Shingle Repair & Replacement

Color matching first. We stock the most-common GAF Timberline HDZ colors (Charcoal, Weathered Wood, Pewter Gray, Barkwood, Slate, Hickory), CertainTeed Landmark colors (Moire Black, Weathered Wood, Driftwood, Burnt Sienna), Owens Corning Duration (Onyx Black, Driftwood, Estate Gray, Sand Castle), IKO Cambridge, and Atlas Pinnacle Pristine at our Garfield shop. About 90% of NJ asphalt installs match from stock; off-stock colors take 3-5 days through our distributor.

Underlayment inspection. Before we drop a new shingle in, we lift the surrounding shingles to verify the underlayment beneath is intact. If the felt has torn or the ice & water shield has lifted at the repair area, we patch it before the new shingle goes down — otherwise the leak comes back through the underlayment within a year.

High-wind 6-nail pattern. We hand-nail the replacement with six fasteners per shingle (the high-wind nailing pattern called for on every GAF and CertainTeed install above 110 mph wind class), not the four nails per shingle that comes standard on lower-wind installs. Two cents of extra nail, ten years of extra hold.

Polyurethane seal, not silicone. The thermal-seal adhesive strip on the back of the new shingle needs help bonding to the shingle below — especially on cold-weather installs (below 50°F). We tab-spot with Sika 1A polyurethane sealant, never silicone caulk. Silicone fails under UV at 5-7 years; Sika 1A holds 15-20.

Surrounding-shingle reactivation. The thermal-seal strip on the shingles immediately above the repair often broke when we lifted them to get to the underlayment. We re-seal those tabs as well so wind doesn't catch them again at the next storm.

Brittle shingles. When asphalt shingles pass year 20, the asphalt mat loses oils and gets brittle — lifting any tab cracks it. At that point we can't replace one shingle without damaging the surrounding three or four. The honest answer is repair scope grows from one shingle to a 4×4 patch, and at that point the question becomes whether full replacement makes more sense.

Discontinued colors. Shingle manufacturers retire colors every 5-10 years. If your roof was installed before 2010 with a color that's been discontinued, exact-match repair is no longer possible. Best we can do is pull from a less-conspicuous area (back slope) and patch the visible area with closest-match current color, then use the original spares for the back slope.

Adjacent-shingle damage. Wind that lifted one shingle usually damaged the next 3-5 along the same course. A 'single shingle' repair usually turns out to be 4-8 shingles when we get on the roof. We document the actual scope before quoting.

Factory-defect failures. If your shingles are the GAF Timberline 30 or CertainTeed Horizon products that had documented manufacturing defects (granule release, mat fracture), the failure is going to keep showing up across the whole roof — single-shingle repair just kicks the can. Manufacturer settlements may be available; we help document the claim.

Storm damage is insurable. If a documented storm event (nor'easter, hail, summer wind 50+ mph) lifted or tore shingles within the last 12 months, your homeowner policy typically covers repair or partial-slope replacement after the deductible. We provide the photo documentation and scope of work adjusters need.

Age-related failure is not insurable. Shingles past year 20 that are curling, cracking, or losing granules are showing normal end-of-life wear — homeowner policies exclude age-related deterioration. The right call is to budget for full replacement rather than serial repairs that won't hold.

The gray area: a 15-year-old roof that had a single storm event. The storm may not have caused the failure alone, but it accelerated a roof already near end of life. We document what the storm actually did and let the adjuster make the call — sometimes carriers will approve partial-slope replacement to bring the roof back to pre-storm condition.