Great Shingle Roof, Wrong House in North Miami

When it comes to shingle roofing in the Miami, Fl. area I stick to a very basic philosophy: white is right and proper ventilation is a must. Browse Roofer Mike blog posts and you will see photos of white shingle roofs with turbine ventilators or ridge vents and there is a whole article addressing the subject on www.roofermikeinc.com. It is simply too hot in South Florida for a shingle roof to last without incorporating Cool Roof concepts like reflectivity and ventilation into the design.

White 3-tab shingle roof with gable vents

A potential client emailed me with a request for an estimate using a new designer shingle with a “limited lifetime” warranty. He sent me a link to the manufacturer’s site and there were aerial photos of big, beautiful homes with these shingles that are supposed to emulate a barrel tile roof. Hmm, well – they looked good and on these steeper roofs I get what they’re going for. The colors available were generally quite dark and my client’s selection was a dark terra cotta.

When I went to the house for the estimate I was not surprised to find a typical “old Miami” type duplex with an “up-n-over” 2.5:12 gable roof. I practically begged the customer to reconsider his selection and went into my energy efficiency pitch but he explained that his Mom picked them out and liked the Latin flavor of these hyper-expensive shingles. “Oh well”, I thought to myself, “at least it has gable vents”.

Designer shingles on a roof in Miami, Fl.

We put the roof on that Mom wanted and as much as I hate the cliché “it is what it is”, it was appropriate here. They could have just put some white 3-tabs up there and spent a little putting a fan on one of those gable vents. They would have been cooler and had an extra grand.
What’s that? You can lead a horse to water . . .