EcoStar Shingles

Materials - Part I

Today will be a shorter post and then the other half of F&H will take a hand at writing. As I explained earlier on, I will be discussing materials intermittently and describing why we chose them and what they offer versus other materials.

From the very get-go we have aimed at an energy efficient and sustainably sourced material house. Taking from the environment is fine but it needs to be done sensibly and with as light of a footprint as possible. A "green" product does not have to be straw or stone, it can also be a manufactured or long lasting natural material chosen for its ability to stand a long usage and not wind up in the dumpster after ten years.

This brings us to the first chapter in materials: EcoStar roofing shingles. These are of the same family as TAMKO Lamarite or EcoShake shingles. All these are excellent options and are composed of 80%+ recycled plastics and rubber but we chose EcoStar because they are manufactured in Pennsylvania (under 500 miles/804 km from the end use location which means less fossil fuel used to transport the material) and they offered an imitation cedar shake roofing shingle at 3/8" (0.925 cm) thick which closely mimics a Perfection Cedar Shake roofing shingle (a machine cut natural cedar shingle). They look very convincing, especially from the ground, and they have a 50 year warranty, are fast installed, do not leak or absorb (as a wood shingle), and are Energy Star rated. Tamko Lamarites were too chunky looking for us and had a sort of Lincoln Log/Fisher Price house roof look that we wanted to avoid.

We chose Smoke Grey (this is the back of the sample shingle) because it more closely mimics a patina-ed/weathered cedar shake)

The texture of the shingle from the front

The front of a 12"/30.5 cm wide shingle

The EcoStar shingles come in other colors and there are also slate (very real looking) options but slate does not fit on the type of house were are building. The shingles come in 12"/30.5 cm, 9"/22.8 cm, and 6"/15.24 cm widths so that they can be installed randomly and mimic a natural cedar shake.

EcoStar shakes installed with a random pattern

Synthetic shingles are not inexpensive, averaging about $400.00 USD per square (a roof is measured in "squares" which are 10'x 10' / 3 m x 3 m) for the materials only. Installation is another $400.00 per square. This might appear expensive but consider that a cedar Perfections cost about $300.00 USD per square and twice that in labor to install (not to mention that cedar is now coming from second growth forests and last only 10-12 years, unlike their venerable predecessors which lasted between 40-60 years depending on conditions and installation). Considering the no-leak and lasting nature of the EcoShake, it is far more cost effective over the long haul.

We elected to avoid asphalt roofing shingles for a number of reasons. First and foremost, they are made using petroleum. This is a non-starter on an environmentally sensitive house. Secondly, they lack a certain visual appeal.....no, let me rephrase that. They are ugly. Yes, they are cheaper per square but so is vinyl siding. I rest my case.