles their color, but they provide invaluable protection from weather elements.

Other shingles may come with invisible additives like powdered limestone. Manufacturers add these components to increase the shingles’ weight.

Something that many homeowners do not know is that asphalt may have different quality levels.

That’s where cost reduction begins.

Asphalt is the element that put and holds the shingle components together. Hence, the shingles’ capacity to resist the weather elements’ action relies on its asphalt chemical properties. Low-quality asphalt has a significant amount of powdered stone filler. This element impedes the contact among granules and weakens the hold.

These granules protect the asphalt and the fiberglass mat from ultraviolet (UV) sunrays. Without them, these rays would destroy quickly the asphalt layer and the fiberglass mat as well.

The shingles’ colored ceramic granules will get rid of overtime. Besides, as shingles age and due to the sun’s heat, asphalt’s oils will be released slowly. So, the shingles will become brittle and crack.

That is something normal. But this should not occur in the middle of the shingle’s life.

On the other hand, low-quality fiberglass mat design and other mat materials also cause manufacturing defects. Over time, roofing materials’ providers tried to develop fiberglass’ substitutes. Most of them were “green” alternatives. However, none of them surpassed or even equaled fiberglass’ performance.

Therefore, it should not surprise us that almost every manufacturer has faced lawsuits in court due to lines of shingles that didn’t hold up. Low-quality asphalt was the reason for most of these cases.

You must know that poor asphalt doesn’t hold the granules firmly. So, the shingle will get fragile prematurely. Fragile shingles will not resist a strong windstorm at all. Usually, hails and strong winds smash them or, in better cases, they get cracks and fissures.

Shingles’ roofs with low-grade asphalt will look like worn down sandpaper at half of their useful life.

Early Asphalt Shingle Failure via Defective Shingle

Most homeowners do not know the brand and series name or even the age of their roofs. In this sense, Admiral Custom Roofing wants you to know what you are dealing with. How do we do it? Our team of inspectors is experts at detecting defective shingles and recommending what to do about them.

Generally, we evaluate shingles with severe cracking and granule loss. To do this, we take a sample to determine the quality of the shingle.

Defective shingles with storm damage may qualify for a new roofing system through your insurance. Learn how. 

Call Admiral Custom Roofing today at 901-329-1500. Our service areas are from Atoka, through Collierville, Lakeland, Germantown, and the entire greater Memphis, TN area.