Asphalt Shingle Roofs in Connecticut

Architectural or three-tab

Three-tab shingles are a single flat layer cut into three tabs along the bottom edge, which gives the roof its even, brick-like rows. They are the lighter, cheaper option and were the standard for decades.

Architectural shingles, also called laminated or dimensional, are two or more layers bonded together, so they are thicker and heavier and cast a shadow line that reads as texture from the street. They make up most of what goes on Connecticut houses now, and the major manufacturers put their longest warranties behind them. Three-tab lines are a shrinking part of what those manufacturers make.

For a house you plan to stay in, architectural is almost always the better value: the extra weight is extra material on the roof, and the wind ratings are higher. Three-tab still makes sense on a garage, a shed, or a house you are selling where only the inspection report matters.

The brands we install

We install GAF, Owens Corning, CertainTeed, Atlas, IKO, TAMKO and Malarkey. All of them make good shingles. The honest answer to “which brand is best” is that the installation decides more than the label does: every manufacturer’s warranty depends on the roof being installed to its printed instructions, and a premium shingle nailed in the wrong place will fail before a basic one nailed right. We will tell you which line we would put on your roof and why, and the estimate names it, so you know exactly what you are getting.

What Connecticut’s code requires on a new shingle roof

Connecticut enforces the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code, based on the 2021 International Residential Code (IRC). For an asphalt shingle roof that means:

Slope

Asphalt shingles are only allowed on a roof that rises at least 2 inches per foot (R905.2.2), and a low-slope shingle roof between 2 and 4 inches per foot needs extra underlayment. Anything flatter than 2 inches is a flat roof, and needs a membrane instead.

Ice barrier at every eave

The state’s climate table marks ice barrier as required, so R905.1.2 applies in every town: two layers of underlayment cemented together, or a self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen membrane, from the eave edge up to a point at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line. It is the thing that keeps an ice dam from becoming a leak. See ice dams.

A membrane strip over every deck joint

Connecticut’s own version of R905.1.1 requires a self-adhering membrane strip at least 4 inches wide over every joint in the roof decking, with underlayment over the whole roof — a state amendment that goes beyond the national code.

Wind rating

The IRC ties the wind classification a shingle has to carry to the design wind speed of the town it is going on (R905.2.4.1). Connecticut’s speeds run from 115 to 129 mph depending on the town, higher along the shore, so the shingle and its nailing pattern have to be rated for where the house is. Every one of our town pages lists its own figure.

Fastening

Shingles are nailed to the manufacturer’s instructions, and never with fewer than four nails per strip shingle (R905.2.6). Where the nails go matters as much as how many: too high and the shingle can tear off in a gust, which is why high-wind nailing patterns exist.

Drip edge and flashing

A drip edge is required at the eaves and rakes of every shingle roof (R905.2.8.5), and on a reroof any rusted, damaged or deteriorated flashing, edging or vent has to be replaced rather than reused (R908.5).

Manufacturer warranty and workmanship warranty

There are two warranties on a shingle roof and they cover different things. The manufacturer’s warranty covers defects in the shingles. The workmanship warranty covers the installation — and installation is where most roof problems actually come from. Manufacturers’ extended warranties are offered through their own contractor programmes and vary by brand; we will tell you in writing which warranty applies to the roof we quote. Our workmanship warranty is 25 years.

How long a shingle roof lasts in Connecticut

The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association calls a residential roof more than 20 years old a prime candidate for reroofing, and a well-installed architectural roof with a properly ventilated attic can go well beyond that. What shortens it here is the climate: freeze-thaw cycles, ice at the eaves, and heat trapped in an attic that cannot breathe. In Connecticut, vented attics need cross ventilation with at least 1/150 of the vented space as net free area (R806.1), and insulation must never block the eave vents (R806.3). A roof is only as good as the attic under it.

Colour

Lighter shingles reflect more of the sun’s heat and darker ones hide streaking better. In Connecticut the colour makes far less difference to the attic than ventilation and insulation do, so choose it for the house. If you live in a historic district, check whether the commission has a say before you pick.

Tear-off or a second layer

A replacement removes the existing roofing down to the deck (R908.3). Laying new shingles over old is allowed only in limited cases and never when the roof already has two or more layers, or the old roof is too deteriorated to serve as a base (R908.3.1.1). A tear-off also lets us see and fix the deck, which a layover hides. See roof replacement.

Common questions about asphalt shingles