Asphalt shingles and why they fail.

This four-part series is a focus on asphalt shingles and why they are a bad choice.

• Part one – “A shingle back ground”
• Part two – “storage and transportation of shingles”
• Part three – How shingles are installed”
• Part four – “How shingles wear and why they fail”
  

A shingle background

How they are made - Asphalt, or composite, roof shingles are made of a few different materials. The primary ingredients are a fiberglass mat saturated in asphalt and then the top is coated in granules that give the shingle it’s color. Organic shingles use an organic felt mat instead of fiberglass. Multiple layers are then coated on top with a granular material to provide color, resistance and protection. Other materials like fly ash or limestone powder are added to create durability and resistance to fire and water.

Types of shingles – The basic and most economical shingle is the standard three-tab composite shingle. There are many levels of a higher quality dimensional or architectural shingles that range in life expectancy from 25 to 40 years. Many shingles are damaged and replaced due to hailstorms or wind damage. In hail prone areas, there should only be one layer of shingles at a time. Overlaying shingles is a practice of adding a layer of shingles over the older worn out layer. In the past, this was done to save time and labor removing the older layer. But the added weight and fastener reliability is compromised.

Why shingles are not sustainable - Asphalt manufacturing creates an enormous carbon footprint. In addition, the lifespan of the basic asphalt shingle is of the lowest of all roofing materials. Asphalt roofing shingles are the number one choice when building or re-roofing a house primarily because of the low cost and ease of installation. However, when you consider how may insurance claims are submitted for hail and wind damage, it becomes more and more clear why our insurance premiums continue to rise. By choosing a sustainable roofing material like metal roofing or concrete tile, we pay more upfront but save the environment as well as our pocketbook over time.

My Healthy House development

My Healthy House will be one heck of a home management tool when it deploys in December 2008. The first version will allow any homeowner to establish a customizable profile for each house they own. By doing so, the homeowner can easily track all maintenance work they or their contractors have done, keep lists of the types of paint, carpet, tile and so forth they used when improving the house.

Finding contractors will be a breeze. The simple “make this contractor my favorite” selection will rate contractors. The more happy homeowners connected to contractors, the higher the search ranking for each contractor.

You will be able to receive notifications to remind you to care for your house and reduce the problems that stem from deferred maintenance.

There will also be a very cool feature where you can troubleshoot problems, find articles on maintaining the house, sustainable improvements and energy savings an so on.

Overall, the site is designed to teach you how to lower your usage and bills as well as find contractors who have a proven track record with other homeowners. All this is in the first version. Plans for more feature rich improvements for the sight are already underway. We expect to roll them out as they are developed as opposed to version releases.

http://www.myhealthyhouse.com

More to come.