Definition of plastic roofing, green roofing, synthetic roofing
Thermal load studies on various roofing materials
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This article describes plastic or synthetic roofing materials, choices, installations, inspection, defects, roofing repairs, and product sources.
Page top image of composite wood-plastic shingles, source U.S.FPL.
Plastic Roofing Materials, Choices, Costs, Life Expectancy, Characteristics
(Contributions, critique, corrections are invited: CONTACT us.)
Question about Plastic Roofing Products:
Do you have any information on an Owens Corning plastic roof shingle? It’s not made anymore and I didn’t know why it got pulled off the market.
Reply:
Plastic roofing shingles, tiles, slates, or "wood" shingles are manufactured using polymer-based or composite materials that may offer improved impact resistance (such as resistance to hail damage). Polymer-based or plastic roofing products are generally about the same weight as laminated asphalt roof shingles, therefore lighter than cement-based shingles, clay roof tiles, or slate roofs.
Owens Corning, to address your question, produces a number of plastic roof products: roof vents, banding material, foam insulation, and plastic roof cement. But their site [web search 05/20/2010] did not turn up plastic roof shingles nor information about the discontinued Owens Corning plastic shingles that you cite.
However in 2002 Handy Magazine reported that Owens Corning was distributing Mira Vista, a composite shingle made of fiberglass, ground clay, and slate. That product was subject of a Mira Vista class action lawsuit settled in 2007. Mira Vista image at above left - Birka White.
Here is a quick list of common roofing plastic and synethetic materials. Our roofing inspection, diagnosis, repair and installation articles listed at left and below provide roof inspection, roof leak or problem diagnosis, roof installation, and roof repair information as well as details about the factors that affect the life of any roof. We include roof warranty and claim information and links to roofing product sources.
A number of companies produce plastic or recycled plastic roof coverings in a variety of styles that look a lot like clay tile roofs, cedar shingles, slate roofs, wood roofing, and even asphalt shingle roofs. Here are some examples:
Authentic Roof", developed in Canada by Crowe Roofing Products in about 1992 was one of the first plastic roof products that used thermoplastic olefin/rubber and was sold in panels of seven or eight-wood-shake sections. The company currently produces slate-like roofing polymer-based "plastic" roofing products.
Eco-Shake, Re-New Wood, is a vinyl and wood fiber product sold in a form resembling wood roofing shakes.
Flex-Shake, U.S. Century, uses recycled rubber tires and crushed slate to produce slate-like roofing shingles.
Mira Vista, Owens Corning, a composite shingle made of fiberglass, ground clay, and slate, 2002, subject of litigation and settlement, reported below.
Many of these plastic roofing product producers call plastic roofing a "green" product - giving plastic roofing materials credit for using recycling, and some products are reported to be made entirely of recycled plastics. Molded polymer roofing products offer an increased impact-resistance over some other roofing materials, making them a possible candidate for areas where hail damage to roofs is a concern. Also see HAIL DAMAGED SHINGLES.
Corrugated fiberglass roof panels are a fiber-reinforced plastic roofing product whose origin may be traced to the Owens Corning Corporation in the 1960's when O.C. developed fiber-reinforced plastic underground storage tanks. We illustrate and discuss corrugated fiberglass roofing at CORRUGATED ROOFING.
Owens Corning Mira Vista Plastic Roof Shingle Class Action Lawsuit & Settlement
According to Birka-White, a law firm who handled the case, a roofing product case settled by The Birka-White Law Offices in 2007 involved Owens Corning "MiraVista" shakes manufactured by Owens Corning, Molded FiberGlass Companies and Molded FiberGlass Companies West between 1996 and 2002.
MiraVista was manufactured largely from fiberglass resin and inorganic fillers. The case was prosecuted in the United States Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, Case No. 00-3837. On January 23, 2007, the Court granted final approval of the settlement which consists of $11 million dollars plus optional replacement MiraVista shakes.
Defective Mira Vista roofingComplete information about the Mira Vista settlement and claim forms were available at the Mira Vista Settlement website at www.miravistaclassaction.com [not found online 07/12/2010]. The claims administrator was at 1-800-947-4460
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"Mira Vista", Birka White Law Firm, The Danville Hotel,
411 Hartz Avenue, Suite 200
Danville, CA 94526 (866) 474-9999 or email: info@birka-white.com. Web Search 07/12/2010 original source http://www.birka-white.com/cases/MiraVista_000.php
"Choosing Roofing," Jefferson Kolle, January 1995, No. 92, Fine Homebuilding, Taunton Press, 63 S. Main St., PO Box 5506, Newton CT 06470 - 800-888-8286 - see http://www.taunton.com/FineHomebuilding/ for the magazine's website and for subscription information.
Problems in Roofing Design, B. Harrison McCampbell, Butterworth Heineman, 1991 ISBN 0-7506-9162-X (available used)
Thanks to reader Brian Alden Pierson for discussing Plastic Roofing products May 2010
"Close-Up on Alternantive Roofing, New Materials Make Durable Shingles", Chris Marshall, Handy Magazine, March/April 2002 p. 26-32 - original source: Web-Search 07/12/2010 http://namgnewsletter.com/dy/ROOFING.pdf
Owens Corning Corporation, One Owens Corning Parkway
Toledo, Ohio 43659
U.S.A.
