Granules play a critical role in asphalt roofing shingles. They protect your roof from ultraviolet rays, resist algae growth, and even reflect sunlight. Available in unique colors, these granules are also designed to enhance the look of your home. Premature granule loss on a shingle can be a dramatic detriment to the condition and color of a roof.
Over the years, Malarkey has driven innovations in asphalt technology to help ensure that these granules stay on shingles for longer.
- Shingle Components
- Mat, asphalt, granules and sealant strips combine to create the basic components of asphalt shingles. As with any product, the end quality can be attributed to the quality of the components used to create it.
- Mat: Shingles start with a mat foundation on which asphalt is applied. Mats have evolved over the years from pulped rags, to felt paper, and finally to the random lay fiberglass we use today, as seen below. Fiberglass based asphalt shingles do not rot and have improved fire ratings over their rag and wood ancestors.
- Sealant: Sealants are special strips of asphalt adhesive that help to adhere the shingle rows (courses) together. This typically occurs during the shingle installation by heat from the sun, but cold weather installations may require the shingles to be sealed by hand. Sealants are important to help hold shingles in place during high winds, which in turn helps to protect your home against leaks.
- Granules: The granules on shingles do more than just lend color to your roof. The primary function of those colored granules is to protect the asphalt from aging due to the suns UV rays. Granules come in a wide assortment of colors that are carefully blended to produce different shades, which helps them appear more dimensional.
Shingles can offer a variety of features to meet the needs of homes across the country. Learn how solar reflective shingles, polymer modified shingles, and shingles with Class 4 impact resistance can help protect your roof.
Class 4 Shingles: Severe weather can destroy even the best roofs, but you can give your home-added protection with Class 4 impact resistant shingles. Class 4 shingles are independently tested using the testing standard UL 2218. There are 4 different Class Ratings. The most severe test is the Class 4, which uses steel balls 2″ in diameter to impact a roof to simulate the effects of hail. Class 4 shingles withstand the impact without sustaining damage to receive the highest impact rating available in the roofing industry today.
What does this mean for homeowners? While no roofing material is completely hail proof, homeowners in hail prone areas can reduce their risk of impact damage by installing Class 4 shingles. Many insurance companies will even offer a discount for homes with Class 4 shingles.
- *Each hail event is different and results may vary. Malarkey does not warrant that the same results will occur on all buildings installed with shingles containing Flexor™ asphalt.
- Malarkey Class 4 Impact Resistant Shingles:
- Hail Facts:
- According to the National Weather Service, on average, only about 3% of all hailstorms produce hailstones over 2” in diameter.
- The largest hailstone ever recorded in the United States fell in Vivian, South Dakota in July of 2010. It measured over 8” in diameter, weighed nearly 2 lbs., and had a circumference of 18.62”.
- According to the Insurance Information Institute, United States property damage due to hail reaches nearly $1.25 billion annually.
SBS Polymer Modied Asphalt: Styrene-butadiene-styrene polymers, commonly referred to as SBS, can be specially blended into asphalt to add rubberized characteristics. The result is a more flexible product, which can adapt to changing temperatures while retaining the granules on the shingles.
New Streak Resist™ Technology Featured in Roofing Shingle Algae Defense™ Systems
Each component of a Malarkey roofing shingle plays an important role in protecting the home. The granules in polymer modified asphalt roofing shingles are no exception; they are specifically designed and engineered to preform specifically for certain climates. For instance, roofs in areas with prevalent moisture and humidity can experience algae growth in the form of black streaks on the roofing shingles. Algae growth on a roof can alter the color of your roof and make it appear aged.
As part of the Algae Defense™ Systems, Malarkey utilizes specialized granules that perform beyond traditional materials to offer benefits to the homeowner and the environment. The Algae Defense™ Systems incorporate Streak Resist™ Technology, a blend of algae resistant copper granules that help maintain the aesthetic appearance of your roof, and may reduce the need to clean your roof. By resisting black streaks caused by algae, the shingles retain their vibrant hues in concert with the rest of the home’s exterior.
Also available to protect homes from unwanted algae growth are Malarkey shingles featuring Scotchgard™ Protector from 3M™. These shingles similarly feature 3M™ Copper Roofing Granules. In 1994, Malarkey Roofing Products® became the first manufacturer to offer Scotchgard™ Protector in a shingle.
Granules offering algae defense, solar reflectivity, and color retention are all valuable contributions to the overall performance of the roofing shingle. To make sure these granules stay in place, Malarkey’s polymer modified asphalts such as Nexgen™ and Flexor™, are designed to respond positively to environmental temperature fluctuations.
The product design process at Malarkey Roofing Products considers many aspects of a product’s performance, construction, life cycle, and components. Granules are an integral part of a roofing shingle. Not only does their asphalt adhesion helps keep shingle color, but granules can also be engineered to perform and protect in certain climates.
In the above video, 3M Industrial Minerals and Products Division, Senior Laboratory Manger, Frank Klink, Ph.D., explains the urban heat island effect and how Malarkey Ecoasis™ shingles with cool roofing granules reflect solar UV rays. The granules are manufactured to reflect the UV, or infrared, portion of sunlight. This enables the colors of the shingle to be seen by the naked eye, while still allowing the roof to stay cool.
In addition to engineering the granules for solar reflective performance, the 3M Scotchgard™ Protector granules have been developed to resist the growth of algae and prevent black streaks from forming on roofs in climate with high humidity. In 1994, Malarkey Roofing Products became the first shingle manufacturer to use 3M Scotchgard™ Protector granules.
