Asphalt roofing shingles in the Northeastern/Midwestern US: why?

[Dan]

I always wondered why, at least in the Northeastern and Midwestern US, asphalt roof shingles are so popular. They're not that attractive, having a flat, cheap look. My roof has high-profile architectural aspalt shingles, and even then it seems cheap to me.

In the inner-ring eastern suburbs of Cleveland, many houses have slate shingles. Even some modest homes have slate roofs; it's not just a Shaker Heights thing, but also a common sight in middle-income suburbs like Cleveland Heights, South Euclid, University Heights and Lyndhurst. (Slate roofs are far more common around here than in Buffalo, it seems.) Slate offers an impression of solidity and permanency that asphalt can't match. However, there are almost no houses around here built after the early 1950s with slate roofs.

Tile roofs seem quite common in the UK; it's not just a warm weather roofing material. Why are tile roofs less common in cold-weather regions of the US?

[Jeff]

Slate roofs are a fireman's worse nightmare.

Doubt thats the reason, but thought I'd throw it in there. Could it be its just one of those "When in Rome" things?

Really, a terracotta roof just wouldnt fit in the NE.

[Gedunker]

Mom and dad's mostly non-descript duplex in New Jersey had a slate roof. Although we talked about it quite a bit, mom elected to replace the roof with an asphalt/fiberglas shingle. (I had urged her to repair the damaged areas with new slate, but she couldn't find a roofer that would do it for a reasonable price and she feared the loss of value in the marketplace if she couldn't list it as having a "new 30-year roof".)

My midwestern home originally had shake shingles on skip-spacers (plus four layers of asphalt shingles over top of that). Wood shakes were a very common roofing material here, mostly owing to the city's era of growth and proximity to hardwood forests. We replaced it with a 40-year architectural asphalt/fiberglas roof. The red color of the shingles give the impression of a shake roof (if you've been drinking and don't have your glasses).

We had estimates for a terne standing seam roof (probably second most common historic roofing material here) but at three times the price, completely out of the question for us. Either slate or tile would have required retrofitting the rafters for the additional weight, also not an option on our budget.

Slightly OT: If you ever have to have a complete tear-off roof job, get everything out of your attic before the work starts and be prepared for the dirtiest mess you'll ever see. Also, pay the few pennies extra and use 30-pound roofing felt instead of the stock 15-pound. You'll be glad you did.

[donk]

I would suggest cost, this article suggests that slate is $375 /100 sq feet vs $55 /100 sq ft.

This this link suggests $50 vs $1000


Pretty big difference.

[biscuit]

Slate roofs are a fireman's worse nightmare.

Doubt thats the reason, but thought I'd throw it in there. Could it be its just one of those "When in Rome" things?

Really, a terracotta roof just wouldnt fit in the NE.

Actually, you see quite a few terra-cotta roofs here on my side of the Commonwealth. Granted, they are almost exclusively on the large turn of the century homes, but I see them a lot more here than I ever did in the South.

Expense and lack of skilled labor are the primary reasons slate isn’t the roofing material of choice these days. A slate roof may last 90 years without repair but the upfront cost of the material is significantly higher than asphalt/fiberglass shingles. Additionally, those costs rise even higher because there a few craftsmen left out there who will install slate on a new construction. I remember hearing that after Hurricane Hugo in 1989 people had to be imported from France to help repair the damaged slate roofs in Charleston because there were few Americans out there who could expertly work with the material

[abrowne]

My roof has high-profile architectural aspalt shingles

I'm going to take a stab at guessing the manufacturer... Elk?

[hilldweller]

Some of the laminated asphalt shingles look okay but I agree that for the most part asphalt is garbage, particularly for commercial construction.

[mgk920]

Asphalt appears to be the umbiquitous norm for pitched rooves here, too, even for commercial apps. When a building owner wants more permanance and/or 'better' aesthetics, most builders around here will then go with locally-made extruded concrete tiles.

Mike

[boiker]

I guess my house originally had clay tile roofing which was replaced in the mid-eighties. Why? A near carbon copy of my home two blocks down HAS clay tile roofing.

I long to replace the roof with clay tile, but the cost is 3-4 times more than a decent quality ashpalt shingle roof.

[DetroitPlanner]

interesting. I have recently put roofs on both my home and cabin. With the home I went with a textured architectural shingle because it went with the neighborhood. At the cabin I looked at a steel roof, but the steel roofer would have had major problem with its 'thinderbird' (think frank lloyd wright) style overhangs, making it cost 5 times what the 30 year achritechtural asphalt shingles cost.

[Chet]

Weight. Snow Load. Initial cost. Around here a consumer looks at 2 identical houses, one with dimensional shingels and one with slate. They wont keep it more than 10 years and most folks dont see the long term value. Plus, new roof systems in these parts are truss. Not knowing for sure, firemen wont go on a roof anymore just to be safe. They ladder over enough to hack a hole and hose it. They always save the foundations. Despite the long term benies, slate or tile is dead here.

