Shingle Roofing & Repair

Shingles in Arizona

Asphalt shingle is the most affordable pitched roof available, it installs quickly, it repairs easily, and it looks clean on almost any Valley home. It is a genuinely good choice — it just lives a harder life here than it does in most of the country.

What ages a shingle in Phoenix is not weather in the usual sense. It is ultraviolet and heat. Sun drives the volatiles out of the asphalt over the years, the shingle stiffens, and the granules that were shielding it start to let go. You see it as bald patches, curling edges, and granules collecting in the gutters.

The two things that most change how long a shingle roof lasts here are the quality of the shingle and the ventilation of the attic underneath it. Neither is where you want to save money on an Arizona roof.

Ventilation matters more than people expect

An underventilated attic in Phoenix can run well past 150 degrees in summer. That heat has to leave somewhere, and a good part of it leaves upward, through the shingles — cooking them from the underside at the same time the sun cooks them from above.

Balanced intake at the eaves and exhaust near the ridge lets that heat move out instead. It measurably extends shingle life, it takes load off your air conditioning, and it is inexpensive to get right at the time of a reroof. We look at the ventilation as part of the estimate, not as an upsell afterwards.

Signs a shingle roof is near the end

• Granules collecting in the gutters or washing out at the downspouts.
• Shingles curling, cupping, or lifting at the corners.
• Bald patches where the asphalt mat is showing through.
• Cracked or brittle shingles that break when handled.
• Shingles missing entirely after a monsoon wind event.
• Any sagging in the roof plane, which is a decking problem rather than a shingle one.