It is very common for us to hear the question “What kind of shingles should I put on my roof?” Now, I have to preface this by saying that I’m a male and I can hardly match colors on my own outfits when choosing pants and a shirt in the morning. (Seriously when did black and brown start being okay to wear together and why?) With that being said, we are very opinionated in our response but that is exactly what it is: an opinion.
There are many other contractors that would disagree with my team on this one but this is how we truly feel about shingles and it is what I would do if I were putting new shingles on my own house: It is our opinion that a roof is not meant to be the focal point of a home. We don’t feel like a roof’s purpose is for a visitor or a passerby to pull up or drive by your house and say “Wow, nice roof.” or on the other end of the spectrum “Wow, they need to do some work on their roof.” We feel that a roof’s purpose in life is to protect your home and that if a visitor even remembers the color of your roof after they have visited, we aren’t doing our job as your contractor. In the picture from one of our recent projects you see what we call a weathered wood architectural shingle, weathered wood being the color and architectural being the style of shingle This is by far the most common shingle used in Oklahoma and for good reason. It is a good conservative look and very cost effective for the amount of protection it offers your home. We’ve never put a weathered wood roof up and had a customer regret the color choice. It just always looks good. Brick house, light brick house, any color of siding, stucco, doesn’t matter.
The green shingles in the photo are the aging roof that we were removing from the church before installing weathered wood. I don’t recommend Hunter Green unless you have wood or wood colored siding or maybe you daily reminisce back to your glory days in the 70s. As far as the style of shingle to put on a roof (and some will disagree with me here) I don’t feel that it is cost effective to spend more money on thicker shingles than architectural. Yes, I make more money when I install a luxury shingle. Yes, they are thicker and provide more protection to the home. Yes, they can add value to your home. Even considering these arguments, I just don’t find them cost effective enough for the customer justify. I wouldn’t put them on my own home if I were replacing my roof. With that being said, of course I would install a luxury shingle if the customer insisted. What about 3-tab shingles to save some money? 3-tab shingles were more common two decades ago and they are cheaper in more than one way. That being said, it’s almost a no brainer to step up to an architectural shingle from 3-tab. Architectural shingles are usually $100-300 more for an entire roof, are thicker, look much better, and hold a much better warranty. I am not a believer in saving a handful of doll hairs by installing a lower quality product for a customer. Also we like to put an industry leading warranty on our brand new roofs. This warranty is not available for a 3-tab roof.
All of this goes to say that (other than exceptions), we think you need a Weathered Wood Architectural Shingle roof on your house in most cases. We’ll talk more later about the manufacturers and brands of shingles to choose from as well the classes of shingles that are available. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, you can always let our team know at support@uaroof.com or you can contact me directly at 918-991-9295. We’re here to help.
