Episode 007 1995 - 96 Season

| Selecting a Roofing Contractor | Composition Shingles | Steel Shingles | Cleaning Roof Vent Stack | Adding Attic Insulation | Home Furnishings (design) | VA Loans | |

To order a Video Tape, call 1-800-TO-BUILD and ask for Episode #007.


Steel Shingles

Michael Holigan : For our last shingle, we're going to go to the next step. We're going to look at the most advanced shingles we can. We got a specialist with us to help us out. We got Dan Everts with....

Dan Everts: Carter-Holt-Harvey Roofing.

M.H.: There you go.

D.E.: Thanks Michael.

M.H.: I didn't think I could say the whole thing Dan. This is something that you see everywhere, but I don't think most people know that it's actually a steel shingle. Some of the advantages right off the bat, I would guess, is it's not going to catch fire and we're here in Southern California, that's a problem isn't it?

D.E.: Steel doesn't burn, so it doesn't catch fire.

M.H.: Does the weight of a roof make a big difference?

D.E.: It's made a very big difference after the Northridge earthquake. An awful lot of homes suffered some damage due to heavy roofs.

M.H.: How much does a roof like this weight?

D.E.: The product itself installed weighs about a pound and a half per square foot.

M.H.: So that's not very heavy at all for a roof. So you're really not going to have to brace up or frame the roof any different for the steel shingle than you would any other shingle.

D.E.: In fact, in many cases we can install this roofing product over existing roofing and still be well under the load carrying capacity of the building. The new roof is installed with a inch and a half foil faced fiberglass that actually adds insulation to the roof assembly. The home owners here have found a 10 to 12 degree difference during the summer time inside their homes due to the additional insulation. Now you can insulate not only the roof, you can insulate the ceiling as well and that helps in warm as well as cold weather areas.

M.H.: How do you attach this type of shingle to the roof? I don't see any nail holes.

D.E.: This one is attached through the nose and actually attaches into a batten and counter-batten system. So in order to get the product off, you've actually got to shear the nail.

M.H.: Well that's, that's much like a rafter clip, because you have to shear the nail instead of just pulling it out of tension.

D.E.: Right.

M.H.: How much wind is it going to take to flip one of these shingles off?

D.E.: We've actually tested it to 200 miles an hour.

M.H.: And it stayed on.

D.E.: And it stayed on. We warrant it to 120 miles an hour.

M.H.: How about walking on the shingle, if you have to go up and do any repairs, is it, is it going to maintain people going across it?

D.E.: If you take a real close look at the back of the shingle, you'll see that it's corrugated.

M.H.: Ah-huh.

D.E.: And you corrugate steel to make it strong. This one is totally walkable, front, back, middle, rear. I'm a fairly heavy guy myself, about middle linebacker size and I can walk all over the product.

M.H.: How does this hold up in a hail storm?

D.E.: What we've found is that we can resist baseball size hail stones very, very effectively without compromising the integrity of the water tightness of the roof system.

M.H.: Well how about as far as a warranty on this type of shingle?

D.E.: The product comes with a 50 year manufacturer's warranty and it incorporates a 25 year appearance warranty.

M.H.: So you're going to warrant that it stays looking good.

D.E.: Yes, exactly.

M.H.: What is the reason for the stone?

D.E.: The first, and probably most important reason Mike, is that the stone protects the steel, the acrylics and all the other coatings beneath them. It's a ceramic coated stone chip and it's quite resistant to weathering.

M.H.: If a fireman has to get on it, I guess it'd be safer for that too.

D.E.: Exactly. It's a real benefit in the case of a fire. If a fireman should have to climb onto the roof, it's nice to have a rough surface when it's wet.

M.H.: We're on Lugana Beach where the Lugana Canyon fire of '94 swept through and burned up almost everything. Now one of the few homes to make it is right up at the top of the hill. It's got the red stone coated steel tile roof on it, and that's one of the reasons it made it. The fire just ravaged these homes as it jumped from house to house and you'll see new construction going on all through here. This gray house they're trying to finish up. Now the firemen made their last stand right here at the brown stone coated steel tile roof. They knew that that roof was not going to burn. They all lined up there, got on the roof with their hoses and stopped the fire at that point and it didn't go past this and burn up any more homes. Took down everything up here except the one with the right roof on it. So when you're thinking about an investment for your roof, don't just think about how much is it going to cost compared to the others, but think about living in that home. If you're alive, the chances of fire, could be worth the extra money. 

Episode 007 1995 - 96 Season

| Selecting a Roofing Contractor | Composition Shingles | Steel Shingles | Cleaning Roof Vent Stack | Adding Attic Insulation | Home Furnishings (design) | VA Loans | |

To order a Video Tape, call 1-800-TO-BUILD and ask for Episode #007.