Quickest way to an UGLY roof?

SCOTCH GUARD

STAIN GUARD

STREAK GUARD

STREAK FIGHTER

The power of marketing, these are all different Shingle Brand's version of the unsightly black Aglae streaking protection. They all sound very similar, but only one has an advertised, guaranteed amount of copper granules to keep the algae at bay. Unless you are an informed person, you can make the wrong choice. SCOTCH GUARD was the first and only to set the 10% copper standard. The rest branded a very similar sounding, marketable TRADEMARK and can sell "COMPARABLE" shingles but with a lesser manufacturing cost, by using "maybe" 3-4% copper granules. This fact has been confirmed through testing of various shingle Brands.

Not only does copper keep algea from growing, but has been proven to interact with the asphalt on a molecular level, keeping the asphalt from oxidizing as quickly, which means becoming dried out and brittle more slowly, meaning less granule loss in the long term and a longer lasting roof. Since most people buy few roofs, all these similar sounding nameplates are the "same product" to all but the most scrutinizingly informed consumer.

The rental owner of the house pictured, is now a neighbor and client of mine, they wanted a cheaper roof installed and so had a lesser quality, readily available, OWENS Corning shingle installed on this roof in the mid-summer of 2015. This shingle is very common, probably on about half the local roofs. These shingles are an example of what can happen when you do not have enough copper to keep the Blue GREEN Algae at bay. They were a very light grey, but at 8-1/2 years into the roof life, when this picture was taken, they are very dark and old looking because of the quality of the shingle. MALARKEY Vista AR shingles slot between the mainline shingkes and the Top tier Malarkey Legacy with Scotchguard, and have Approximately 7% copper granules, this is nearly double the industry standard of main line, or mid range shingles. The RIDGEFLEX, ridge caps have over 10% for a SCOTCHGUARD rating.