- If your roof has a 25 year warranty,
then you probably expect it to last 25 years
and rightfully so,
but there's a little bit more to it than that.
Today, we're going to be talking about the age
of that thing over your head.
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Hi, I'm Brandon with the Roofing Channel
and today we're discussing roof age.
The three topics that we'll be covering are,
how long does a roof last?
What affects the age of a roof?
And how old is your roof?
How long does a roof last?
The benchmark for how long any roofing materials should last
is the manufacturer's warranty.
To give some specific numbers,
a three tab asphalt shingle
has a manufacturer's warranty of 25 years.
A dimensional or architectural shingle
has a manufacturer's warranty of 30 years
and a luxury asphalt shingle
usually has a manufacturer's warranty of about 50 years.
If you want to know how long metal roofs will last
a screw down metal roof usually has a warranty
of about 30 years
and a standing seam metal roof usually has a paint warranty
of about 50 years.
That just protects you from any scratches or dings.
Correction with metal roofs.
They have two different timelines.
They have their paint warranty, and then they have their,
with proper maintenance,
how long they'll last.
A screw-down metal roof's paint warranty varies,
depending on the paint finish you use.
Usually you can expect it to last around 10 years or so,
but with proper maintenance and with screw-down metal roofs,
it's a lot of maintenance,
you can maybe push it to around 20, 25 years.
With the standing seam metal roof,
if you use the Kynar-500 paint finish,
that comes with a warranty of 30 years, but realistically,
with some maintenance with your standing seam metal roof,
it can last as long as 50 years.
Okay, with that being said, back to the show.
Now there's a lot more to how long a roof will last
than just the manufacturer's warranty,
which brings us to:
what affects how long a roof will last?
The most important factor
that influences a lifespan of your roof
is your attic ventilation.
If your attic isn't properly ventilated,
then some roofing materials will literally burn up
before their manufacturer's warranty date.
This isn't as big of a deal with a standing seam metal roof,
specifically, since it can expand in extreme heat.
Obviously storm damage can shorten the life span
of your roof by just, you know, damaging it.
But did you know that trees overhanging your roof
can also shorten the life span of it?
And I don't just mean by tree branches falling
and damaging your roof,
but actually the sap of trees can fall onto your roof,
and when certain saps are exposed to extreme heat,
it hardens into this plastic-like material
that can damage your roof.
The final reason that can shorten the lifespan of your roof
is improper installation.
It's way, way too often
that we see nails being improperly driven.
And when you have a nail improperly driven in say,
an asphalt shingle roof, what it will do is over time,
wind will actually be able to make its way
underneath that shingle,
and it'll just start flopping.
And like a little hammer it'll start drilling out the nails
until eventually, those nails will pop right out.
And those asphalt shingles will start to slide down the roof
and that's going to warrant either a big repair
or even a replacement.
How old is your roof?
While it does take a trained professional
to accurately determine the age of your roof,
there are still some signs that you can look at
to see if your roof may be getting to its expiration date.
The most common way to see if your roof may be getting old
is only available with asphalt shingles.
The way to determine this is by looking at the granules
on your roof and seeing if they start to flake.
Now here we have a pristine asphalt shingle sample.
And if you look closely at this example,
you'll notice that all the granules are finely intact.
These are brand new shingles, they were installed day one.
Some examples of granule loss over time that you'll see
is this example here,
which is probably about a 10 to 12 year old roof,
here, which is probably anywhere from 15 to 20 year old
and here, which is way past its prime.
This is probably about a 25 plus year roof.
With some roofs, too,
they'll start to develop these dark spots over time,
just from water running over the same spots again and again.
And that's also a clear sign of
that roof is getting old.
With other materials, it can be a little bit tricky.
Obviously sometimes you'll see rust with metal roofs,
but oftentimes you'll have to look at
some of the finer components
to see if they're showing a little bit of age,
like say your flashing.
If it's looking a little worse for wear,
then your roof is probably getting a little bit old.
We definitely don't recommend getting up on your roof
and putting yourself in danger though.
So again, just to reiterate,
the best way to accurately determine the age of your roof
is to hire a professional, to come look at it for you.
That's all for this video.
And hey, if you find yourself in the Nashville area
with an old roof that needs replacing,
why don't you give us at Bill Reagan Roofing Company a call.
See if we can fix that for ya.
Remember to like and subscribe this video
if you enjoyed our content,
it really means a lot to us.
Take care and we'll see you next time.
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