Help ? GAF Timberline any good

Buddy of mine is looking at a new black arc tear off…he said most roofers are telling him the GAF Timberline are best…what do you guys think are best…Tamko ? Gaf ?

He has a big ( 35 sq ) ranch in Upstate NY…

IMO Certainteed Landmarks are better than GAF. They don’t lose as many granules, they are thicker (Timberlines are one of the thinnest shingles out there) The only thing I find better about GAF is the sealant strip is really good.
Our salesman loves them because he can jack up the “warranty” sales with them. Not one of our roofers like them.

I have seen this question asked on forums many times and it usually leads to big arguments. I have worked in several different regions on the country and call tell you that shingle quality varies greatly from region to region. I think it all depends on what factory the shingle comes out of. I am in central PA and while GAF used to be my shingle of choice after the GAF/ELK merger but they have really gone down hill past few years. My first choice would be Owens Corning with Certanteed in a close second. Most likely some will tell you that GAF makes great shingles and in their areas they probably do. There are some NY roofers (tar monkey I believe), I’d go with the suggestions of the people closest to you.

Go with Certainteed. Here’s why,

  1. GAF does not publish their weights. Certainteed do publish theres. They average 240 lbs per sqr. GAF’s usually are around 210 and sometimes lower.
  2. CT has 4 bands of sealant holding the tabs to the base sheet while GAF only has 3 bands of sealant
  3. All of Certainteed plants are ISO 9001 certified. This is hard to get certification and I don’t believe GAF has it .
  4. Certainteed shingles are Certified to meet ASTM D 3462 as opposed to approved to meet that testing method which is required in Florida. By being certified that means that Certainteed allows ASTM to send in inspectors randomly to there plants to check shingles and make sure they meet the code. Other manufactures do not allow ASTM inspectors to come in to the plants. They pick which shingles they want inspected and mail them to ASTM.

Hope this helps!

We install thousands of squares of GAF here in Vermont and the overall quality of the shingle GAF shingles and extended warranty coverages trump the CertainTeed weight.

If we are talking about weight, you have to ask yourself what makes up the extra weight. It’s not quality asphalt making up the addional weight it is limestone. Now ask yourself what feeds on limestone? Algae, moss friends of shingles right?

Upstate NY gets the very similar weather to VT and also shinges from the same plant.

I have a couple buddies in the midwest that swear by the CT shingle and prefer the CT of GAF so yes, as its been said above its a regional thing.

LEt’s move on to the overall design of the shingle. Anyone who has seen enough older (10-15 yea) laminate roofs what do you see wrong with these roofs?

For one, settling of the reveal of shingles just above the top of one shingle as there is a void there that is more pronounced with thicker shingles. Laminates are not going away anytime soon it is a positive move for manufacturers to attend to the long term affects of shingle issues.

GAF and OC have both “planed” out the double laminate area at the nail line. I wasn’t a fan of the original Duration nail line- as the gun stuck to it when nailing in hot weather. The new one, I like and thnk OC has done well to 1: nail holding power to the nailed shingle and as well as a good bonding line for the overlapping shingle.

CertainTeed has a wide nailing area, but the problem with this wide nailing area is its not entirely through both laminates relying heavily on the manufacturing aspect of shingles sticking together. In fact, 1/2 of that acceptable nailing area is above that laminate and in the void. This is where GAF and OC have progressed and CT and IKO have not. These nails above the laminated are not attaching the shingle securely to the deck- when the shingles settle like the prodeccessors have- those nails will be the weak point.

I think the most comparable shingle available to GAF is OC and then following IKO tying with Certainteed. But hey, I’m a seasoned installer and a company owner. I’m not swayed by costs of products as they are all very comparable.

The second issue with a thicker shingle is the exposed edge not protected by the granules. Wehn you get a chance to look at the older roofs where do they generally fail first? Answer: Edges. Non granular protected edges. Thicker shingles do not have this protection.

GAF has the hands down best synthetic underlayment- Deck Armor. The only breathable product on the market.

