Best Asphalt Shingles: Which Brands Roofers Recommend
Homestead Roofing owner Tracy Bookman reveals exactly which shingles he would and would not install on his own house, based on 12 years of installing and inspecting roofs in Colorado Springs where hail storms are a regular occurrence.
Most roofing contractors will install whatever shingle you ask for. They will give you a quote, order the materials, and put them on the roof. But if you ask a contractor which shingle they would put on their own house, and they answer honestly, you will learn more in 30 seconds than you would learn from hours of reading specification sheets.
Tracy Bookman has been installing and inspecting roofs in Colorado Springs for 12 years. His city gets pounded by hail, sometimes tennis-ball-sized, occasionally softball-sized. He has seen which shingles hold up and which ones fail. He has dealt with warranty claims, replaced two-year-old roofs, and gone back to inspect installations years after the fact. When he names the three shingles he would and would not put on his own house, the list is based on direct experience, not marketing materials.
Three Shingles Tracy Bookman Would Install on His Own House
The first is CertainTeed Landmark. The Landmark is CertainTeed's workhorse architectural shingle. Tracy Bookman is careful not to call it entry-level because that term implies builder-grade. In his experience, the Landmark is a step above what most manufacturers sell at the entry price point. It is a standard asphalt shingle, not an SBS modified or impact-resistant product. What sets it apart is weight. More asphalt in the shingle means better hail resistance because the material has more mass to absorb impact energy. He also likes how well CertainTeed shingles seal together. In 12 years, his company rarely sees a CertainTeed Landmark roof with shingles blown off.
The second is Malarkey Legacy. Malarkey pioneered SBS modified asphalt shingle technology decades ago. An SBS modified shingle is a rubberized shingle. The SBS polymer adds rubber-like flexibility and impact resistance to the asphalt compound. When hail hits a rubberized shingle, the material flexes and the hail tends to bounce off rather than fracturing the shingle surface. Tracy Bookman admits he is partial to the CertainTeed product line, but if CertainTeed were not available, Malarkey Legacy is what he would put on his own house.
The third is CertainTeed Northgate, which is the product Tracy Bookman actually installed on his own house. The Northgate is an SBS modified, rubberized asphalt shingle. The installation happened in December 2016. Day one was December 30th, sunny and in the mid-40s. The crew expected similar weather for day two, but December 31st arrived cloudy and 23 degrees. Asphalt shingles become stiff and brittle in cold weather, but the Northgate's SBS modification keeps the material flexible. Nine days later, Colorado Springs got hit with 100 mile-per-hour winds. Tracy Bookman's brand-new roof, installed in sub-freezing temperatures, did not lose a single shingle.
Beyond his personal experience, his company has installed Northgate on hundreds of roofs since the product launched in 2015. He has gone back to inspect those roofs after major hail events including storms with tennis-ball-sized hail. Out of all the Northgate roofs they have inspected, only a handful have needed replacement, and those were from the most extreme storms with softball-sized hail.
Three Shingles Tracy Bookman Would NOT Install on His Own House
The first is Owens Corning Oakridge. In his market, it is what builders use when they are pricing a house to sell. He calls it a builder-grade product, popular with production builders because it meets the minimum spec at the lowest cost, but not a product he would trust on his own home. Over 12 years, he says the Oakridge has consistently underperformed against hail. When his company gets called out because shingles have blown off a roof, the Oakridge is the product they find most often.
The second is Owens Corning Duration Storm. It is marketed as a Class 4 impact-resistant shingle, but Tracy Bookman draws a critical distinction. The Duration Storm uses a mesh scrim embedded into the shingle to protect the mat from cracking when hail strikes. An SBS modified shingle achieves impact resistance differently, by making the entire asphalt compound rubberized so the shingle flexes and the hail bounces off without damaging the surface granules. The scrim approach protects the mat but does not protect the granules. Hail can still dislodge granules from a Duration Storm shingle, exposing the asphalt underneath to UV degradation.
The third is Tamko Heritage. In 12 years in the roofing industry, this is the shingle he says has caused the most problems, specifically delamination where granules separate from the shingle surface. His company has had to replace roofs with Tamko Heritage shingles on houses that were only two or three years old. He says his company has never had a positive experience pursuing a warranty claim on these shingles.
What SBS Modified Actually Means and When It Is Worth the Cost
Standard asphalt shingles use oxidized asphalt that is harder and more durable but also more brittle. SBS modified shingles blend the asphalt with a rubber polymer. The result is a shingle that stays flexible in cold temperatures and absorbs hail impacts by flexing rather than fracturing. SBS modified shingles typically run 20 to 40 percent more than standard architectural shingles. Whether that premium is worth it depends on where you live. In hail-prone regions like Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma, Tracy Bookman's experience suggests the premium pays for itself through avoided damage.
For more on shingle selection, the roof shingle color guide and the budget versus premium shingles comparison cover additional decision factors. For an overview of roofing costs, the guide to evaluating roof costs covers pricing across material types. Homeowners in the Colorado Springs area can reach Homestead Roofing at homesteadroofingcolorado.com or 719-433-6991. In all other areas click here for Roofing Repairs and Replacement or Call: (702) 620-6514
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