Telephone: (419) 248-8000
Fax: (419) 248-5337
http://www.owenscorning.com Owens Corning is credited as the inventor of fiberglass when Owens Illinois [O-I] researcher Dale Kleist and his colleague John Thomas stumbled onto and then realized the significance of producing glass fibers in 1932. O-I formed a joint venture with the Corning Glass Works in 1935, leading to the formation of Owens Corning Corporation in 1938. More on Owens Corning's history is at
Focus, Toledo, Ohio, Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation, October 1988.
"A History of Innovation," http://www.owenscorning.com, 1997.
Stewart, Thomas A., "Owens-Corning: Back from the Dead," Fortune, May 26, 1997.
International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 20. St. James Press, 1998.
"Two-Year Wisconsin Thermal Loads for Roof Assemblies and Wood, Wood–Plastic Composite, and Fiberglass Shingles [on file as Roof_Thermal_Loads.pdf] - ",
Jerrold E. Winandy
Michael Grambsch
Cherilyn A. Hatfield, US Department of Agriculture, US Forest Products Laboratory, Research Note FPL-RN-0301
List of Producers Alternative roof products using composite, plastic, vinyl, polymer-based, metal, or other roof shingle, tile, or slate or wood look-alike materials
Atas International (metal roofing)
Allentown, PA; 877-286-3320 www.atas.com
Crowe Building Products (Authentic Roof)
Ontario, Canada
(905) 529-6818
www.authentic-roof.com
Custom-Bilt Metals
South El Monte, CA; 800-826-7813
www.custombiltmetals.com
Re-Con Building Products (FireFreePlus)
Portland, OR
877-276-7663 www.re-con.com
Re-New Wood (Eco-Shake) Wagner, OK
800-420-7576, www.ecoshake.com
U.S. Century (FlexShake)
San Antonio, TX; 877-353-9742
www.flexshake.com
Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair
Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
The Home Reference Book - the Encyclopedia of Homes, Carson Dunlop & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, 2010, $69.00 U.S., is available from Carson Dunlop. The Home Reference Book is a bound volume of more than 450 illustrated pages that assist home inspectors and home owners in the inspection and detection of problems on buildings. The text is intended as a reference guide to help building owners operate and maintain their home effectively. InspectAPedia.com ® author/editor Daniel Friedman is a contributing author. Field inspection worksheets are included at the back of the volume.
Green Roof Plants: A Resource and Planting Guide, Edmund C. Snodgrass, Lucie L. Snodgrass, Timber Press, Incorporated, 2006, ISBN-10: 0881927872, ISBN-13: 978-0881927870. The text covers moisture needs, heat tolerance, hardiness, bloom color, foliage characteristics, and height of 350 species and cultivars.
Green Roof Construction and Maintenance, Kelley Luckett, McGraw-Hill Professional, 2009, ISBN-10: 007160880X, ISBN-13: 978-0071608800, quoting: Key questions to ask at each stage of the green building process Tested tips and techniques for successful structural design
Construction methods for new and existing buildings
Information on insulation, drainage, detailing, irrigation, and plant selection
Details on optimal soil formulation
Illustrations featuring various stages of construction
Best practices for green roof maintenance
A survey of environmental benefits, including evapo-transpiration, storm-water management, habitat restoration, and improvement of air quality
Tips on the LEED design and certification process
Considerations for assessing return on investment
Color photographs of successfully installed green roofs
Useful checklists, tables, and charts
Roof failure causes in depth (and specific methods for avoiding them)
Roof design fundamentals and flourishes, based on voluminous industry research and experience
New technologies and materials -- using them safely and correctly
Comprehensive coverage of all major roofing systems
pecifications, inspection, and maintenance tools for roofing work
Problems in Roofing Design, B. Harrison McCampbell, Butterworth Heineman, 1991 ISBN 0-7506-9162-X (available used)
Roofing The Right Way, Steven Bolt, McGraw-Hill Professional; 3rd Ed (1996), ISBN-10: 0070066507, ISBN-13: 978-0070066502
Slate Roofs, National Slate Association, 1926, reprinted 1977
by Vermont Structural Slate Co., Inc., Fair Haven, VT 05743, 802-265-4933/34. (We recommend this book if you can find it. It
has gone in and out of print on occasion.)
The Slate Roof Bible, Joseph Jenkins, www.jenkinsslate.com,
143 Forest Lane, PO Box 607, Grove City, PA 16127 - 866-641-7141 (We recommend this book).
"Weather-Resistive Barriers [copy on file as /interiors/Weather_Resistant_Barriers_DOE.pdf ] - ", how to select and install housewrap and other types of weather resistive barriers, U.S. DOE
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Owens Corning, to address your question, produces a number of plastic roof products: roof vents, banding material, foam insulation, and plastic roof cement. But their site [web search 05/20/2010] did not turn up plastic roof shingles nor information about the discontinued Owens Corning plastic shingles that you cite.