Presidential Shingles

                                 THE TRUTH ABOUT CERTAINTEED PRESIDENTIAL SHINGLES

                                                    "Pumpkin-Tooth" Style Asphalt Shingles
                                                                     Short-Term Roofing

       This article provides unbiased information on the functional lifespan - and the aesthetic lifespan
       of "pumpkin-tooth" style asphalt shingles.  We will use the Presidential Shake and Presidential TL
       for examples as they have the longest time on the market.  Since the design of all pumpkin-tooth
       products is similar, the concepts expressed below should apply to all the comparable products.

                                               CertainTeed Presidential Shake & Presidential TL
                                                   PABCO Paramount & Paramount Advantage
                                                     Owens Corning Woodmore & Woodcrest
                                                        GAF Grand Sequoia & Grand Canyon

                                                   CERTAINTEED PRESIDENTIAL FAILURES

Many consumers have the incorrect perception that "pumpkin-tooth" style fiberglass shingles have lasted
(or will last) for 30, 40 or 50 years.  This misconception on durability is understandable, there's no shortage
of manufacturers, and asphalt roofers, promoting the sale of these products and consumers notice the shingle
is much thicker (at the bottom edge) than conventional "3-Tab" or "architectural" style asphalt products.

Unfortunately, most asphalt roofers never disclose the history of premature failures with Presidential shingles
and they rarely show the back-side of the shingle.  So consumers remain unaware that a significant part of the
shingle is one thin layer of cheap (3-Tab) material - Never expect unbiased information from roofers.   [1]

The CertainTeed Presidential (and Presidential TL) are popular roofing shingles, marketed as alternatives
for traditional cedar shake roofing.  The Presidential shingle is being promoted by CertainTeed, and roofers,
as a 50 year or "lifetime" roofing product.  However, Presidential shingles have a history of premature failures
starting BEFORE 15 years old - But this documented history of failure is rarely disclosed to consumers.  [2]

This article provides unbiased information on the functional lifespan - and aesthetic lifespan - of Presidential
shingles, the recent deceptive marketing strategy of providing "Inflated" warranties to increase market share
and other roofing "secrets" that asphalt manufacturers (and asphalt roofers) Don't Want You to Know.  [3]

                                                     PRESIDENTIAL WARRANTY CLAIMS

The Presidential shingle was introduced to the roofing industry by Celotex in 1987 with a 30 year warranty.
Within 15 years these initial Presidential installations were already starting to experience premature failures.

In 2001, 2002 and 2003, CertainTeed paid warranty claims for the premature failure of Presidential shingles
due to excessive granular loss, brittleness, cracking and splitting.  Despite all the premature failures occurring
BEFORE 15 years, in 2002, CertainTeed actually increased the Presidential warranty period to 50 years.

In 2004, 2005 and 2006, CertainTeed paid warranty claims for the premature failure of Presidential shingles
due to problems with granular loss, brittleness, cracking and splitting.  Obviously Presidential shingles were
developing a consistent pattern of premature failure BEFORE 17 years old.  However, in 2006, CertainTeed
increased the warranty period (again), this time from 50 years to the current "lifetime" warranty.  [4]

In 2007, 2008 and 2009, CertainTeed paid warranty claims for the premature failure of Presidential shingles
due to continued problems with granular loss, brittleness, cracking and splitting.  In addition to the clear and
consistent pattern of premature failures, it's important to note CertainTeed recently admitted it can provide
no examples - not even one - of Presidential installations lasting over 20 years in the Seattle area.  [5]

                                                             SHOCKING BEHAVIOR

Consumers should NOT BE SHOCKED that major manufacturers (like CertainTeed) are currently selling
shingles with a history of premature failure - CertainTeed has been selling defective shingles for a long time.
They are currently negotiating settlement on the largest (600 million) class action lawsuit in roofing history
due to the premature failures resulting from the continued sales of defective shingles for almost 30 years.  [6]

Never assume sales of defective asphalt shingles were limited to just a few years, or just a few products.
Sales of defective shingles have been widespread and pervasive - often it's been the norm, not the exception.
For information on the continued sales of products known to fail prematurely see Selling Defective Shingles.

