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Re-cycled content for Roofing:

Environmentally friendly ideas for roofing, with caution.

Recycling...

new contents for roofing materials

Now available are new roofing products which are made from recycled contents. A variety of products are coming to the market using old recycled materials as one of their raw materials.

Our most environmentally friendly roofing material is Distinctions Composite Slate. It uses 52% recycled content in its production, and that content would otherwise have gone into the dump, so it is very eco-friendly. After decades of roof service this material will eventually require re-roofing at which time these slates are 100% recyclable. Therefore, Distinctions Composite Slate wins our award for the most green roofing material currently available.

Our next most eco-friendly roofing material is our new Moderne Slate roofing slates. Brand new to us in the westcoast region, this product is made in Canada, and has the advantage of our low Canadian dollar. Most synthetic and composite roofing materials are made in the US, and with the current US to Canadian dollar exchange rate, basically most synthetics and asphalt shingles have increased by over 20% since September 2008. The Moderne Slate is Canadian, so it has a huge advantage over the US made products currently. or you US buyers, we have a 20% savings potential for you right off the top.

Moderne Slate is made mostly from high quality TPE polymers combined with recycled rubber and other recycled plastics. It also uses other polymers for fire resistance, fade resistance, and colour stability. It is 100% recyclable in the future.

Moderne Slate looks like traditional slates, with a formal, uniform, realistic appearance. They come in a variety of real slate colours, including Slate Black, Slate Grey, Mulberry, Brown, Green, and Terra Cotta Red. Moderne Slate is easily installed, can be hand nailed or air nailed, it is very lightweight, and comes with premade conformable ridge caps.

Moderne Slates wins our award for 2009 for being the most affordable eco-friendly roof , with the best look for the money. What great value !

Some manufacturers are creating "rubber" roofing. In actuality, most of these so called "recycled rubber" roofing materials are still made mostly from plastics and polymers, with a lesser amount of rubber content.

It is our opinion that the use of rubber in roofing products is not the best idea unless the content is limited to less than half the roofing material being made from rubber, and it is better to use new plastics or polymers, recycled plastics, or recyclable plastics when trying to create roofing materials for sloped roofing applications.

Rubber roofing using large sheets of "rubber" (sometimes 50 feet by 100 feet in size) are good products for large warehouse roofs and such. These are industrial waterproofing membranes that can fade, expand,  wrinkle but they still perform the waterproofing function just like a big fish pond liner.

But roofing materials need to look good as well, as is required on steeper and normal sloped roofs, and such materials will form the major look and architectural style of the completed home. Those manufacturers that chose rubber as a significant ingredient in their roofing slates or shakes have  not always succeeded, and many roof failures and disappointed customers have been left behind after their attempts at utilizing recycled rubber as primary ingredients in their recipes.

Rubber, whether one uses recycled rubber from tires or new rubber is a very hazardous material when it comes to fire resistance. You have probably seen the amazing flames, heat, and dense smoke generated from only a few car tires. It's nice to find a use for old car tires, but using a fire-prone noxious ingredient as a roofing material for homes is probably not a wise idea.

Today's homes require roofing materials that meet certain Fire Rating standards. In the US market this often means Class A Fire Rating. In Canada Class A is desired but sometimes Class C is allowed. Fiberglass shingles, metal roofing, clay tiles and concrete roof tiles meet Class A Fire Rating. Cedar is normally Class F for fail, but can be treated to meet Class C rating.

Roofing materials using lots of rubber normally do not meet Class A Fire Rating, unless they use lots of plastics and fire resistant polymers in their mix. They often can catch fire quickly, may have fast fire-spread, and may burn easily especially where the product has been cut through during the typical roofing installation. Also the smoke that is given off when rubber products burn is toxic and dense, so dense that the smoke might cause fatalities or damage before the actual fire did its damage. 

Roofing Materials using lots of rubber also have issues relating to general colour fading, colour consistency, warping, and crumbling. They can only control these factors, as well as fire rating factors, by making their product mostly out of polymers and plastics and adding other fire inhibitors. They are adding recycled rubber content as filler and do so to achieve the "environmentally friendly" marketing gimmicks. In essence they should actually be classified as plastic roofing or "synthetic" roofing at that point, in our opinion.

What we have noticed is that there has been many companies that have started up with roofing material designs that include rubber as their primary content. Most have these have created roofing materials that emulate shakes, slates, or concrete roof tiles.

Many of these companies are now out of business, while there are still some survivors, and still new start-ups trying to give it a go.

Why have there been failures?

