Best Choice Roofing

What is the Best Choice Roofing Material? It Depends

My guess is you don’t spend lots of time thinking about the roof over your head. You simply want it to be free of leaks and if it can look good at the same time, that’s a big plus. You also ask, "What is the best roofing company near me?"

What is the Best Roofing?

Have you ever given much thought as to why asphalt shingles are the go-to product for most of the homes in the USA? If you travel internationally, you might have noticed other countries don’t have the love affair with asphalt as we do. Why do you think that is?

Just because most people in the USA use asphalt shingles doesn't mean they're the best choice roofing you can get.

I have quite a few subscribers to my free weekly newsletter who live in Europe. They have told me on numerous occasions that asphalt shingles are considered cheap and frowned upon. The ingrained mentality for many Europeans is roofing materials must be extremely durable and expected to last for many many decades.

What are the Best Roofing Shingles?

The best roofing shingles are ones that will not curl or lose ceramic granules for at least thirty years. I share what these are in my Roofing Ripoff expose' book. You can read the first three chapters for FREE here.

The issue for just about everyone is money. While you may really want a stunning slate roof that may last 200 years, you can’t afford one. This is why traditional asphalt shingles have cornered the market. They’re affordable and can be installed quickly keeping labor costs to a minimum.

What is the Best Roofing Material?

The best roofing material is one that can last for many decades, is easy to install, is easy to repair, and is affordable. The trouble is there's no roofing material that has these characteristics. Some come close as I describe below.

But what are your options if you decide you don’t want asphalt shingles? I kicked them to the curb when my 30-year-warranty asphalt shingles started to fail after nine years. I was so angry this happened to me I decided to investigate. I did a national survey getting feedback from readers of my syndicated column. I quickly discovered the failure I was seeing in asphalt shingles was widespread.

This is why I wrote my Roofing Ripoff book after I replaced my asphalt shingles with a synthetic slate made from virgin polymer plastic. I estimate my roof might last 100 years or more. While writing my book, I made a surprise discovery that allows you to extend the life of your asphalt shingles by decades. More on that in a moment.

Is Metal Roofing the Best Roofing Shingle?

I’m seeing significant growth in the metal roofing category. A neighbor of mine just installed a new metal roof that looks very nice. Each shingle is made from painted aluminum. This roof could last for hundreds of years as aluminum is very resistant to corrosion in central New Hampshire. If you’re attracted to aluminum roofing and live near the ocean or a sea, you better make sure it has a special coating to prevent corrosion.

This is a new metal roof being installed on my street. It's painted aluminum shingles. Away from the ocean, these roof shingles might easily last 100 years.

How Do You get a Leak-proof Roof?

You get a leak-proof roof by knowing how your roofing materials should be installed. Don't HOPE they get installed correctly.

No matter what roofing material you choose to use, I beg you to invest the time to read the installation instructions of the product before you talk to roofing contractors. These instructions are not hard to understand. Many manufacturers have good how-to-install videos you can watch.

I’m not asking you to do this thinking you’ll be installing the roofing. I’m suggesting this because you need to understand how to make sure your new roof doesn’t leak. Based on my 40-plus years of installing roofs and doing autopsies over the phone with homeowners like you, I’d say that 95% of all roof leaks happen at or near roof flashings. A flashing is a transitional roofing material that connects a roof to something that’s not a roof. You can discover much more about flashings here.

Once you have an understanding of how roof flashing should be installed, you increase the odds of your number one goal of having a leak-proof roof. For example, you can watch my detailed step-by-step video of how a plumbing vent pipe flashing should be installed. .

I show you in the video the best flashing to use as the common one used my many roofers has an inferior rubber seal that cracks and splits after several years of exposure to ultraviolet light.

How Can You Make Asphalt Shingles Last 40 Years?

When I was writing my Roofing Ripoff book I made a discovery that might collectively save homeowners like you hundreds of millions of dollars over time. Based upon exhaustive research of scientific journals, I felt that I was the first person in the world to uncover the fact that copper atoms bond to asphalt molecules and prevent crosslinking.

When too many asphalt molecules crosslink, and oxygen from the air encourages this, the asphalt becomes stiff and brittle. This is why asphalt shingles curl and why they lose their ability to hold onto the ceramic granules that cover shingles.

Active photons in the sun’s ultraviolet rays blast copper atoms from solid copper. This copper washes down the roof bonding with the asphalt. It’s best to put about 9 or 12 inches of exposed copper up on top of side of your roof. Gluing pennies up on the roof is laughable. It’s not enough copper.

This copper will extend the life of the asphalt shingles for decades.

Each time it rains, the copper atoms broken off by the photons wash down onto the asphalt allowing them to link to the asphalt. If your asphalt shingles are in very good condition, you can add the copper and get the same benefit.

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