Compare the plastic versions of the others alomng with the thinner products. Thinner may not matter too much to roofers who dry in and shingle in the same day, bbut for us thats hardly ever the case. Plastic cap nails seat much tighter on thicker Deck Armor adding to peace of mind when the roof is left exposed for any amount of time in the rain.

I want to mention one more advance Owens Corning has made in their accessories. The shingle over style ridge vent. Unlike Snow Country or Shinglevent II the venting portion is flat and and does not collect debris in the vent channel.

I’m GAF Master Elite. The only one in Vermont and I offer my customers a distinct advantage over othe warranties

We Master Elite roofers guarantee a inspection on our roofs with our Golden Pledge. Warranty. The others, that might inspect are random at best. Manufacturers really like to point fingers at installers for call backs and without a sign off it will fall back on installers mark my words.

Back with a Vengence.

I prefer Metal roofing, but we install whatever the HO wants. It does seem to be more Malarkey than anything else…followed by CT.

They’re middle of the road.

GAF timberline class action lawsuit.

yourlawyer.com/topics/overvi … g-cracking

Owens Corning now offers 50 yr. material and workmanship warranty through a platinum preferred contractor. GAF workmanship warranty stops at 25 yr.

Here’s a video that shows OC durations are the better choice over GAF.

philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/1 … -shingles/

Check mate.

[quote=“mrroofer”]GAF timberline class action lawsuit.

yourlawyer.com/topics/overvi … g-cracking

Owens Corning now offers 50 yr. material and workmanship warranty through a platinum preferred contractor. GAF workmanship warranty stops at 25 yr.

Here’s a video that shows OC durations are the better choice over GAF.

philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/1 … -shingles/

Blast from the past dude that’s from 1997.
Check mate.[/quote]

They all have had issues.

Owens Corning
consumer.halunenlaw.com/class-ac … -shingles/

CertainTeed
seegerweiss.com/law-practice … -shingles/

IKO
classaction.ca/actions/Produ … edrected=1

Every manufacturer has had a law suit.

Roofcheck - CertainTeed offers the same extended warranty (they actually cover mismatch bundles too though) with the whole 25 years of workmanship and inspection blah blah blah. From my understanding, GAF followed suit when CertainTeed first offered this extended warranty.

It’s strictly a regional thing. There are very few credible installers here who install GAF. Mostly CT and OC.

The Deck Armor is a good product though, I will give you that. The nail line is also a good point. Now remember, as long as the nail is properly placed in the nail line, the manufacturer warranty is valid (among a few other things).

My personal belief is that this is why GAF makes such a NARROW nailing line. On shingles here it is about 1/4 inch area to hit. They know mostly no one is hitting every single line.

Then again, these warranties don’t matter to the manufacturer. They are playing a game with it. They know most people don’t spend more than 7 years in a house so the odds of them being on the hook are very slim and if someone does have a warranty claim? Well, big deal, they are out 10k from the billions they will sell in a year.

Actually, CT Landmarks have two nailing areas. The first one is where the two parts of the laminate meet, this area must be used when installing on 8/12 or steeper. This area of the Landmark at 3/4" is actually bigger than the GAF Timberline which is 1/2". The second is just above that, which yes, just grabs the single layer section.
I have never had an issue with Certainteed Landmarks blowing off due to being nailed in the upper nailing area.

O.C.'s stick down real nice & in no time. The reinforced nail strip is real strong as well.

ive heard that strip is a PIA to cut thru and you go thru alot of blades ??

They are hard to cut through & hard to tear off. That’s good for the consumer.

Owens Corning needs to improve their product.
The double thickness is only at the very bottom of the cloth strip.
Most of the roofers are still driving the nail too deep because of this. I install this product on steeper roofs because I believe it not to be an issue.

I install certainteeds on 5/12 and below because I need quality.

All these manufactures need to improve!
I’m not happy with any of them.

All their nail lines need to be improved!!!
I could say I’m happy with atlas and their 2 inch nail line.
My problem with them is their shingles don’t match up from batch to batch and I really don’t have the time to positively make sure every bundle in the roof is the same lot number…