A few reasons. Companies that create products using recycled rubber were often not knowledgeable about roofing materials and how they must withstand severe UV degradation and severe weather extremes. They sometimes were manufacturers of pallets or rubber mats that thought they would "venture" into roofing materials. Suddenly they found out about how the sun can affect roofing materials, and how consumers insist on warranties to protect them from product failures. Rubber mats and parking lot curbs don't require warranties to protect consumers, but roofing materials certainly do , especially new designs using new "recipes".

They also found out that they are supposed to go through significant testing, approvals and certifications (not that approvals or certifications can be wholly or significantly relied upon when considering new materials). Many homeowners became guinea pigs with their homes used as "testers" of these new ideas.

For those companies that did get testing, approvals, and certifications, and those that did provide warranties, they still had one problem. Rubber content affected the durability and long term looks of the roofing materials installed, and after enough "problem" installations most of these companies either went out of business or left the "roofing product" portion of their business behind. The results were consumers with warranties that meant nothing, and they were left to hold the bag or replace the roofs at their own cost.

Most new roofing innovations that are successful in this "synthetic" field are using less rubber and more plastic. In these cases we would prefer that they discontinue marketing themselves as "rubber" roofs and discontinue using images of tires in their marketing, as this seems like misleading advertising to us, in our opinion. If the product is now more plastic than rubber, then show it as such. We concur that using either rubber or plastics in roofing materials can be considered eco-friendly.

Again, roofing materials need to have defenses against UV degradation, surface fading, crumbling, moisture absoption, colour fading, and of course fire resistance. Plastics and polymers are normally always required to control performance of roofing materials.

 Plastic roofing materials may use recycled content as well, and some manufacturers choose to only use new polymers to control the "recipe's" consistent quality.

One rubber roofing product manufacturer that is still in operation, and is still using the "Rubber Roofing" marketing image, makes wide panel faux-slate and faux-shake roofing. These are made with 3 foot wide panels that have embossed images on them that depict 6 or 7 wood shingles on them, or3 slate pieces on them. This type of "panelized" roofing is not a good idea, in our opinion. Although faster to install, "wide panels" have had occurrences of fading, shading variances, or discolouration that can be quite noticeable and may be extremely unpleasant looking on the roof. This is because when you have a group of 3 slates or 6 shakes that are a different tone or shading than the neighboring panels, they stand out like deviations and unattractive patches on the roof. They seem to have learned to use more and more plastic, but we believe within the product still lies some rubber content that could cause premature roof failure or degradation of the roofs appearance, in our opinion. This manufacturer may have changed their recipe since this editorial was written in 2005, and updated in 2008, but as of yet we have not been shown, or discovered, any changes to the roofing material, so our opinions still currently stand as written.

Other manufacturers produce their synthetic slates and shakes using the authentic-looking practice of smaller individual slates and shakes. This if far more authentic looking as the real materials come in the same format. And if their were any small fading (all roofing materials fade to some degree eventually due to weathering, and the power of our sun with its UV rays) it would better show up as a natural blend of tones and colours from piece to piece, rather than in large 3 foot chunks of roof pattern unsightliness.

We are proponents of the smaller sized, multiple width format. We believe they look more realistic and authentic than wide panels, and in fact it is the small piece real materials such as wood shingles and real slate which has weathered the test of time as a roofing system format.

Whereas the wide panels is a new concept, and the interlocking bottoms of each wide panel may introduce chances for rain water to track in sideways under the panel. Those wide rubber panels have a greater degree of expansion after they are installed and the panels can buckle, ripple, distort or become disengaged from its interlocking hold-downs if laid too close together. If this happens the integrity and storm resistance of the panels will be compromised. Therefore we do not recommend the wide panel format at this time, based on the current design of these wide panels. See our comments below in the left column which includes our disclaimer, some photo examples of the panel type colour issue, and further opinion on rubber roofing panels.

Some brands that are being made in the Western region currently use a little bit of rubber, and a whole lot of plastics (new plastics more than recycled plastics) and call their products "eco" friendly. We believe this is not as much of an "environmentally friendly" recipe as its marketing information would lead you to believe. Only a very small fraction of a used tire is used for the rubber crumb that goes into the roofing recipe, while the rest of the tire is discarded (or burnt up as fuel for concrete plant processes), or made into paving or curb products, or other such uses.

For those manufacturers that invent a roofing material that uses lots of recycled rubber, and have no apparent problems, we wish you luck, good fortune, and better results.

