Asphalt Shingle Roofing Tauranga

Shingles Are the Alternative Most People Never Consider

Almost every roof in Tauranga is metal, so most homeowners never really look at anything else. That is a shame, because on a certain kind of house an asphalt shingle roof is clearly the better answer - and the houses it suits are common around Bethlehem, Te Puna, Omokoroa and the lifestyle blocks out towards Katikati.

Shingles are a layered product: a fibreglass mat, saturated and coated with asphalt, then surfaced with ceramic-coated granules that carry the colour and take the UV. Laminated (or "architectural") shingles have two layers bonded together, which is what gives them the depth and shadow line that makes a shingle roof look like a shingle roof rather than a flat sheet.

Where a Shingle Roof Beats Metal

• Complex hip roofs. On a roof with lots of hips, valleys and changes of direction, longrun means a lot of cutting, a lot of waste and a lot of flashing. Shingles simply follow the shape. The more complicated the roof, the more sense they make.
• Noise. This is the one people notice immediately. A sarked deck plus a thick layered shingle is dramatically quieter under heavy rain and hail than a metal roof. If you have a bedroom or an office in the roof space, it is a real difference.
• Character homes. Shingles suit older architecture, steeper pitches and gabled designs in a way that a modern trapezoidal profile does not.
• Thermal movement. Metal expands and contracts with temperature, which is where some of the ticking noise on a hot afternoon comes from. Shingles do not.
• Repairs. A damaged area can be dealt with by replacing individual shingles rather than a full sheet run.

Where Metal Is Still the Better Choice

We would rather tell you this up front than have you find out afterwards. Shingles are not right for everything:

• Low pitches. Shingles need a reasonable pitch to shed properly. On the low mono-pitch designs that are popular right now, longrun or tray is the answer.
• Cost per square metre. On a simple gable roof, longrun is usually cheaper, partly because a shingle roof needs a full sarked deck underneath it and a metal roof does not.
• Sheds and outbuildings. There is no case for shingles on a farm shed.

Wind, and Why the Install Matters More Than the Product

Tauranga gets serious wind, and the Papamoa and Waihi Beach coast gets it worst. Modern laminated shingles carry manufacturer wind ratings that are more than adequate for New Zealand conditions - but only when they are installed exactly as specified. Nail placement, nail count, starter courses, the sealing strip and the hip and ridge detailing all matter far more than the badge on the packet.

The other non-negotiable is the deck. Shingles are laid over a continuous sarked substrate with the correct underlay, not over open purlins. If a quote you receive does not mention the deck, ask what is going under the shingles, because that is where the cost and the performance both live.

What We Install

We install laminated asphalt shingle systems, including GAF, which is one of the products the client base here knows by name. Full system: starter course, field shingles, hip and ridge cap, valley treatment, underlay and all penetration flashings from one manufacturer, so the warranty covers a system rather than a collection of parts.

The photographs on this page are from real shingle jobs we have done at Te Karaka Drive and Te Puna Road. Have a look at the full gallery.