Roofing Warranties
Product
Guarantees or Marketing Tools?
Roofing
Alert: Information on Defective Asphalt Roofing at bottom of this page!
Most inexperienced roof buyers tend to use warranties as
one of their primary tools
for selecting products. Unfortunately, over the
last decade, manufacturers have found
that by limiting coverage / liability they can
dramatically increase the warranty periods
(to 30, 40 or 50 years) on products with functional
lifecycles of less than 15 years.
Manufacturers and roofing contractors now
use these inflated warranty periods
to sell lower grade products to a much
larger segment of the roofing market,
including buyers needing more
permanent roofing solutions.
Cedar Shakes
Treated cedar shakes are sold with 50 year
"limited" warranties.
But the realistic functional life of cedar shake is only 25 years.
How Can They Do That?
Treated cedar warranties only cover "fungal decay and
termite attack".
They specifically exclude coverage for "warping,
cracking, twisting,
splitting"
or "any physical property of the wood".
Asphalt Composition
Asphalt composition shingles are sold with 30 to 50 year
"limited" warranties.
And inexperienced shoppers usually assume this indicates
product durability.
Yet the real functional life of these (modern) shingles is only
10 to 15 years.
How Can They Do That?
Composition warranties exclude liability for product
performance or durability.
Warranties only cover "manufacturing defects" - NOT
wear from normal exposure.
In fact, asphalt manufacturers openly joke of providing
150 warranties to sell product.
"Limited" warranties, which exclude coverage for normal
wear & aging
were strategically designed to allow Roofing Contractors
to use the warranties as "Marketing Tools".
To better understand the true value of roofing
warranties - See the
History of Asphalt Roofing
IMPORTANT NOTICE: DEFECTIVE ROOFING SHINGLES
Recently, several CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS
against some of the largest manufacturers of asphalt
composition
have resulted in settlements for buyers of "defective" shingles...
But you never hear this from roofing contractors.
These CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS continue - alleging manufacturers are
"knowingly and intentionally concealing
the fact that products were and are defective" and they have "failed and
continue to fail to correct these defects".
Seattle roofing contractors continue to sell these products... not
telling buyers the roofing is known to be defective.
Manufacturers (and roofers) know that 30 year - 40 year
- 50 year warranties sell shingles.
Yet they expect very few claims for premature failures
(most people move every 5 to 7 years)
Therefore, it is very profitable to misrepresent
durability... and they get to re-roof twice as often!
When "defective" roofing is installed there is little
compensation for those needing to re-roof in 10 to 15
years,
because most CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENTS only award pennies on
the dollar and do not include the cost of
tear-off and disposal of the defective roofing or the labor costs
to install new roofing - at future (inflated) pricing.
For homeowners planning on selling within 10 to 15 years... there
is a significant effect
on both re-sale value and
the marketability of a home with defective roofing - Defective roofing MUST BE DISCLOSED to potential buyers!
Would you buy a home with defective roofing?
Do not expect roofing contractors to disclose any
information
which hinders their ability to "sell" products they
install
Some people want to believe that the cheapest roofing
products on the planet also last the longest.
These wishful thinkers will take great comfort in the
fact that there is no shortage of roof manufacturers and
roofing contractors that will tell them exactly what
they want to hear... Wishful thinkers should not talk to
Roof Brokers.
If you want to hear the truth on roofing products
Contact Us for a FREE Consultation
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