For those that use rubber but also utilize organic filler such as corn straw or hemp, we wish you luck as well, as many roofing materials that contained "organic" filler in the past has usually historically failed prematurely (see... fibercement shakes history such as with Cemwood, FireFree, and others).  For those consumers that wish to become  "Guinea Pigs" for those new "rubber roofing" inventions, we wish you luck. You are investing a lot of money in your roofing materials and installation. History has taught our company that many attempts with using rubber (recycled or not) have failed to date, so we will remain on the sidelines and watch, learn, observe, and eventually decide if the new innovation seems positive, or negative.

Our recent experience.

We thought we found a manufacturer who really does "walk the talk" and used a larger amount of recycled content. Their new shake look product line we  discovered was called Infinity Shake. It consisted of both recycled rubber and recycled plastics thus being very environmentally friendly.  They had an  ICC-ES approval which gave the product some credibility.

Using up old used tires seemed like a good idea, especially when combined with the recycling of plastics as well. The parts of the tire which normally cannot be used for roofing is not discarded but instead further processed into either pallets, containers, rubber mats, and other great uses, by this same company. Furthermore this company used a good deal of recycled computers and other recycled plastics to their Infiniti Shake recipe. These plastics added fire resistance, colour, fade resistance, and stability to the rubber, and this combined composition was supposed to result in a better performing roofing material.

The Infinity Shakes looked very realistic. They combined three widths of shakes ...23" by 5", 7", 12" wide, and each size has four different texture patterns on their face. This created naturalness just like the uneven textures of real cedar shakes. They were molded similar to tiles as they have a solid surface, and a back-side with a waffled surface to reduce weight of the installed products.

Although slippery while installing or when wet, these products could easily be walked upon with low risk of breakage. They were durable and met tough impact resistance tests designed for heavy hail zones. Safety equipment should always be worn when walking on any roofing system as a precaution.

The roofer was asked to blend bundles of shakes from a few different pallets while installing to ensure a natural colour blend and avoid patchy-colored areas. This product was designed to be installed at 10" maximum exposure, but if the structure will allow some extra weight, the roofer could easily adjust the exposure down to whatever coverage he desires.

The manufacturer said the standard Infiniti Shake had passed a Class C Fire Rating and includes a 50 year Limited Material Warranty from the manufacturer. At an additional cost, they are also made as a Class A Fire-rated product for those buildings that require Class A rated materials.

Again, in our opinion, these recycled plastic / rubber shakes called Infiniti, and the true polymer slates and shakes made by DaVinci, had the following definite advantages over wide panel slates or shakes, and similar styled competitive brands:

•  They did not have the strong smell of burnt rubber like the competitive brands. That smell has created complaints by consumers as it can come back again in hot weather. We had the "panel" product displayed in our showroom, and the smell was a turn-off to many consumers looking at it.

• They did not have a specific tongue on the butts for interlocking down to each other, thus avoiding installer headaches, and sideways tracking of water on the roof. The roofer has to cut off those thick tongues on many details such as every step flashing, every valley, and many other areas of the roof.

• The roofer could adjust exposure of these  shakes to fit specific details and requirements on any specific roof, unlike the competition where the exposure is fixed and hard to adjust.

• The roofer could create staggered courses or blend colours in to create realistic and non-patterning roofscapes, unlike the competition.

• The Infiniti Shake and DaVinci Slate have a realistic appearance creating an authentic look much better than the competition. The competitive slate product is unrealistically thick, and actually looks much more like a concrete roof tile than either slate or wood shakes. We have had complaints that those other products look too chunky and bulky. If one wants a concrete-tile-look shake or a concrete-tile-look slate, it would be far cheaper and a smarter decision to buy the real concrete roof tiles. They at least have time proven performance, they are backed by large manufacturers, and they can come in light-weight versions and solutions for    re-roofing.

• The roofer has to hand sort the competitors products prior to application. The competitor product MUST be sorted from 3 or 4 different pallets MANUALLY, or risk unsightly patterns and coloration on the roof. Each pallet contains a different mold texture, but once the stretch wrap is cut off the pallet skids, there is really no effective way to tell which mold is which, or which pallet is what type. We've had some nightmares on jobsites as a result of this ridiculous packaging, and the manufacturer has shown poor shipping practices in getting us the diverse blend of mold-patterns each shipment, even though it is required for the roofer to meet all installation guidelines.

• The competitive product is extremely bulky and cumbersome to handle on the jobsite and on the roof. A crane is often required to load the bulky pallets up, prior to the hand sorting of pallets and bundles that is required of the roofer to implement on the roof before the application can begin. It took 8 to 12 large pallets of the competitors products to complete a roof, and these much each be hand-sorted down to the bundle and even each piece. This is far too much to ask of the majority of roofers to undertake, in our opinion. But that is the roofing contractors problem, not the homeowners.

