Editor’s Note
This article is brought to you by American Standard Roofing.
After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, American Standard Roofing installed about 2000 roofs on New Orleans homes and businesses. Now, 16 years later, very few of them have needed to be replaced because of damage or poor quality.
“It’s not always just about the shingle, but more about how it is installed,” said Julie Lang, director of human resources and production manager at American Standard Roofing. “We use a better wind rating installation, so our roofs can withstand much more damage.”
Barron Jones, managing partner and co-owner at American Standard Roofing, said each roof the company installs has a high wind application to ensure it has a higher chance of staying in place during a hurricane or other severe weather event.
“In general, each shingle gets six nails as opposed to the standard four nails,” Jones said. “When two shingles overlap, you have 12 nails holding them versus eight nails, which is a big difference.”
Jones said that the company’s roofs are also installed with metal edging around the perimeter and a specialty starter strip across the shingles or any exposed edges of the home. These serve as a foundation for the overlay of shingles and other roofing materials.
“The metal edging holds things down and there is a strip on top of that, so it creates a foundation,” he explained. “Because we use this specific process on our roofs, they can withstand 130 mph winds versus the 100 mph warranty standard with the exact same shingle. That’s the difference between your home sustaining no damage and having to pay another $10,000 deductible. It makes a really big difference.”
When it comes to paying for a new roof, Lang said many homeowners are often surprised to realize they have a separate high deductible if their roof was damaged by a storm. To help those homeowners and others, American Standard Roofing offers financing to help alleviate the burden. Lang said the goal is to install roofs that will last for several years and help homeowners avoid the costly cycle of replacing or repairing poor quality roofs.
To help people more quickly and avoid the supply chain delays that are plaguing many in the construction industry, Jones said American Standard Roofing has changed its entire operation to ensure they can receive materials within days, rather than weeks or months.
“We have our own warehouse and our own supply line,” he said. “We have truckers bring shingles directly from the manufacturers to our warehouse. …….
