Difference between "heavier" shingles, and "wind resistant" shingles
 

We are in the process of picking out shingles for an apartment complex. The choice is between Certain Teed Landmark shingles wich they say are "heavier", or Owens Corning Duration shingles which are wind resistant. How are they different. Arent the heavier shingles supposed to be more wind resistant?

Heavier is not always better or more wind resistant.

If you go to Certainteeed.com and look up the Landmark shingle and than go to OwensCorning.com and look up the Duration you will see they both have sufficient wind resistance.

So, is one thought to be better than the other? What is the difference in the two?

It really depends on your location. Maybe someone in Texas will chime in. Up here, the Landmark is very tough to beat. It's heavier, stronger, and has more copper in them to resist algae.
I've used OC shingles and they are OK, but not what a Landmark is.

Just because a shingle is heavier does not make it better. In the past, about a decade ago, the weight was often the unofficial determining factor of quality in the mind of the consumer. Some manufacturers caught onto that and began cheating by adding granuals to the backs of their shingles which doesn't add any value, just adds weight. I know when I first began selling and specifying roofs we would brag on the weight. But with fiberglass shingles it's really not nearly as important.

The roof is more than just shingles, it is a system. A standard 30 year landmark shingle has a wind resistance of 70 mph, The CertainTeed Landmark plus 40 year shingle is 80 MPH. When you look past that and install the Landmark shingle in combination with the Certainteed starter shingles at the edges of your roof, that 70 MPH wind resistance on the 30 year shingle gets upped to 110 MPH! And you don't even need to 6 nail (6 nailing is still required for 110 mph in coastal storm areas like FL).


Nathan, the forum administrator, doesn't want us to get into arguments over which product is better. Though I do have a strong opinion on one, I won't comment (you can maybe guess if you read my post carefully.) You're better off hiring a licensed and insured roofing contractor whom you trust. If you trust him, trust the shingle he chooses to promote.