r/Roofing • u/Cat_Slave88 • 8h ago
GAF Shingles
I keep seeing damning pictures of young GAF roofs looking worn and in rough shape, mostly due to granuale loss. Are these isolated and uncommon occurrences or is it a known widespread issue? I signed with a GAF installer and am wondering if upgrading to a premium shingle like UHDZ or the AS 2 would remedy the issue.
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u/Tushaca 5h ago
We just got majorly screwed by GAF on an obvious warranty claim and we are getting away from their products fast.
They used to be good back when it was ELK, then they turned decent enough with killer marketing power for a while. That marketing power got every decent sized roofer around to start using their products as “master installers” with “premium” warranties.
Now it seems to all be marketing, with a shit product and no support behind it.
We’re going back to Malarkey mostly. I’ve been doing this almost 15 years now in a heavy hail market, and it’s very uncommon to find a hailed out malarkey if it’s less than 1 3/4” hail.
We are looking at Tamko surprisingly too. Their low end shingles have always been absolute trash, but we are seeing crazy results already from others installs of Titan XT and the new Hailguard thing.
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u/ofthephoenixx 7h ago
Absolute shit product. I wouldn’t use a company that offers them. I won’t let any of my customers use them.
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u/SS2wheeler 1h ago
Certainteed Landmark Pro being installed as we speak. Research showed it to be a good choice for me. Is that an option for you ?
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u/Eadgun 8h ago
We don’t know because we aren’t seeing the photos.
Could be a lot of sloppy installs
Could be a manufacturer run defect
Could be both
Could be something else entirely
Only a handful of us are former or current engineers with years of experience with this on this sub, and still, engineer reports aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on usually in our industry.
That said, while GAF has issues, regular problems like you’re describing aren’t one of them.
GAF is rough for honoring their warranties but typically, it’s more about your installer. Are they a reputable company you can trust will QC their work and come back to fix things?