If you need a new roof and you’re comparing regular shingles vs metal shingles, good for you. Although traditional asphalt shingles have some advantages, metal shingles offer significant benefits, including lower long-term costs, durability, and longevity.
When it comes to regular asphalt shingles vs. metal shingles, metal shingles last longer, so they often cost less over time. They’re also more durable and eco-friendly since they’re recyclable, unlike regular shingles.
At a Glance
Regular Shingles
Metal Shingles
What Are Asphalt Shingles
Asphalt shingles are a common type of roof covering. They’re roughly 3′ wide and 1′ tall and vary in thickness from 1/4″ to 1/2″. They consist of small granules adhered to a fiberglass mat using asphalt. They’re attached to your roof deck in overlapping layers with nails.
Common types of traditional asphalt shingles include 3-tab or strip, architectural shingles, and luxury or designer shingles. 3-tab shingles are often the least expensive and offer the fewest features, such as hail resistance. Architectural shingles are often available in Class-3 or -4 impact resistance and come with better warranties. Designer shingles often sacrifice durability for appearance.
Advantages of Asphalt Shingles
Cost – The main advantage of regular asphalt shingles is their lower initial cost. They cost the least to purchase and install of all the roof coverings we offer.
Installation – Asphalt shingles are quick to install. It usually takes mere seconds to install each shingle. Regular asphalt shingles are also easy to cut with a utility knife, and they’re flexible, so they form to curved roofs.
Colors – Asphalt shingles offer more color options than stone-coated metal shingles. Although this is quickly changing. Owens Corning’s TruDefinition Duration shingles alone come in 13 different colors. CertainTeed’s XT™ 25 3-tab shingles are offered in 20 colors!
Availability – Today, there are multiple asphalt shingle manufacturers to choose from, including Owens Corning, Tamko, GAF, CertainTeed, Malarkey, and IKO, just to name a few.
Accessibility – Easy access. You can walk into any Lowe’s, Home Depot, or just about any other hardware store and purchase asphalt shingles. There are probably asphalt shingles at your local used building supply company, such as Uncle Benny’s Building Supplies or Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
Solar Panel-Friendly – Asphalt shingles are solar panel-friendly. Most solar panel installers prefer asphalt shingles over stone-coated metal shingles. If you have metal shingles, they can work with them, however.
Disadvantages of Asphalt Shingles
Recyclability – Although Owens Corning has a shingle recycling program, there is not an asphalt shingle recycling center anywhere in our area 🙁 The closest company we found that accepts old asphalt shingles for recycling is in Kansas. As a result, all torn-off shingles in Northern Colorado get buried in the local landfills. This is a big problem.
Short Lifespan – Another big problem is that asphalt shingles don’t last as long as stone-coated metal shingles, or any metal roofing, for that matter. Your common, average architectural asphalt shingles last around 30 years. 3-tab shingles, 15-20 years. Stone-coated metal shingles, on the other hand, easily last more than twice this long – 50-70 years or more.
Durability – Compared to metal shingles and shake, traditional asphalt shingles aren’t as durable against, for example, hail, mold, and UV rays. That’s because steel is tougher than fiberglass, which is what’s in traditional asphalt shingles.
High Long-Term Cost – Most homeowners don’t consider the long-term cost when they’re purchasing a new roof. Most only consider the short-term cost, which is understandable. However, regular asphalt shingles, due to their short lifespan, have high long-term costs, which is a major disadvantage.
Frequent Reroofs – Because traditional asphalt shingles have a short lifespan, they’re being replaced often – usually every 15 to 25 years.
What Are Steel/Metal Shingles?
Steel or metal shingles are similar to regular shingles in that they’re about 3′ wide and 1′ tall. The thickness varies by profile. Like asphalt shingles, steel shingles have a top layer of granules. However, the main difference is that steel/metal shingles have a metal base rather than the fiberglass base found in traditional shingles.
This steel base is what makes stone-coated steel shingles, shakes, and tiles so much more durable, resistant, and long-lasting than traditional asphalt shingles.
Advantages of Metal Shingles or Shake
Lifespan – They last longer. Although steel shingles are often warrantied at only 50 years, they frequently last longer than this – about 70 years or more. This is key for most folks when comparing stone-coated metal shingles vs. asphalt shingles.
Fewer Reroofs – Since metal roofs last so long, they’re replaced much less frequently than asphalt shingles. Which means much fewer reroofs.
Durable – Stone-coated metal shingles are more resistant to hail. In fact, Decra, one of our suppliers, shot their metal shingles with an ice cannon, and it barely dented it 🙂
Recyclable – They are recycled in our area! We recently contacted Colorado Iron and Metal in Fort Collins, and they said they take all sorts of metal, including steel shingles 🙂
Appearance – Stone-coated metal shingles better imitate other roofing materials, such as shake and tile, and, oddly enough, asphalt shingles. Decra offers a barrel-style metal shingle, a scalloped Mediterranean tile metal shingle, a heavy-cut wood look-alike metal shingle, a hand-split wood shake metal shingle, and a cedar shake metal shingle. Boral offers 5 metal shingle profiles: wood shake, traditional asphalt shingle, high-profile asphalt shingle, barrel shingle, and Mediterranean tile metal shingle.
Disadvantages of Metal Shingles or Shake
Cost – Stone-coated steel shingles cost around 3 times as much as 30-year traditional shingles because metal shingles require upgraded underlayment and take more time to install. Installation time is another disadvantage of metal shingles. As just mentioned, it takes longer to install the metal shingles, especially the detail work, such as trimming the steel shingles at the edges, ridges, valleys, and vents of a roof. To cut asphalt shingles, a common utility knife works fine. To cut steel shingles, special tools, such as a stone-coat cutter, are required.
Availability – Unlike asphalt shingles, stone-coated metal shingles aren’t (yet) available at your local hardware store. If you want to purchase and install stone-coated steel shingles yourself, the closest location we’ve found is a Menards in Cheyenne, Wyoming. They only have one color and style to choose from, and it’s not in stock. We’re noticing that as wood-shake roofs wear out, homeowners and office owners are requesting stone-coated metal shingles. As a result, steel shingles are gaining in popularity.
Colors – Steel shingles don’t yet have the color options of traditional shingles. Decra’s Tile steel shingles come in a whopping 8 colors, which isn’t bad, but it doesn’t quite compare to the much wider variety of color choices offered by traditional shingles. Boral Steel’s Barrel-Vault also comes in 8 colors. Other profiles come in fewer colors.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to traditional shingles vs. steel shingles or shakes, each has pros and cons. There are many advantages of metal shingles. If you’re tired of replacing your roof every 15 to 25 years and want a roof that lasts longer and don’t mind spending more initially, stone-coated metal shingles are the roof for you. We offer roof financing, so it’s easy to get under a new stone-coated steel shingle or shake roof. However, if you just need an inexpensive roof now, regular asphalt shingles will do the job.
Shingle Roof Installation
If you need a professional roofing company in Northern Colorado to install your new asphalt or metal shingle roof, contact us for a free inspection or estimate. We offer a 5-year workmanship guarantee on all our new roof installations. We offer competitive pricing and free estimates. We have over 40 years of experience installing roofs of all kinds in Northern Colorado. We’re fully licensed and insured throughout Northern Colorado. We are a Preferred Contractor of Owens Corning and CertainTeed, and a Tamko MasterCraft Pro Certified Contractor.
