Hi
About 3 years ago, we hired a good contractor to replace our old IKO asphalt roof shingles, which were starting to show signs of wear and age after 20 years. At that time, our contractor recommended another asphalt shingle made by BP, which have a 30 year warranty.
The contractor removed the old shingles and felt paper, and installed new felt paper over the entire plywood surface of the roof. He also added a membrane of about 6 feet, around the roof edge near all the eves. He suggested we install 2 Maximum air vents on the roof, to allow more heat to escape from the attic, cause all we had for ventilation in the attic were the soffits.
Anyway, we were quite pleased with the job that the contractor did, plus he did a nice job of making a new flashing to go around the chimney as well as installed some aluminum valleys to allow the rain to come down and pour into the rain gutters more freely.
Last year, we noticed that on real hot days, the new asphalt shingles were starting to lift at the lower corners. I called our contractor bacl, and within a week he showed up to see what I was talking about. He didn't like what he was seeing either, and told me that I was his 3rd complaint about this happening last year. He ended up calling the BP company who make the shingle, and they sent a rep along with my roofer, to asses what the problem was. They took a sample of the installed roof back to their labs, and today my contractor calls me to tell me they will be replacing the roof shingles entirely, because apparently the asphalt shingle they installed, didn't have the correct amount of tar to keep them stuck together well enough.
So I will now get a new roof, at no cost to me what so ever.
My contractor however told me, that instead of putting back the same type of asphalt shingle, he strongly recommended that this time we use a fiberglass shingle, which he says will stick better, and last longer. He said it's a bit thinner than asphalt, but will still last longer and stick better in the case of strong winds etc. The pitch of our roof is comfortable to walk on, but not flat by any means. I think it's what they call a 12/1, but I'm not sure about that.
Anyway, has anyone had this new fiberglass type of shingle installed on their home, and would you recommend it over the normal 30 year asphalt shingle? I read somewhere that the fiberglass shingle is more fire proof than the organic or asphalt shingles, but that really doesn't worry me too much.
I do trust my contractor, but I just wanted to see what others had to say about the fiberglass shingle, pros and cons. It "apparently" is becoming the roof shingle of choice on new homes according to my contractor.
Sorry for writing a book, but I wanted to paint as clear a picture for you as possible.
Thanks in advance for any input you may have. ;)

I always thought all major brands manufactured shingles using a composition of both fiberglass and asphalt materials. However, I'm inclined to believe your story as to one type/brand being inferior to another. One thing I do know from my years experience roofing is to at least meet the minimum requirements for proper roof ventilation as suggested by the manufacturer. Ice shield /weather watch underlayment is mandatory in most regions and is highly recommended too.

Thanks Jon123. Maybe I missed something when the contractor called me to give me the good news that the shingle company agreed to replace my roof for free.
I've been searching the net trying to find something on these 'new' fiberglass shingles, but all I come up with is the rigid type of shingle, which I'm sure is not what my contractor is talking about.
He will eventually drop by, and things will be clearer once I talk to him some more. I'll try to post back what I find.
Thanks again.

Ray, good luck with you second new roof!

Hi there. I've had some problems w/ BP Mosaic Fiberglass shingles. We've had the roof for 6 years. Every year, we have some shingles being blown off. Neighbouring homes do not have this problem. Our roofer noticed that there was little tar to bond the shingles together. In addition, the shingles are blistering and cracking.

We contacted BP in the spring but they did not send anyone to evaluate the roof. They have refused to do anything to resolve these problems. They keep insisting that the wind warranty has expired yet have not addressed the defects such as insufficient tar to bond the shingles together, blistering and cracking. As a temporary measure, I had my roofer apply several tubes of adhesive to 'bond' the shingles attached to the roof until next spring when it gets warmer.

I've heard that other makes of shingles may have similar problems but the manufacturer's have assumed some responsibility for the problem. I'm not sure why BP Canada has simply decided to hide behind their wind warranty.

