Shingle Roofing in St. Louis

We take photos as the job progresses so you can see the layers that get covered up. The layers buried under the finished shingles are the ones that decide the life of the roof.

Three-tab is a single flat layer with cutouts, and it is the builder-grade roof on a lot of houses around here. It is lighter, thinner, rated for lower wind speeds, and it reads flat from the street. We install it when a budget requires it or when matching an existing roof demands it, and we will say plainly that it is the shorter road.

Architectural laminate, two layers bonded together, is our standard and it is what goes on most of the roofs we do. The added mass buys wind performance and service life, and the dimensional shadow line is why a reroofed house often looks better than it did new.

Impact-rated shingle is the one worth thinking hard about in this metro specifically. The rating runs Class 1 through Class 4, Class 4 being the toughest, tested by dropping steel balls on the material. Where hail arrives as regularly as it does here, a Class 4 shingle resists the bruising that starts a claim in the first place, and many carriers discount the premium for it. Whether it pays back depends on your carrier and how long you are staying, so ask them for the credit in writing before you decide. It varies more than people expect.

Nailing is where warranties are actually won and lost, and it is invisible the day after installation. Manufacturers specify a nail count and a nail line. Shingles fastened high, above the line and into the laminate rather than through both layers, will pass a glance from the driveway and fail in the first serious wind. Nails driven too deep cut the mat; too shallow and the course above will not lie flat. This is the most common reason a manufacturer denies a material claim.

Color is not only aesthetics. A dark roof in full southern exposure runs hotter, and heat is what ages asphalt. Choosing between two colors you like equally on a slope that takes afternoon sun, take the lighter one.

Being an Owens Corning Platinum Preferred Contractor means our crews install the components as a matched system to Owens Corning's specification rather than mixing in parts.