Roofing Shingles

[Wildwood]

I would look at better reviews in addition to those you mentioned and find out what is available in your area. This site list 12 different shingle brands and consumer reviews guess have to take what folks there say with grain of salt. Good and bad for both brands you mentioned listed. See the short read below:
http://www.roof.info/shingles/ratings.html

Short read but nice to know info:
https://greatinspector.com/frequently-as...-shingles/

Already mentioned about getting a good installer. Not so sure company warranties mean much if have a bad install. In any event most manufacturers blame the installer for roof failures.

Found out from local home inspector most companies will not honor warranties after one hurricane. Many of the new homes( less than 15 years) in my area needed new roofs after last hurricane here. No problem with my new 30 yr. architectural shingle roof less than 10 years old. We’ve had two since getting new roof hurricanes here and no problems! Make sure carry wind & hale insurance on you home!

[Splinter Puller]

https://www.owenscorning.com/roofing/surenail

Surenail reinforcing strip is a game changer.  This is the only shingle I'll use from now on.

[Splinter Puller]

     If you go metal just rip off all the old plywood and put furring strips across for the metal. No requirement for plywood decking under it but it is preferred as a backup layer. Not sure where you are but a common roof here is 40-60K so metal is often cheaper than asphalt.

       
     Oh and Tamko is what I usually see the better roofers use here.

I've specified metal roofing commercially for decades and the one requirement is to upsize the roof plywood to 3/4" to hold the fewer fasteners.  

If your talking metal building style roof panels, maybe no sheathing is required but who wants to live in a house that looks like a metal building?

[Snipe Hunter]

 but who wants to live in a house that looks like a metal building?

Me. I think metal roofs look great.

[Bill Wilson]

If you hare having the roof professionally installed, I would pick the contractor and let that determine the brand of shingles.  To have any hope of fully realizing the benefits of the warranty, (if ever necessary) I think the contractor needs to be certified by the shingle manufacturer and use all their products, from the underlayment to the ridge vent.

[fixtureman]

When they did my metal roof they stripped the shingles and replaced the bad plywood then they put down a rubber underlayment and then the metal.  The new roof is not as loud as the old shingle roof as the metal touches the membrane and doesn't transmit the sound.  My shop has a metal roof that they just used the purlins and that is loud as the rain and hail ping off it.

[brianwelch]

If you hare having the roof professionally installed, I would pick the contractor and let that determine the brand of shingles.  To have any hope of fully realizing the benefits of the warranty, (if ever necessary) I think the contractor needs to be certified by the shingle manufacturer and use all their products, from the underlayment to the ridge vent.

and suggest you get the warranty in writing from the installer!

[jteneyck]

FWIW, Owens Corning architectural shingles on my house roof; installed about 20 years ago with a 45 year warranty.  So far, so good, no signs of curling, cracking, etc.  I picked the roofing company, told them I wanted architectural shingles with the longest warranty, and they put the whole package together.  

To me, the design of the house will dictate what type of roof is appropriate.  No way I would want a metal roof on my hip roof ranch house.  Nor would I put metal or asphalt shingles on a house designed for a clay tile roof.   

John

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

If you hare having the roof professionally installed, I would pick the contractor and let that determine the brand of shingles.  To have any hope of fully realizing the benefits of the warranty, (if ever necessary) I think the contractor needs to be certified by the shingle manufacturer and use all their products, from the underlayment to the ridge vent.

The contractor I have in mind is called Bellari. I used them for my windows and so far am impressed by workmanship and quality of windows. Lifetime warrenty. They do all aspects of a home and the roofing they push is Certainteed. The system used with installation from Ridge vent which best in the market today because they thought of everything with this thing and the underlayment they use. It is code here to do the 6 nails per shingle hurricane nailing. The big push with the shingles he showed me is the weight because they use a different process of adding granules and more of them. They can get others. As mentioned yes it comes with 50 year warranty and who know if it is put in action what and who takes care of things The small print as they say. You read all horror stories and also good ones so tough to make choices like this when it comes to big money items.

[Robert Adams]

Just like with every roofing product out there, there is horror stories. each company has negative reviews. I have been looking through them. They say no lightning arrestors are needed with metal roofs but boy that just does not sit right with me. Can not have metal vent pipes sticking through the roof. They are slick so I guess snow does not build up on them but can sure dump alot on someone if not knowing.  No walking on a metal roof either because of denting and lifting. If not locked down it can lift and fly just like other tiles. They are not big in my area at least right now. But as I said each roof has its good and bad points. When I put my first roof on 32 years ago the hardest choice I had was picking a color and that was not hard due to the color the house was being painted. Timberline 30 year.

Gee wait till I talk about siding next and stone veneer too.

         Ok I'll let off on the metal. Just here it is becoming much more common and there are many myths surrounding it in places not familiar with it.


         Oh and for the siding vs stone veneer. Gotta be brick or stone can't do siding as by code you have to have a minimum of 75% masonry siding on houses and commercial buildings... (very few citys allow siding usually small low income ones) Personally I would love to rip all the brick off our house put a 2" layer of foam around it then precolored hardie siding. Brick is a bad material here due to it absorbing heat and releasing it into the house all night long and if it gets wet then the sun hits it the moisture is driven into the house. Brick is a good material but not in our climate(besides our brick is yellow...)....

 
            Back to asphalt. My parents had their roof replaced with architectural shingles 15+ years ago. 1800sqft house and today it still looks like a brand new roof. It was around 35K roof at the time and today you would probably be 45k for the same roof. (why you only get a roof with an insurance claim here) The neighbors had their roof replaced the next week and it definitely shows it's age. 
           The shingles on my parents house are Tamko IIRC. I will find out as I think they have a couple spare packs of shingles. The neighbors house used certianteed. I know this because there is a pack still sitting in their garage. Their roof was 45k at the time because it is a 12/12 roof so steep and more area to cover. 

          The roofer that did the roof on my parents house was someone mom knew through school and he actually stopped by recently to see how it was holding up. His price was about 4k higher than other quotes at the time but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone in our area. IIRC insurance covered all but about 2k of the roof.