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.

Pest Lock is simply logical.

The methodology behind Pest Lock is to mechanically control structural invading pests from entering a house or building. This is done through the installation of the Pest Lock exclusion system. A properly installed Pest Lock system physically prevents pests from accessing to the structure. With Pest Lock installed, exterior control of pests becomes easier and requires dramatically less pesticide application. Pest Lock will accomplish the same goal as conventional pest control but in a much safer way.

Structural pest control has historically been accomplished by the application of toxic pesticides. Generally, these pesticides are broadcast over large areas around the exterior as well as target areas of the interior of a home. In some cases, broad application of pesticides are done on the interior of the home. Ultimately, toxic pesticides are being continually applied where we sleep, eat and raise our families increasing health concerns by increasing the frequency of exposure.

Pesticides work as toxins. As pests come in contact with the applied products, they die. However, due to products designed to rapidly degrade, newly hatched eggs may not be effected by products applied on the last quarterly application. Ongoing application of pesticides is usually required to kill the young larva as well as adult insects that live & breed in the walls or find there way into the structure from the outside. At best, pesticides can be used to control infestations by limiting colony sizes in a structure but an ongoing application schedule is necessary. The problem with ongoing application is the potential for pests to become resistance to products. More importantly, there is a growing concern regarding the overall environmental impact that pesticides have on our home, neighborhood and our world.

Over the history of pest control, few solutions have been developed to control pests from entering a structure. Unfortunately, homes are build with openings and gaps. Some of these openings are on purpose but most are not. Construction practices do not focus on preventing pest access. When a Pest Lock system is properly evaluated and installed on new or older houses, openings in the building perimeter envelope are narrowed down no larger than 1/8th inch. The primary concern is to create obstructions where systems of the house must breath and seal areas that do not require ventilation. Weep holes, or the gaps between the bricks that sit on the slab, are a good example of a system that should not be sealed and must ventilate.

See pest lock for more details.

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.