And never expect full disclosure of information on sales of defective shingles from manufacturers and roofers.
Despite the long history of premature failure of Presidential shingles, and all the documented claim payments, CertainTeed admitted corporate, regional and legal personnel conspired with local roofers to prevent buyers
from receiving information about these failures - and even DENIED knowledge of any claim payments.  [7]

          Between myself, CertainTeed's Sales Manager for the Northwest Region, Greg Palandrani,
          and other persons (not to mention our legal department and outside counsel), CertainTeed
          has invested an extraordinary amount of time and effort in our attempts to repair the damage
          done... Specifically, I explained that as CertainTeed's Territory Manager for that region,
          I knew of no claims of Presidential or Presidential TL shingles failing prematurely.

Consumers should not be SHOCKED that manufacturers and asphalt roofers simply deny the existence of
documented claims and consumers should not be SHOCKED to learn they are currently selling shingles with
a history of claim payments.  CertainTeed has admitted it expects Presidential shingles to fail prematurely [8]
and CertainTeed's "certified" roofers have admitted they expect Presidential shingles to fail prematurely. [9]
The only problem is... They rarely (if ever) admit these actual expectations to prospective customers.

                                            PRESIDENTIAL DESIGN (Cheap 3-Tap Material)

While Certainteed, and many asphalt roofers, like to present the Presidential Shake and the Presidential TL 
as "superior" roofing products, actually both shingles are made from some of the cheapest (3-Tab) material.
The Presidential and Presidential TL are both made from essentially the same material CertinTeed normally
uses to produce the very inexpensive XT25 shingle - Which is its bottom-of-the-line 3-Tab shingle.  [10]

Apparently when the material is called "XT25" CertainTeed expects a 25 year lifespan, but when the same
material is called "Presidential" or "Presidential TL" CertainTeed suddenly expects 50+ years of durability.
Based on the shingle design, the historical performance and documented warranty claims, we "expect" the
XT25 to fail BEFORE 20 years - which may account for all the documented failures of Presidential shingles
BEFORE they were even 20 years old.

CertainTeed paid warranty claims for premature failure of XT25 shingles BEFORE they even started to
produce the Presidential line (from the defective XT25 material).  For more than 15 years CertainTeed has
been paying warranty claims for the premature failure of XT25 shingles - And for 10 years CertainTeed has
been paying claims for the premature failure of Presidential shingles.  [11] 

At this point, the only question is:
Why is CertainTeed continuing to sell these defective products and why are asphalt roofers not disclosing
this very important information to unsuspecting consumers?  And the answer may involve profitability.

                                            PRESIDENTIAL DESIGN (Dual & Tri-Laminates)

Even with the long history of warranty claims for defective XT25 and Presidential shingles, CertainTeed
tells uninformed consumers the Presidential is "expected" to demonstrate superior performance, and last for
50+ years, because it's a "dual-laminate" design - meaning there are two layers of the XT25 material bonded
together.  And the Presidential TL is a "tri-laminate" design consisting of three bonded layers of XT25.

By making such statements, CertainTeed must depend on the ignorance of inexperienced consumers because
approximately 20% of the exposed Presidential material is NOT the dual-laminate design - Its a single layer
of material.  The same applies to the Presidential TL shingle, only part of the shingle is a tri-laminate design,
the rest consists of just a single layer of the cheap (XT25) 3-Tab material.

Since the weakest area of a shingle (not the strongest) determines product durability, there is no reason to
ever expect 50 years, or 40 years or even 30 years of durability from Presidential or Presidential TL shingles
when a significant portion of the product is just a single layer of bottom-of-the-line (XT25) 3-Tab material.

And there's no reason to expect problems of excessive granular loss to be solved by bonding another shingle
(or two more shingles) to the BOTTOM of the XT25 (3-tab) shingle.  If past performance is any indication
of future durability, we must expect XT25 and Presidential shingles to continue to fail before 20 years.

                                                   PRESIDENTIAL RE-SALE WINDOW

It's not enough for buyers to only know the "functional life" of a roofing shingle.  It's far more important they
understand the aesthetic life - The age BEFORE shingles start to show the obvious signs of imminent failure.
Potential buyers expect a Five Year Certification on roofing and normally require the replacement of roofing
or payment of a negotiated "Roofing Allowance" whenever shingles do not pass a Re-Sale inspection.  [12]

This is the critical "Re-Sale Window" for roofing products.  If the functional life of Presidential is 20 years,
that DOES NOT mean the shingles can actually pass a Re-sale inspection at that time.  And determination
of "failed" roofing is always based on the WORST portion of the installation - never the strongest.  It simply
does not matter if the north-side of the roof is still in decent condition - when shingles on the south-side have
already failed.

