Cracked shingles

[pwigle]

Any idea what would have caused these shingles to crack like this?

They are about 5 yrs old.
Fairly consistent over whole roof surface (north and south facing)
Pitch about 3:12
No attic venting apart from perforated soffit

Thanks,

[Dale Duffy]

If they are surely 5 years old it certainly is a manufacturers defect, they look like 25 years old shingles..........

[Doug Edwards, CMI]

How well was the attic ventilated?

[Mario A. Kyriacou, CHI]

I agree with Dale BTW

Check this link for info. http://www.inspect-ny.com/roof/AsphaltFailures.htm

[Barry Adair]

I would not be so quick to call these manufacture defects. Defects yes but the actual cause may not be certain.

These look exactly like what I have seen of "weather exposed storage" prior to delivery or installation. Materials act differently in their packaging than when they are exposed/installed to the elements.

Pallets upon pallets are sunbaked and condensing in packaging, rain soaked, frozen... for days, weeks, months... are then delivered may linger onsite exposed longer and then installed

Looks OK from the ground until the contractors tail lights disappear but in a short amount of time they look like what's depicted

If you have a local "real lumber yard", Habitat for Humanity or surplus store go look at the yard stored shingles, I'm sure you'll find some broken bundles to observe.

I'll try and get over to the RR distribution yard and get some pix


is it just me or is the inspect-ny.com site down???
i haven't been able to click through for about 2 months now

[Mario A. Kyriacou, CHI]

is it just me or is the inspect-ny.com site down???
i haven't been able to click through for about 2 months now--
badair

It's just you Barry!!

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by pwigle

Any idea what would have caused these shingles to crack like this?

They are about 5 yrs old.
Who said this?? Trust no one!!

Fairly consistent over whole roof surface (north and south facing)
That's interesting. On older shingles, south-facing slopes usually show more deterioration than north slopes. Can't tell for sure but these shingles look a bit like the Certainteed "Shangle" that had premature failure.


Pitch about 3:12
No attic venting apart from perforated soffit

Thanks,

From a Building science researcher:

Myth Two is that attics need to have lots of ventilation. Again, venting requirements are not based on rigorous scientific research.
TenWolde explains that attic venting originally arose as a moisture-control strategy for cold climates. Other purported benefits, such as longevity of the shingles, arose later. It is widely believed that increased attic venting will prolong the life of roofing shingles by cooling them. But research shows that venting has very little, if any, effect on shingle temperature. The most important issue in shingle temperature appears to be the color of the shingles. Light-colored shingles reflect sunlight and don’t get as hot as dark shingles.
One possible real benefit of attic venting in climates with large snowfalls is to reduce snow melt on the roof to avoid the formation of ice dams. But according to TenWolde, a more effective——and energy-efficient——way to control snow melt in almost all climates in the United States would be to use air barriers and insulation to prevent heat from entering the attic.

[Barry Adair]

Originally Posted by mkyriacou

is it just me or is the inspect-ny.com site down???
i haven't been able to click through for about 2 months now--
badair

It's just you Barry!!

Thanx Mario,

I've run diagnostics and my system says it's not able to make the connection at their end. Are you running IE, Firefox or ...

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by pwigle

Any idea what would have caused these shingles to crack like this?

They are about 5 yrs old.
Fairly consistent over whole roof surface (north and south facing)
Pitch about 3:12
No attic venting apart from perforated soffit

Thanks,

Peter,

They appear to be baking from improper ventilation.

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by badair

Thanx Mario,

I've run diagnostics and my system says it's not able to make the connection at their end. Are you running IE, Firefox or ...

Barry,

http://www.inspect-ny.com/roof/AsphaltFailures.htm works fine for me, in IE and Firefox.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Works here to Barry.

http://www.inspect-ny.com/roof/roofing.htm

Marcel

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by dvalley

Peter,

They appear to be baking from improper ventilation.

David:

Bring some actual "tested" rather than anectdotal information from the masses to the debate that attic ventilation has anything but a small effect on shingle life. Did you follow and monitor, over their life, the shingles shown in the last picture on the above part of your site......and have another roof with the same shingles, same orientation, same slope with ventilation next door......if not, it's defintely not scientific but anectdotal.

And we all know about anectdotal stuff believed and heard on the street....... Remember the 1980's when just "gay" people got and spread aids??


I have referred the board to a picture of a research roof of shingles with the same shingles both vented and unvented with no visible difference to be seen. Why does no one comment on that? A picture may be worth a thousand posts. There is more research available on the web>

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by Brian A. MacNeish

David:

Bring some actual "tested" rather than anectdotal information from the masses to the debate that attic ventilation has anything but a small effect on shingle life. Did you follow and monitor, over their life, the shingles shown in the last picture on the above part of your site......and have another roof with the same shingles, same orientation, same slope with ventilation next door......if not, it's defintely not scientific but anectdotal.

And we all know about anectdotal stuff believed and heard on the street....... Remember the 1980's when just "gay" people got and spread aids??


I have referred the board to a picture of a research roof of shingles with the same shingle's both vented and unvented with no visible difference to be seen. Why does no one comment on that? A picture may be worth a thousand posts. There is more research available on the web>

I post information that I actually deal with and inspect on a daily basis. I've seen so many roofing shingles fail at early ages due to improper ventilation. I know (from experience) how to read a shingles defect. It's either wear & tear from reaching it's normal life expectancy, a manufacturer's defect, improper installation techniques, mechanical damages or improper ventilation.

Did you ever go into an un-vented attic in mid-July and feel how hot that cavity is?

And you wonder why shingles fold as they do in an un-vented situation.

[dcook1]

Originally Posted by pwigle

Any idea what would have caused these shingles to crack like this?

They are about 5 yrs old.
Fairly consistent over whole roof surface (north and south facing)
Pitch about 3:12
No attic venting apart from perforated soffit

Thanks,

Peter,
I have run across this exact cracking pattern. The shingles were manufactured by Certainteed. Two of the house had leftover shingles in the garage with the paper still intact. Both Certainteed. I have seen it on several roofs that were from 6 - 4 years old. Every roof is the same color and pattern. Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Barrie and Alliston Ontario area.
One person actually has Certainteed rep onsite to look at them. He said they would last the regular life of the shingle and offered no othere advice.
No other buyer even addressed it when I advise them they need to monitor them closely and replace them at any time it shows signs of leaking.
I tell the buyer I cannot even begin to estimate how long they may or may not last.

On almost all the houses had adequate to good ventilation. It was not the issue.

All you can do is note it on you report and advise the client the life may not be the average life of the shingle. That is all you can do.

[Dale Duffy]

Originally Posted by pwigle

Any idea what would have caused these shingles to crack like this?

They are about 5 yrs old.
Fairly consistent over whole roof surface (north and south facing)
Pitch about 3:12
No attic venting apart from perforated soffit

Thanks,

Peter,

I see your in Ontario...if those shingles failed because of poor ventilation I'll kiss everyones ***** here that even mentioned the possiblity......

Between cloudy skies and 6 months of decent weather, there is NO way in hell those shingles failed simply because of poor ventilation.

For one thing they don't look like 5 year old shingles to begin with, but if they are, they are defective.

I've seen them installed in Arizona with attic temps reaching 175 degrees 9 months out of the year without ANY ventilation and Never saw any shingle manufactured in the last five years fail because of poor ventilation....manufacturer defect yes....heat...NO.

I have measured the surface temperatures of shingles here, over 200 degrees many times of the year.