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Fishmouthed roof shingle fail(C) Daniel Friedman Early Asphalt Shingle Failure Diagnosis

Causes of early failures on asphalt shingle roofs:

This roof failure diagnosis article investigates types and causes of premature or early roof wear or failures.

We describe shingle granule loss shingle curling as a sign of wear on asphalt shingle roofs and discusses how to identify & explain the most-common asphalt roof shingle failures. Our page top photo shows shingle edge down-curling. Other photos on this page show shingle corner curling.

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Six Year Old Roof Shingle Curling & Granule Loss Diagnosis & Commentary

Fishmouthed roof shingle fail(C) Daniel Friedman

[Click to enlarge any image]

Question about early asphalt roof shingle failure:

I live in Wisconsin and had my roof replaced (total strip down) about 6 years ago. Now my shingles are curling up or fish mouthing. I do not know what you call it but it looks terrible . Can you help me out? A friend said to check on the internet for something with Owens Corning.

Fishmouthed roof shingle fail(C) Daniel Friedman

I believe they are 30 yr shingles. I do not have any of the paper work but when they put them on they said they only use premium shingles. Check out the rain gutter. It is 3/4 full of shingle fragments and granules. The rest of the roof shingles still look good. Any help would be great. - Louis Tolley, Adams WI

Fishmouthed roof shingle fail(C) Daniel Friedman

Answer and advice on diagnosing a failing fishmouthed shingle "new roof" job:

The roof shingle wear pattern in your photos is easily mistaken for "fishmouthing asphalt roof shingle" but what we see in your photos is not "fishmouthing" but rather shingle curling, combined with extreme granule loss.

Fishmouthed roof shingle fail(C) Daniel Friedman

Comparing Shingle Fishmouth Patterns with Shingle Curling Patterns

Fishmouthing asphalt shingles appear as an upwards curve in the center of shingle tabs, usually where the center of a fishmouthed shingle tab crosses over the shingle butt joints in the course below. See the fishmouth shingle photos above on this page.

Shingle tab curling, such as shown in your photos, occurs at the corners of shingle tabs, not in the center of the tab. See CURLING ASPHALT SHINGLES.

How old is This Roof Wear-Out?

Regardless, your roof photos show severe wear and curled shingle tabs that we see at the end of roof life - your photos of this worn roof slope show that every single shingle tab is curled up from a corner – that combined with the significant granule loss would be very unusual on a six-year-old roof. We comment further and provide some roof failure diagnostic questions just below.

From looking at the photographs, and recognizing that we are not looking at the entire roof, some comments and questions arise that should help sort out this "early roof failure" mystery:

Fishmouthed roof shingle fail(C) Daniel Friedman

Fishmouthed roof shingle fail(C) Daniel Friedman

Premature Asphalt Roof Shingle Failure Diagnostic Questions

Watch out: First off - don't fall off the roof while you are up there looking around.

Don't walk on these fragile, damaged asphalt shingles - they'll break and leak.

Go back to look at your information on your 6 year old re-roof job with the questions listed below. If you have no records and no documentation of who did the roof, what was the contracted scope of work (all slopes or just some) we can still figure this out by inspection of the whole building.

Usually when we have inspected early roof failure cases like this it turns out that there was a misunderstanding (or less often, dishonesty) - the roofer did not re-shingle all slopes, maybe just one of them, but the owner thought they all were being done.

Also see our early ridge cap shingle failure discussion at RIDGE & HIP CAP SHINGLES. Readers are also invited contribute roof failure information to the web author for research purposes. web author for research purposes.


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