Buyers must understand this Re-Sale Window because eventually they become Sellers of the same roofing.
Trying to sell a home with 15 year old Presidential shingles will be a problem - if all your prospective buyers
want to negotiate replacement costs because areas of the roofing show obvious signs of imminent failure and,
because of the condition of the most worn areas, the roofing cannot pass a (5 year) Re-Sale inspection.

                   Paying $20,000 for Presidential shingles today may just be your initial down payment
               When it requires replacement costs of over $40,000 (inflation) to Re-Sell in only 15 years.
           And it may be little consolation to receive a (12%) claim payment of $4,800 from CertainTeed.

This is the problem of intentionally marketing roofing products with "Inflated" warranties.  Whenever asphalt
manufacturers provide warranties of 30 years, 40 years and 50 years to "sell" products which have a history
of premature failure BEFORE 20 years - Many innocent families will suffer financial loss.  [13]

                                                         THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION

Asphalt manufacturers can simply add the cost of projected claim payments to the initial product pricing to
offset all the claims associated with expected premature failures.  This strategy allows the use of "Inflated"
warranty periods (to increase market share) while still maintaining their desired profit margins.  This very
deceptive marketing strategy will be effective - for a period of time. 

Eventually consumers will recognize the pattern of premature failures, the public awareness slowly increases,
Class Action Lawsuits are filed and (eventually) asphalt manufacturers must change product names (again)
so they can continue to claim the problem has been resolved - they are selling "new and improved" shingles.

Because most sales of Presidential (and Presidential TL), in the Seattle area, have occurred in the last few
years, the general perception of product performance and durability is still very good.  However, since the
earliest installations are now failing and being replaced, this incorrect perception will quickly change. 

Perception of Presidential (and Presidential TL) quality will evaporate as soon as the limited durability - and
the long history of documented premature failures and claim payments - becomes common knowledge. 

This is an important consideration for all (current) buyers, coming into this scheme a little late... do not expect
the public to STILL have a favorable perception of Presidential shingles AFTER they start seeing all of these (premature) replacements of roofing installed only 15 or 20 years ago.  In other words, consumers buying
shingles in 2010 should not expect the current perception about "50 year" Presidential shingles to continue...
and more informed buyers (and higher pricing) may be important factors when it's time to (re)sell the home.

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  [1]  By "history" we do not mean 100% failure rate.  Please see the Definitions.
  [2]  Declaration of Adam Hughes, CertainTeed Legal counsel, May 28, 2010.
  [3]  Roofing warranties are just marketing tools that don't indicate either the quality or the durability of
        shingles and warranty payments are often a small fraction (8% to 15%) of actual replacement costs.
  [4]  The Presidential, and Presidential TL, has always been a "fiberglass" design and premature failures
         of fiberglass shingles have typically been the result of excessive granular loss, brittleness, cracking
         and splitting, blistering, curling or buckling, seals and weeping.  See: History of Asphalt Shingles.
  [5]  Declaration of Robert Gardiner, Certainteed VP of marketing, April 26, 2010.
  [6]  Negotiations allow a maximum of $34 or $74 per square (prorated) for replacement of defective
         shingles.  However replacement costs in Seattle area are approximately $300 to $600 per square
         for typical installations.
  [7]  Declaration of Mark Ivers, CertainTeed Northwest Territory Manager, March 3, 2010.
  [8]  Declaration of Mark Ivers, CertainTeed Northwest Territory Manager, April 23, 2010.
  [9]  Declaration of Michael Haight, CertainTeed "certified" roofer, April 26, 2010.
[10]  Declaration of Husnu Kalkanoglu, CertainTeed VP of Research and Development, April 26, 2010.
[11]  Claim payments are the result of premature failures.  If a shingle is failing prematurely, there will be
         claim payments.  While it is true that many (maybe even most) premature failures are never reported,
         when "25 year" and/or "50 year" shingles are failing within 15 years, there will be claim payments.
[12]  Certification of (at least) five more years of functionality is normally required by the lender before
         approval of the mortgage - unless a price reduction ("roofing allowance") is negotiated to provide
         for roof replacement after closing on the mortgage.
[13]  Please see the History of Asphalt shingles and Selling Defective Shingles in Seattle to understand
         why this author believes CertainTeed was fully aware it was selling defective shingles, why it has
         no (financial) reason to change business strategy now and how its current use of 50 year and
         "lifetime" warranties provides clear indication that nothing has changed... and nothing will change.
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