We have the BP organic shingle which was installed in 2000. 1/2 the shingles have really deteriorated. BP has refused to replace our roof saying it is a ventilation issue. The shingles before we redid our roof lasted over 20 years with no problem. I believe the organic shingles were made in the late 1980s and have heard of over problems that are similar. Do you know what type your shingles were and do you have photos of the old bad BP shingles? We are desperate since we are now looking at $25,000 to replace our roof and it is 8 yrs old.
Help!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raymonator58

Hi
About 3 years ago, we hired a good contractor to replace our old IKO asphalt roof shingles, which were starting to show signs of wear and age after 20 years. At that time, our contractor recommended another asphalt shingle made by BP, which have a 30 year warranty.
The contractor removed the old shingles and felt paper, and installed new felt paper over the entire plywood surface of the roof. He also added a membrane of about 6 feet, around the roof edge near all the eves. He suggested we install 2 Maximum air vents on the roof, to allow more heat to escape from the attic, cause all we had for ventilation in the attic were the soffits.
Anyway, we were quite pleased with the job that the contractor did, plus he did a nice job of making a new flashing to go around the chimney as well as installed some aluminum valleys to allow the rain to come down and pour into the rain gutters more freely.
Last year, we noticed that on real hot days, the new asphalt shingles were starting to lift at the lower corners. I called our contractor bacl, and within a week he showed up to see what I was talking about. He didn't like what he was seeing either, and told me that I was his 3rd complaint about this happening last year. He ended up calling the BP company who make the shingle, and they sent a rep along with my roofer, to asses what the problem was. They took a sample of the installed roof back to their labs, and today my contractor calls me to tell me they will be replacing the roof shingles entirely, because apparently the asphalt shingle they installed, didn't have the correct amount of tar to keep them stuck together well enough.
So I will now get a new roof, at no cost to me what so ever.
My contractor however told me, that instead of putting back the same type of asphalt shingle, he strongly recommended that this time we use a fiberglass shingle, which he says will stick better, and last longer. He said it's a bit thinner than asphalt, but will still last longer and stick better in the case of strong winds etc. The pitch of our roof is comfortable to walk on, but not flat by any means. I think it's what they call a 12/1, but I'm not sure bout that.
Anyway, has anyone had this new fiberglass type of shingle installed on their home, and would you recommend it over the normal 30 year asphalt shingle ?? I read somewhere that the fiberglass shingle is more fire proof than the organic or asphalt shingles, but that really doesn't worry me too much.
I do trust my contractor, but I just wanted to see what others had to say about the fiberglass shingle, pros and cons. It "apparently" is becoming the roof shingle of choice on new homes according to my contractor.
Sorry for writing a book, but I wanted to paint as clear a picture for you as possible.
Thanks in advance for any input you may have. ;)

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BP shingles with a "25 year warranty" were installed on my father's roof in July/99. By 2009, the shingles started curling & were deteriorating in the roof valley. BP told my father a sample would be taken &sent to their lab & he would be advised of the results. Dec 8/09 a letter was sent indicating the lab results showed that no deficiencies were found. As there was a slight language barrier, I took over dealing with the issue & on May 11, 2010, I contacted BP & asked to speak to the rep who had taken the sample. I was told he was unavailable, but if I would provide the file number, the person I was speaking with would try to assist. Upon providing the file number, he advised that the file indicated a sample was supposed to be taken & sent to the lab, but wasn't, & that a message would be relayed to the rep to address the matter & to return my call. I have never received a callback

I have been a roofer for 25 years. To clarify, all shingles, both organic and fibreglass, are made of asphalt. There is a matting inside that gives it strength. Otherwise the asphalt would just crumble apart. This matting used to be made of shredded wood, hence the name "organic". Now they make that matting out of fibreglass. So the two types of shingles appear to be the same, but their inner structure is slightly different. The fibreglass shingles are apparently cheaper to produce since they have always been cheaper to buy than the organic. Because of this, roofers started using the fibreglass shingles almost exclusively. Eventually the manufacturers stopped making the organic shingles altogether. So now we're stuck using the fibreglass whether we want to or not. I say "stuck" because I have found the fibreglass shingles to be cheap and flimsy. They tear very easily and if you're installing them with an air nailer you have to be very careful with the air pressure as the nails will easily shoot right through the shingles. I am finding that roofs we shingled only a year or two ago are already starting to deteriorate and the shingles are curling up. I would normally never put these garbage shingles on my own roof, but I am now forced to because the organics are no longer available. At least not around my neck of the woods.