• The competitor's product may only use the sidewalls of tires, thereby leaving the majority of the tire and reinforcing steel to be disposed of, or otherwise dealt with.

• The competitor's product looks like it was made more from plastic than rubber, except for the burnt rubber smell. The sheen on the face of the product's latest designs appears to make the roof look like one has used "fake" materials, not the real materials.

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• The competitor's 3ft wide panel-type product displays the image of 3 slates or 6 shakes on each panel. When fading occurs the whole panel containing 3 slates or 6 shakes shows up as a defective or off-colour component, whereas individual sized shakes and slates such as Infiniti or DaVinci will look more natural if fading were to occur differently from shake to shake.

All around, these products were deemed a wise choice to avoid environmental impact on our landfills, and they were likely recyclable again in the future.

Unfortunately, the manufacturer of the Infiniti Shake ceased doing business.

We found out one day when ICC-ES said the Infiniti product no longer had their approval. Suddenly we could not access their website (shut down). Although we never experienced any problems with the roofing from that manufacturer, others in the US market apparently did. We understand that it was from earlier "recipes", but that doesn't change one thing... the warranty of any roofing material is only valid or enforceable as long as the manufacturer is still in business. We got stuck with inventory, and consumers had non-warranted roofing materials.

So... buyer beware.

New companies without a long track record inventing new type materials, even with testing approvals, must be greeted with caution, and the real historical knowledge and reality that most attempts at using rubber in roofing slates and shakes has failed in the past.

We greet innovation and invention as a natural occurrence in modern human society.  Many successful roofing materials being used today were not around 20 years ago, and are doing a great job today protecting homes and stylizing the roofs.

Who would have thought in the 70's, a time of aluminum siding, that vinyl would be the cladding of choice in the 80's and 90's? Who would have thought that vinyl siding would begin to be displaced with more permanent materials such as Weatherboard Fiber-Cement siding materials? The building envelope industry changes constantly as does the roofing industry and new materials are always going to be invented, re-invented, and discovered. Its the way of the world, that we are part of.

All plastics, synthetics, polymers, and rubber roofing are a newer class of roofing materials, and although they have not been around a long time compared to traditional roofing materials, they offer an alternative solution for the consumer who is environmentally conscious, and researches the plusses and the drawbacks .

The synthetic products that have been the most "time proven" in the field of roofing seem to be the polymer plastic types. Those that use virgin polymers such as DaVinci Roofscapes, although not having the "recycled" status on their newly produced slates and shakes, probably have the lead for product quality one can most count on. And most importantly the polymers and plastics that are used in products such as DaVinci are very recyclable in the future, when eventually the roof will have to replaced (as all roofs eventually do). This recyclable nature allow DaVinci to be considered a "green" roofing material and eco-friendly.

Once we go beyond looking at how "green" or eco-friendly the roofing materials are for a project , please remember that roofing that uses 100% new polymers, plastics, or rubber ingredients are far more likely to be made with the best of quality and will result in the best durability. Recycled materials going into a product have many "variables", possible contaminants entering the production process, and "unknown" original quality of ingredients. Therefore we believe that quality, durability, and performance expectations of a synthetic material can better be projected or predicted if the roofing materials are produced from virgin or new polymers and ingredients.

In summary, there are many new recipes for synthetic roofing hitting the marketplace, and these innovations will eventually create the next "best new roofing idea". Some may endure the test of time, and the elements of mother nature, while others will not.

So whether you select rubber roofing, plastic roofing, polymer roofing, composite roofing, other synthetic roofing materials, asphalt fiberglass roofing, or traditional metal, clay, and concrete, you certainly can educate yourself on the features and benefits of each product, and decide for yourself which product will crown your building and protect it from the elements.

In all cases a secondary line of defense should always be planned on. That is why we need good roofing underlayments, good flashings, good installation detailing, good fasteners, and all around better roofing practices that relate to the each region's expected, and unexpected, weather conditions and severity.

Always remember that all roofing products that are meant for sloped roofing situations are just a "water-shedding element", not a water-proofing element, and the success of this water-shedding is never 100%. All sloped roofing materials need and require the secondary defenses to make the system function successfully as a weather protection shield. All the while it still needs to look good and have a continuing curb appeal that defines our home with the character we desire.

Hopefully you will make the best choice in  leading edge innovation, reliability, durability,  performance, and architectural style. And in the end of the day, your choice will more likely outlive real wood shingles and Tapersawn Shakes, which is the point to this roofing material selection process in the first place.

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