[abrowne]

Concrete tile is not quite so wonderful as its cracked up to be. It fails very frequently, because as soon as that coating is off... you've just got concrete. And concrete loves to move water. Not to mention the structural loads can be very intense. Looking at the houses on my desk recently, anywhere from 2-4x heavier loads than the same roof with fiberglass asphalt shingles.

Slate is nice but its product quality these days is garbage. Have you seen application? About half of the slate shingles crack during installation. Hybrid products such as Roofroc are preferable, in my mind.

But you can't beat an architectural high definition shingle from Elk along with the vented RidgeCrest for price and style.

[PennPlanner]

The quality of slate has deteriorated over the years, back in the days when when your Shaker Heights were being built, slate roofs had a life expectancy of usually at least 80 years and much longer if consistently maintained. Around the 1960s the country ran out of the higher quality slate and what's left is not quite so durable and has maybe a 30 year life expectancy (Large parts of Baltimore were built during the 1950s-60s, rows and rows of modest middle class brick colonial rowhouses that originally came with slate roofs. Around 1990-95 all the slate roofs started decaying and now it is rare to find a house with its original slate roof, most having been replaced with asphalt shingles. By comparison, most of the houses in the older 1900-1930s Baltimore neighborhoods still have their original slate roofs).

[jordanb]

I have family in Las Vegas have a tile roof. You'd think it'd last forever and it would if the only thing it had to deal with was the elements, but you also have to factor in the little neighborhood ***** who sit around and throw rocks up onto it while they're not home. They have to replace several busted tiles a year.

The slate vs. asphalt thing I guess is just an example of a society that doesn't care about things in the long term anymore. Things like tile stick around on the high end only because they look expensive, not because they're long term. So people who have money buy them for asthetics. Slate looks like asphalt to 90% of the population, so why spend the extra money?

Personally I love copper.

[UKPlanner]

In the UK the majority of the houses are built with plain clay tiles (either hand-made or machine made). Slate is popular in some areas (especially Wales where it is mined). People over here go to extreme lenghts to source second hand tiles for renovations and architectural salvage is big business (not just for tiles).

Keymer tiles (www.keymer.co.uk) are considered one of the best tiles. They are easy to install and last years. On top of that, they look fantastic. Concrete tiles, pantiles and even plastic slate are horrible. I have an architect friend who describes the roof of the building as its hat. Would you rather have a baseball cap or a bowler?

[ardecila]

Weight could potentially be an issue - asphalt shingles allows builders to use a cheaper grade of wood for the roof trusses. Lighter synthetic (plastic) slate products have been used recently, but I have no idea how these hold up in the long term.

The main and subordinate roofs on my house are cedar shake, with a rear addition having a Sealcote asphalt roof. A recently-built front-portico used the asphalt shingles. It's still grating on me, but more recently, we've planned to add a faux-balcony to the top of the portico. As part of those plans, a copper roof has been proposed. Hopefully, we can get some salvaged copper.

But mainly, these shingles are used because they are dirt-cheap. Many historic houses in my town have had their roofs redone with these products - it is rather noticable, and I have considered pitching a "traditional-materials" incentive to the municipality, to see if they like the idea. It would only come up, of course, when roofs need to be replaced.

[abrowne]

Weight could potentially be an issue - asphalt shingles allows builders to use a cheaper grade of wood for the roof trusses. Lighter synthetic (plastic) slate products have been used recently, but I have no idea how these hold up in the long term.

It's not just heavier trusses, though. Something needs to hold up those trusses, and that something needs to be heavier duty, too. A 10,000lb point load from a clay-tile laden girder truss is enough to make a framer cry.

I've seen houses lately that, in combination with ridiculous truss layouts and loads as well as large spans and crazy interior beams, have had TWELVE to FIFTEEN ply 2 by 4 built up columns.

Trusses tend to always be high grade because they are engineered by default. The best wood of a house is often in the truss system.

[steel]

Because slate is too expensive.

It can not be amortized in a ten year period that is a common requirment in today's developments Add to that our societal acceptance and desire for cheap and fake over expensive and real. This is unfortunate because over the entire life of a building slate is the cheaper material (since it will last over 100 years vs 15 for asphalt) and it looks good. It is just that people in the USofA are not willing to pay up front for "Looks Good"

In the way past houses either had tile, metal,slate or cedar shingles. There was no other choice. If you see an older house with asphalt you are not seeing the original roof material the house was designed for.

[bud]

interesting. I have recently put roofs on both my home and cabin. With the home I went with a textured architectural shingle because it went with the neighborhood. At the cabin I looked at a steel roof, but the steel roofer would have had major problem with its 'thinderbird' (think frank lloyd wright) style overhangs, making it cost 5 times what the 30 year achritechtural asphalt shingles cost.

How would that be a problem? Wright typically used standing seam copper roofs. I gather your cabin has wide eaves; how wide? - three or four feet, I reckon. And you want to use sheet metal? What is the problem?