# Certainteed roofing class action suit



## RWolff (Jan 27, 2013)

I don't know how many here know about this, but less than 10 years ago I re-roofed my house, new plywood, and then tamko moisture guard over the whole deck, and 25 year Certainteed 3 tab singles
Last year I noticed the shingles were coming apart, brittle, losing granules, curling, so I did a Google search and found out about a class action lawsuit for defective ORGANIC shingles. Naturally MY shingles were the organic asphalt 3 tab shingles... 

Anyone whose roof was replaced circa 1998-2005 with the typical Certainteed organic 3 tab shingles should be aware of the class-action lawsuit due to defective materials. My 25 year shingles already started coming apart by year 8 and now I have to replace the whole roof. 

If your shingles are curling, losing their granules or coming apart, most likely they are these organic shingles and there is compensation, 

There is a form to complete, and can be requested to be sent to you via mail from http://www.certainteedshinglesettlement.com/

I sent mine in along with the sample shingle and all the photos they requested, it took about 3 months or so, but they mailed me a check for a little less than $1,200 for my claim. Not counting my labor, that is a little more than the shingles themselves cost me, so in effect I got about a 110% refund.
Now I'm going to install metal shingles, the heck with this asphalt garbage!





> The shingles that are the subject of this Settlement are organic asphalt shingles manufactured from July 1, 1987 through 2005 under the brand names Hallmark Shangle, Independence Shangle, Horizon Shangle, Custom Sealdon, Custom Sealdon 30, Sealdon 20, Sealdon 25, Hearthstead, Solid Slab, Master Slab, Custom Saf-T-Lok, Saf-T-Lok, and Custom Lok 25.
> 
> In December 2009, CertainTeed Corporation and representatives of owners of buildings on which certain CertainTeed Organic Shingles had been installed reached an agreement concerning a class action settlement. CertainTeed no longer manufactures these shingles; all shingles it has sold after 2005 are fiberglass shingles and are not at issue in this suit. On September 1, 2010, the District Court approved the settlement, which is intended to resolve disputes between the parties about the performance of the shingles. This class action settlement covers the entire United States and Canada.
> The Representative Plaintiffs alleged that CertainTeed Organic Shingles were subject to premature failure and otherwise did not perform in accordance with the reasonable expectations of users. CertainTeed denied these allegations and asserted that the vast majority of the shingles are free of any defect and will last throughout the warranty period. The proposed Settlement was intended to resolve this dispute. The Court did not decide in favor of either the Class or CertainTeed. The Court’s role in the Settlement was to make sure it was a proper settlement that is fair, reasonable, and adequate for all class members.


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## gwa (Sep 17, 2010)

What will you do when the finish fades away on the metal? And when they get hit by hail, they will look like someone beat it with a hammer and your insurance doesn't cover aesthetic damage?

Yes, you can get metal that won't fade, but you'd better be ready to shell out some major bucks.


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## RWolff (Jan 27, 2013)

gwa said:


> What will you do when the finish fades away on the metal? And when they get hit by hail, they will look like someone beat it with a hammer and your insurance doesn't cover aesthetic damage?
> 
> Yes, you can get metal that won't fade, but you'd better be ready to shell out some major bucks.


The shingles run about $225/square, I like what I'm seeing, and the warrantee.
These interlocking shingles lay very flat, so any hail hitting them is not going to cause huge dents an inch deep. The finish has a great warrantee too.

Insurance... hmm yeah, the thing with insurance is, even if you have insurance it's not going to cover a lot of things, and when you have a $2500 or so deductable, not to mention depreciation... you are paying to replace the roof mostly out of your pocket in any case.
I purchased one square of the shingles to look at.


Here is what a sample shingle off my roof looked like, the one I sent in to Certainteed for the claim, this shingle is only EIGHT years old. I did a quality install on this roof because I only wanted to do it ONE time, and since I have tin ceilings throughout the house I wanted zero leaks, that was why I covered the whole deck with Tamko moisture guard instead of just the eaves. I had to tear off 3 layers of asphalt, and a layer of cedar shakes, and installed all new deck and made the valleys myself with heavy aluminum sheet, I think it was 22ga or 20ga

The roof has not leaked at all, but these shingles are falling apart, and the same brand/type was commonly sold here by all the builder supply and lumber yards. I used the Sealedon 30










Here's what the front of the house looked like in 2006, the roof was about 3 years old- THIS shingle above came from this last summer:











I can live with fading and hail dents if they occur, but I'm done with this asphalt garbage!


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## gwa (Sep 17, 2010)

Feel free to buy whatever you want. I've looked at dozens of metal shingle roofs damaged by wind and hail, not to mention by careless people walking on them. I advise you to look carefully at the finish warranty. I'm betting its pro rated and will be worthless by the time they start fading in 10-15 years. 

Your big mistake was buying organic shingles instead of fiberglass. 

My insurance policy covers the total replacement cost minus the deductible.


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## RWolff (Jan 27, 2013)

gwa said:


> Feel free to buy whatever you want. I've looked at dozens of metal shingle roofs damaged by wind and hail, not to mention by careless people walking on them. I advise you to look carefully at the finish warranty. I'm betting its pro rated and will be worthless by the time they start fading in 10-15 years.
> 
> Your big mistake was buying organic shingles instead of fiberglass.
> 
> My insurance policy covers the total replacement cost minus the deductible.



I bought what was available here in a small town of 1,800 with one lumber yard, it did after all have a 30 year warrantee on it... It wasn't like I had a whole lot of choices at the time.
Sure, blame me! it was no mistake on _my_ part, *the product turned out to be defective *and failed before 8 years on a 30 year warrantee. That's hardly my fault any more than it's your fault if your engine blew up in your new car due to a crank failure.

At the time (2002) there was no lawsuit for defective product on this because the product hadn't failed yet, thus, no one knew.
I think we'll find the same kind of issues with fiberglass too, it's all garbage held together with various glues and petroleum based materials.

The roofing materials are junk, they know most people don't live in their homes 30 or 40 years like they used to, most people don't seem to live in a home longer than about 5-7 years and they know it. Most of the times warrantees are not transferable, so if the roof, furnace, water heater, fridge, foundation, windows, skylight, whatever fails in 8 years they get off the hook because there's a good chance the house has new owners by then.

I bought my house in 1998, I'm not going anywhere.


Good that you have insurance, but I'll bet it costs plenty in premiums for that kind of coverage, and over a 10 year time span you probably pay more for that coverage than a new roof costs for materials, so even though you have coverage on the roof for full replacement etc., you are still paying for it on the premium end of things one way or another.

I went with http://www.aluminumshingle.com/


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## AndyWRS (Feb 1, 2012)

I love metal roofs :thumbup:


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## jagans (Oct 21, 2012)

Its not your fault at all. You apparently got an organic shingle that was not properly coated with asphalt. The old 240 three tabs lasted 25-30 years with no trouble at all. You got a bad lot. There have been more failures with glass mat shingles than with Organics, and I am sorry for your troubles. Metal might work for you, but with the style of your home, I would go with standing seam with 16 inch on center ribs, 70% Kynar Finish.


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