Roof Shingles - how long can you keep them?

dhermesc · May 30, 2023

I have a rental house that is in dire need of a new roof. It looks like the previous owner stripped the roof of the house (about 90 years old) of all shingles and resheeted with plywood about 30 years ago (that was all good work) then put the cheapest 20 year shingles on the roof they could find. I plan on stripping the old shingles off and start over at the sheeting. The south side of the house the shingles are in horrible condition - I can't believe this thing isn't leaking like a seive.

Found a guy that has 17 squares of shingles for sale. Decent Tampco architural shingles that he claimed had a lifetime warranty (so probably 30 years) he says he'll sell for $600 if I take them all. My project only needs about 15 square. The problem is they are dated 2018. They appear to have been kept out of the weather and the original packaging is in good shape. Had I not caught the date I would have thought they were from last summer or something. His story is he had a house that the insurance company paid for a hailed out roof. He bought the shingles and time got away from him and less than a year later they sold the house and the pallet of shingles was moved to his new house and set in the front of the garage and they've been there every since.

Are 5 year old shingles still good or am I creating a new problem with the shingles not sealing down?

JMOR · May 30, 2023

(quoted from post at 08:33:36 05/30/23) I have a rental house that is in dire need of a new roof. It looks like the previous owner stripped the roof of the house (about 90 years old) of all shingles and resheeted with plywood about 30 years ago (that was all good work) then put the cheapest 20 year shingles on the roof they could find. I plan on stripping the old shingles off and start over at the sheeting. The south side of the house the shingles are in horrible condition - I can't believe this thing isn't leaking like a seive.

Found a guy that has 17 squares of shingles for sale. Decent Tampco architural shingles that he claimed had a lifetime warranty (so probably 30 years) he says he'll sell for $600 if I take them all. My project only needs about 15 square. The problem is they are dated 2018. They appear to have been kept out of the weather and the original packaging is in good shape. Had I not caught the date I would have thought they were from last summer or something. His story is he had a house that the insurance company paid for a hailed out roof. He bought the shingles and time got away from him and less than a year later they sold the house and the pallet of shingles was moved to his new house and set in the front of the garage and they've been there every since.

Are 5 year old shingles still good or am I creating a new problem with the shingles not sealing down?

would open a bundle and see how badly they are stuck together.

DPittman · May 30, 2023

JMOR is right. If they aint stuck Id use them

dhermesc · May 30, 2023

So the main issue is the shingles sticking together out of the package? I would have thought it was the glue strip/tar strip drying out and not sticking.

I did not know that. Never dealt with putting down old shingles.

db4600 · May 30, 2023

Small yards store shingles for that time frame. While not ideal if they were stored out of sun and moisture I would not be afraid to use them. The adhesion of the tar strip will activate with heat once theyre installed.

tomtinker · May 30, 2023

Did you know those long winded single warranties are usually prorated after about five years?

DoubleO7 · May 30, 2023

I presume you meant Tamko shingles?

I would try contacting the company and ask .

https://www.tamko.com/professionals/download-gallery/documents#applicationinstructions

Fritz Maurer · May 30, 2023

I would prod the guy a little bit on this lifetime warranty business. Transferable? Require paperwork? Have to be installed by a contractor? I really dont know if $600 is a good price or not, but I argue with people who think lifetime warranty is such a great deal and the end of your problems... got a lifetime warranty on my new foundation in 99... showed me all the pretty glossy paper pamphlets... company defunct in 01.

dhermesc · May 30, 2023

I have never seen a roof paid for by the shingle manufacturer - and I sure don't plan on them honoring the warranty on second hand shingles.

To me the warranty is more a way to rate the shingles. 20 year shingles might last 10-15 years tops. 30 years shingles are usually good for about 20 years. Lifetime shingles are usually good for 20-30 years. The shingles that are on the roof now look like they are 80 years old - I was shocked when I found the roof was resheeted with plywood. I had assumed it had 3-5 layers of shingles.

dhermesc · May 30, 2023

Appreciate the information. Thanks!

MSD · May 30, 2023

Those on the bottom of the pallet are probably going to be sticking together. Other then that they should be good yet.

dhermesc · May 30, 2023

My goal is to get a new roof on the house and take pictures or have the agent check it out for the insurance company to show it now has a new roof. The home policy right now excludes the roof and any issues caused by the roof leaking - which I don't blame them, I bought the house in December and hoped it held together long enough to replace the roof this summer. My experiance has been that every roof will get at least one hail claim in its life and the insurance will pay about 2/3 the cost of replacement.

