Roof shingle warranties are available from manufacturers of the shingles your roofing contractor uses on your home. Manufacturers’ warranties have several tiers of protection:
- Basic, non-transferable, limited warranties for manufacturing defects only for a decade or less
- Mid-level, transferable warranties for longer periods
- Extensive, transferable warranties which also include workmanship and labor
Roofing materials manufacturers like Owens Corning reserve their strongest warranties for their best contractors. This makes economic sense; a manufacturer cannot afford to back up the work done by any Chuck in a Truck. The shingle maker would be paying repeatedly for the unqualified contractor’s mistakes.
Owens Corning offers its strongest, most extensive warranties for the top one percent of its contractors, designated as Platinum Preferred Contractors.
How Do Roof Shingle Warranties Work?
An Owens Corning warranty is a lifetime warranty, no matter its protection level. The Preferred Platinum warranty also offer a TRU PROtection® Period for the first 50 years. This part of the warranty compensates you for tear-off, repair, replacement, or recovering for defective products. Such protection is the factory defect clause.
Rising far above the basic coverage are protections against installation errors. These are workmanship clauses and are far less common in warranties. Only by tapping the power of the Platinum Protection with Owens Corning can a homeowner get this insurance. Owens Corning trusts its best installers enough to cover their workmanship fully for 25 years, after which protection is prorated.
Workmanship means a defective installation of the Owens Corning® Roofing System which causes leaks or materially affects the performance of your roof. You can spot the installer error clause in any manufacturer’s warranty by looking for the term, “Workmanship Coverage” or “Installation Protection.”
What To Look For
Roofing warranties are full of legally binding, complicated, convoluted sentences. They are written to protect three different parties:
- The roofing materials manufacturer
- The roofing contractor
- You, the consumer
Notice where you rank. Read the warranty with a magnifying glass and a clear head. Much of the warranty is written not to offer you free services but to outline what the roofing manufacturer will not pay for. You have to read the various sections carefully to see what legal protections you do have:
- Who is covered — You bought and paid for the roof or you received the original warranty holder’s warranty in a home sale (right of transfer one time and within 30 days of the closing date).
- What structures are covered — Houses, apartment buildings, storage units, detached garages, and the like.
- What elements of your roof are covered — Owens Corning warrants its shingles, ridge vents, underlayment, water and ice shield, and ventilation products when they are installed as a system.
- What is not covered — Every manufacturer draws a bright line to make certain it is paying only for its own or its installer’s errors. Hail storms or high winds (above wind rating) are not covered, and neither are improper alterations and pre-existing conditions such as faulty chimneys.
- When coverage starts and ends — From the date of installation, your contractor is usually required to perform roof repairs (from installation errors) for two years without cost to you; after that, the manufacturer will cover installation mistakes at no cost to you; the length of the warranty depends on the warranty’s level and the products you purchased.
Kissing Frogs
The old saying is “you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince or princess.” When you need a new roof, you cannot waste time sifting through a handful of marginal roofing contractors to find the one with the best warranties.
Save yourself time and headaches. Let the major manufacturers of popular roofing products do the work for you. They have already sorted out the best installers. Those high-quality, tried-and-true roofers earn special certifications, factory training for their crews, and the strongest warranties.
In the unlikely chance you need to make a claim against your warranty, look for a toll-free number in the paperwork. For Owens Corning, for example, it is 1-800-ROOFING (1-800-766-3464). You can touch base with the roofer who installed your roof, but in most cases your roofer will steer you to the shingle manufacturer for help. Alan’s Roofing, conveniently located in central Florida, is your reliable, trusted local roofer. Contact us today so we may show you how we can add beauty, protection, and value to your home.
