MAKING CHEAPER ASPHALT SHINGLES
A common perception, promoted by asphalt manufacturers (and asphalt roofers) is that modern "fiberglass"
roofing shingles on the market today are vastly superior to the traditional "organic" asphalt shingle design.
These new shingles MUST be better - they come with 50 year warranties... In fact, the opposite is true.
From the late 1880's until the 1970's, roofing shingles were manufactured by Saturating a thick organic mat
(cotton, waste paper and wood fiber) with asphalt then covering the shingle with a protective stone coating.
These "organic" shingles normally came with 15 year or 20 year warranties, but often lasted over 30 years.
In past years, warranties weren't much of a concern because the organic felt shingles
usually lasted longer than the 15 or 20 years for which they were guaranteed.
Some organic shingles on roofs today have seen 30 years and are still hanging on.
Many roofs with fiberglass shingles, however, aren't fairing as well... [1]
Our company applied a 15-year warranted organic asphalt shingle on one local residence...
Upon a recent inspection, that 27-year old roof still looked great. Why are today's shingles inferior?
In an attempt to keep prices lower than the other guys, shingle manufacturers sacrificed quality.
The quality of asphalt shingles has declined... Roofers and consumers are being deceived. [2]
The asphalt industry made a dramatic transformation during the 1970's with the conversion from organic
to "fiberglass" mats in the manufacture of shingles. Initially it appeared technological advancements would
facilitate product improvements. However, with a 1974 oil embargo and economic recessions in the 1980's,
asphalt manufacturers focused primarily on lowering production costs... they designed cheaper shingles.
The result of lowering material costs was production of shingles of much lower quality - as was demonstrated
by the immediate onset of premature failures. The decision by asphalt manufacturers to lower material costs
marked the end of traditional organic shingles, and the beginning of a new era of premature shingle failures.
The pressures placed on large public companies to maintain profitability
brought forward good old American ingenuity, reduce fiberglass mats (fibers were expensive)
and increase filler content (asphalt was also expensive)... Filler was not used to stabilize asphalt
so much as it appeared it was used to attempt to control profitability and market share. [3]
It's a huge market, and it's also incentive for a manufacturer to turn out the lowest priced
product possible... and this market will not go away. Welcome to the real world. [4]
The information provided on this blog does, generally speaking, apply to all asphalt shingles manufactured
after 1980, both fiberglass and the newer organic. However, since only fiberglass shingles are sold today,
we will focus on providing information on how the sales of these shingles impacts uninformed consumers.
Because, unfortunately, when asphalt manufacturers started making cheaper (and less durable) shingles,
they also increased product warranty periods.
Because these cheaper and less durable asphalt shingles are now being sold with "Inflated" warranty periods
of 30, 40 50 years and "lifetimes", there is no question Consumers are Being (intentionally) Deceived.
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[1] Ted Cushman, 'Choosing an Asphalt Shingle: Organic vs Fiberglass'
Journal of Light Construction Magazine, (May 1993)
[2] Ray Bolt, 'Shingle Problems: 20 Year Asphalt Shingles are Posing Problems in the West'
Western Roofing Magazine, (Jan/Feb 1991)
[3] Dwain Bouton, 'Return to Basics: Suggestions for Asphalt Shingles'
Western Roofing Magazine, (Sept/Oct 1992)
[4] Marc Dodson, 'Classifying Asphalt Shingles may be the Solution the Industry is Looking For'
Western Roofing Magazine, (July/Aug 1992)
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