Someone also mentioned max vents. Don't waste your money on these. They are just an elevated vent. There's no advantage to having your vents elevated off the roof. They don't need to be above the snow or any of the other silly excuses contractors give for trying to sell you them. A vent is just a lid for a hole. It's OK if they're buried under the snow because there isn't any hot air in the attic in the winter to vent. And if you're losing a bit of heat through your insulation then the snow around the vents will melt out of the way anyway. Max vents are a waste of money. If you really want to spend $100 on a vent then buy a whirlybird. Some stupid roofers like to say that they're outdated. They are not outdated. When they spin they PULL air out of the attic. What is outdated about that? Max vents just sit there and do exactly what a regular $12 will do. They may be taller and look like they can move more air, but the hole in the plywood is still the same size. Whirlybirds are good. Ridge vents are good too. Max vents are waste of money.

I had BP's 25 years warranty shingles installed 10 years ago (the previous roof was 25 years old).
The shingles now are fishmouthing and the gravel is diminishing and there is severe moss build-up, which I never saw on my previous roof. I have pictures and a pack of correspndence with BP Canada, which refuses to honor the 25 year warrany. It blames the absence of soffits in my roof- I have gable ventilations which worked fine with my previous roof shingles.
My roofer says that there are lots of complaints about these shingles and there should be a class action suit against BP.
I am going to put a complaint in with the US Attorny General's office and am researching a complaint with the Canadian Attorny General.
We all should band together.

I had long forgotten about this thread. LOL. I just wanted to say that I have gone back and looked at several of the roofs we shingled with the fiberglass shingles in recent years and found that most of them are already defective. These fiberglass shingles are an absolute joke. They are so thin that they rip just from regular handling before we even get them installed. There's nowhere near enough tar on them so they don't stick down and they blow off in the wind. They are very fragile so you have to be careful installing them or the roofing nails will just go right through them. They start curling and lifting way too soon, in some cases within 1 year of installation. Unfortunately they are the only shingle available to us here in Ontario. There haven't been any of the good old organic shingles made for a couple of years now. The manufacturers have stopped making them. Around here we have mainly IKO and BP brands. Recently some new ones have come to town, GAFF and Certainteed, but they both only offer the stupid fiberglass shingles. So we're screwed. And all those customers of ours have no choice but to make warranty claims.

All I can say, is for me, BP stood up to the plate and took responsibility for their product. Obviously, according to the responses in here, I was very lucky. The new shingled roof I have now is the BP Harmony 40 year shingle. I noticed that it is very thick compared to the standard 25 year shingle. Hopefully I'll be able to get a real 25 years out of them. As far as the MAX vents, I have two now installed on my roof, which may be a waste of money or it may not. It's definitely better than the air circulation I have before up there, because the only venting was from the soffits, which to me isn't a good thing cause heat rises usually.
Anyway, thanks to all for your responses, and I'll sleep a little smarter tonight. Time will tell I guess, and hopefully I'll get more longevity out of the BP's than I got from the 25 year IKO shingles which lasted about 20 years. However, in IKO's defense, I didn't have proper ventilation up there.

You're very right about soffit venting on its own being inadequate because hot air rises. It's hard to believe anyone would build a house and rely only that. I'd say you were fortunate for getting 20 years out of your shingles and even more fortunate that you got anything from BP. That's awesome. Good luck with the new shingles.