Roof warrantyin plain words

A new roof can carry three separate warranties, and each one answers a different question. Knowing which is which tells you who to call when something goes wrong.

The maker's material warranty

This one covers defective product. IKO's covers "a manufacturing defect that significantly affects the water shedding performance" of its shingles.1 The fix is repair or replacement of the shingles, and the warranty excludes damage inside the house.1

The maker's system warranty

Some makers also warrant the shingles and the installation together. These usually need an installer the maker has approved, and the terms differ from one maker to the next.2

The installer's workmanship warranty

This one covers how the roof was put on. IKO states that your roofer "is not an employee or representative of IKO," so the maker's paper doesn't speak for the crew's work.1 A leak from poor installation falls to the installer's warranty.

No. IKO defines LIFETIME as the period that continues "so long as the Owner owns the building" the shingles were installed on.1 The same warranty says its periods "are not guarantees of the useful lifetime of the Shingles."1

The full, non-prorated cover is called Iron Clad Protection, and it runs 180 months (15 years) on several IKO lines, including Dynasty.1 After that, IKO pays only a prorated share of the replacement shingles. Its own example is a defect found at 216 months, where IKO's maximum is 20% of the replacement shingle cost.1

The owner in that definition is an individual who owns a single-family home. For a corporation, a condominium, an association, or any non-single-family building, IKO limits the period to 40 years.1

The roofing trade's own association adds that a long warranty is only as good as the company that has to honor it, and some makers that issued long terms no longer operate.2

Lifetime Roofing of El Paso, family owned and in El Paso since 2019, puts a lifetime transferable workmanship warranty on every installation. We print it beside the maker's warranty and hand you the warranty paper at the end of the job.

If a leak comes back on our work, we come back and fix it at no charge. Our own crews do the work, not subcontractors, so the crew that installed your roof is the one that answers for it.

Tarping and inspections carry no warranty. A night's emergency tarp or a roof inspection is a service, not an installation.

On foam roofs and roof coatings, the lifetime warranty covers our workmanship. Recoating on schedule is normal upkeep, and the owner pays for it.

Ask to read any warranty before you sign. The FTC says to find out what it covers, how long it lasts, how to claim, and whether you pay for labor.4 Federal rules for written warranties call for these points in one document:3

• Who is covered, and whether the original buyer is the only one.
• What is covered and what is excluded.
• The remedy: repair, replacement, or refund, and whether labor is included.
• When the warranty starts and how long it lasts.
• How to get service, and who to call.

Ask for the owner's upkeep duties in writing too.2 The Texas Attorney General also advises that the contract include everything the contractor promised.5 Our guide to what a roofing estimate should say covers the rest of the paperwork.