What Makes Some Shingles More Wind Resistant Than Others?

Any Atlanta roofing contractor will tell you that wind resistant shingles have become incredibly popular with the recent wave of severe wind and thunderstorms. But how much different are the wind resistant shingles from other less expensive shingles?

Wind Resistant Shingles – What Your Atlanta Roofing Company Knows

Every Atlanta roofing company will agree that building codes have gotten tougher and tougher over the years, especially when it comes to wind resistance. Test methods and ways of evaluating effectiveness against high speed winds have also changed.

In response, manufacturers have developed new approaches to making shingles that are not only more resistant to the lifting forces of wind, but also tougher against impact due to flying debris.

There are three major areas of improvement in shingle construction that have created the latest generation of wind resistant shingles.

• Stronger adhesive
• Stronger adhesive
• Stronger mat materials

‰ÛÏStronger adhesive‰Û is named twice because there are two different areas where stronger adhesives have made a tremendous difference.

Wind Resistant Shingles – Technology Matters

The top of a shingle is the first location where strong adhesives are critical. In this area, newly developed, tougher adhesives are being used to bond the outer layer of mineral granules to the central asphalt layer. This enables the mineral granules to withstand impact from debris that is moving at faster velocities than ever before, which corresponds to higher wind speed resistance. This also means that the mineral granules will be around longer to do their job of protecting your home from impact, sun and fire damage.

Stronger adhesives are also being used to keep shingles bonded together. As any Atlanta roofing contractor knows, each row of shingles is overlapped by the next higher row. As a result, a critical part of the shingle fastening system is the use of an adhesive stripe which bonds the bottom edge of a shingle to the underlying shingles. This adhesive, in conjunction with two rows of roofing nails near the center and top of a shingle, keep a shingle secure under high wind loads.

A strong base, or mat, layer is also key to making a shingle that can withstand severe winds. Today’s most popular wind resistant shingles use a high-strength fiberglass mat for the base layer. Although fiberglass has been used in shingles for decades, in recent years engineers have improved the toughness, strength and tear-resistance of shingles through clever alignment of the fibers, changes to resin (adhesive) chemistry, and revised processing methods.

The Value of Wind Resistant Shingles – An Atlanta Roofing Company Perspective

Shingles that can endure higher wind speeds are a great value because they last longer under normal weather conditions, and are more likely to survive severe storms like those that have hit Atlanta in recent months.

A reputable Atlanta roofing company will always recommend wind resistant shingles because they know that over a 20-year span, it will likely cost more to replace or repair a wind-damaged roof after every severe storm than it will to build a solid, durable roof that can fight off the storm.

Findlay Roofing offers and installs a broad selection of high-performance, wind resistant shingles that can withstand winds up to 130-mph. If you would like more information about wind resistant shingles or have any shingle questions, we invite you to contact us today.