{"id":2862,"date":"2015-07-20T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/?p=2862"},"modified":"2015-07-10T11:18:04","modified_gmt":"2015-07-10T15:18:04","slug":"top-performing-shingle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roofingmagazine.com\/top-performing-shingle\/","title":{"rendered":"The Qualities of a Top-performing Shingle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shingle product development has generally been slow compared to technology evolution in other industries. The most important performance requirements of asphalt shingles, like shedding water, fire and wind resistance, durability and code compliance, have been established for decades. Within the past 35 years, though, there has been a push to develop additional performance standards for asphalt shingles.<\/p>\n

The current (and long-standing) product standard for fiberglass asphalt shingles is ASTM D3462. This standard focuses on the physical performance measures of shingles at the time of manufacturing. A number of areas tested include the \u201crecipe\u201d of the shingle (glass mat, adhesive, finished weight, etc.) and performance requirements, such as tear strength, behavior on heating, fastener pull-through resistance (the force needed to pull a nail through the shingle at high and low temperatures), and penetration and softening point of the asphalt.<\/p>\n

However, some manufacturers have fought to raise the performance requirements that shingles must meet. Rather than focusing on performance at the time of manufacture, these manufacturers want to establish a standard that would reflect how shingles perform over time. In 2011, the ICC Evaluation Service<\/a>, Brea, Calif., approved a new alternative acceptance criterion for asphalt shingles, AC438. Instead of dictating how to make an asphalt shingle (what raw materials to use), it requires additional physical property and performance testing beyond ASTM D3462. <\/p>\n

AC438 contains stringent performance testing requirements, which are meant to evaluate the performance of a shingle over time. \u201cWhen thinking about shingle performance, it\u2019s imperative we, as an industry, are looking not just at performance at the time of manufacture. AC438 helps test in these extreme environments to give us better insight,\u201d says Emily Videtto, vice president of shingles and new product development at GAF<\/a>, Parsippany, N.J. The shingles are put through three critical, demanding tests to evaluate durability in a variety of temperatures and weather situations: <\/p>\n