The actual shingle warranty usually isn't worth the paper its written on - especially if its installed by the homeowner without a licensed roofing contractor (one of their outs on the warranty).

Geo-TH,In · May 30, 2023

I keep spare shingles for the roofs I had put on all buildings.
Some 25 year old spare shingles that have never seen the light of day are showing their age.

If I'm doing the math, you will be paying $35.30 a square and not getting any warranty.

At Menards:
Owens Corning TruDefinition Duration Designer Sand Dune Architectural Roofing Shingles (32.8 sq. ft.)
Limited Lifetime Warranty $38.50 a bundle.

It's your money. Cost the same to put on cheapie shingles or lifetime shingles.. you decide.

I'm too old to do shingles anymore.
I plan to keep all my properties forever, so I would go with lifetime shingles vs shingles with no warranty.

dhermesc · May 30, 2023

38.50 a bundle - 3 bundles to a square - so I am looking at less than 1/3 the cost. A square is a 100 square feet - a bundle is usually a 1/3 of a square - the Menards bundles are slightly less than 1/3 square. Yesterday I looked up Menards and using their cheapest 20 year 3 tab shingles was about $25 a bundle plus tax. 15X3X$25= $1,125 plus tax for the shingles - the cheapest ones with basically no warranty and guarenteed to need replaced at 20 years.

The cheapest ones I would consider using were 30 year architectural shingles that with the discount were $32.50. $32.50X15X3=$1462.50 plus tax. This does not include the starter shingles or the ridge shingles - most of those (probably more than enough) ridge shingles are included with his. Since I have at least 1 full extra square I won't need the starters I will just cut off the shingles for starters.

Like I said - I have never seen a shingle company pay for a roof warranty.

John T · May 30, 2023

I tell the wife the roof dont need fixed, it don't leak when its not raining and when it is raining you cant fix it then WELL DUH

John T

ss55 · May 30, 2023

The south side of the house the shingles are in horrible condition - I can't believe this thing isn't leaking like a seive.

- Not very likely, but could they have put ice guard under the shingles instead of tar paper?

dhermesc · May 30, 2023

I don't know. I knew the roof was bad but I was up on a ladder yesterday and couldn't believe how bad it was up close. No small number of shingles have just fallen completely apart and the only thing covering the tar paper - sealant is the shingle part that had been covered. I thought it was possible they used the sealed plywood - since I have no idea when it was done I don;t know if the stuff existed yet.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/ZIP-System-7-16-Cat-PS2-10-OSB-Sheathing-Application-as-4-x-8/1000510447

Blackhole49 · May 30, 2023

If it were me (70), those shingles would already be getting nailed down. Even if your 1/2 my age, what are the chances; 1 the company being around in 30 years and 2 you still owning the house?

ss55 · May 30, 2023

As was mentioned, is the color acceptable?

If the older shingles don't rip when taking them out of the bundle you should be able to get a good installation. Check with the manufacturer about any installation and warranty issues.

Sitting in the bundle for 5 years should not deteriorate them as much as being installed out in the weather. Maybe figure their life could be 2 or 3 years shorter then brand new? If they are really stuck together there might be some extra labor to install them.

Unless you plan to sell the house in exactly twenty years, I would use the older shingles. Hail damage might make any difference between the older and newer shingles a moot point.

JimB2 · May 30, 2023

Re shingles sticking together in the bundle, no expert here but several years ago, I helped a friend re-single his house.
He had bought the shingles on a pallet the fall before but the weather turned cold and it never got done and the pallet was stored in his shed over winter, forward to the next spring and I and another friend help him do his roof. We had a lot of problems with shingles stuck together in the bundles. Some were stuck so bad that you would crack the shingle trying to get them apart.
The other friend had worked for a roofing company in his younger years and he said they would drop the bundle of shingles on the roof at an angle and that would loosen the stuck shingles but there were some bundles with shingles that were stuck so bad that the dropping method didn't work.
The solution was to lay the really badly stuck shingles out in the sun on his lawn for an hour or so and the sun would heat the upper shingle enough to loosen it from the one it was stuck to.

Roof Shingles - how long can you keep them?

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