Life-Time Limited Warranties – What are we talking about?

When you hear the phase, “life-time limited warranty” what comes to mind?  If you’re like a lot of homeowners you may think this must indicate that the product will last a person’s lifetime or the lifetime of the home itself.

Unfortunately, this is not the case.  How long will the shingles really last and what does your roof warranty cover?

In this article, we will break this down and look at some of the mainstream asphalt shingle manufacturers and their warranties.

Like many warranties for almost any type of product, they are there to protect you against manufacture defects.  If your new laptop keyboard stops working within 6 months, that’s a manufacture defect and should be fully covered and replaced.   When it comes to specifically an asphalt shingle product what type of defects can arise?

Common Roof Shingle Defects

Shingle blow offs Edmonton, AB

Shingle blow offs –  If the roofing contractor has hit the nailing strip properly and the shingles still blow off within the wind speed that’s covered, you may have a claim for that suspected defect.

Premature granule loss Edmonton, AB

Premature granule loss –  More commonly, if a defect is to occur, you’ll have considerable granule loss building up in your eave troughs.  These granules assist the life of the shingle by protecting the core product from the harm of sun’s rays and gives its ascetic colouring.  Some granule loss is normal.  However, if you see bare spots of coating asphalt exposed, call your manufacture or contractor.

Life-time limit warranty

Each manufacture will differ slightly depending on what brand of shingle you are buying.  There will be a non-prorated period where the manufacture will pay the material and labour costs to replace the defected product in full.  After this period, labour may not be covered and the product value will prorate equally year after year until the product has no value.  This prorated period can last up to 50 years.

Also, please consider and note that some manufacture’s will require you to use a certain number of roof product components they make to validate or increase the warranty.

Roof Shingle Warranty Comparison

  1. IKO
  2. BP
  3. Malarkey
  4. Certainteed
  5. GAF 
  6. Owens Corning

How long will asphalt shingles last?

If everything has been installed correctly and there are no manufacture defects over the life of the product, a good amount of time you can expect is between 20 to 25 years.

At Jayson Global, we have experienced estimators who know the ins and outs of the roofing industry.  Want to find out how to get a 20-year non-prorated full coverage warranty?   CONTACT US!

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