Storm-stripped roof decking seen up close: wet dark plywood sheets studded with bent rusted nails, a lighter patch of exposed grain in the middle, and a torn line of asphalt shingles left along the eave

Stage 03 What goes back on

Roof types, compared like for like

Underneath all six of these is the same deck. The material decision is about how long you intend to stay, what the frame will carry, and how much of the budget the roof is allowed to have — so every entry below answers exactly those questions, in the same order.

(865) 555-0172 Go to the spec sheet

Before the samples come out

Three questions that actually decide it

Everybody starts with colour and everybody should start here. Answer these three and the list below usually shortens to two.

01 How long are you staying? A twenty-year roof on a five-year house is somebody else's asset.

02 What will the frame carry? Slate and clay tile need that checked before they are quoted, not after.

03 How much of the budget is the roof allowed to have, once everything else the storm touched is counted?

Same four lines, every material

The spec sheet

Six materials, four identical rows each. The service lives are the ranges the trade generally quotes for the material — not a term anybody warrants, and not a promise about your roof.

A two-storey house with a stone and pale-siding front elevation under a newly laid dark architectural shingle roof, photographed from above the driveway

01 20–30 years

Shingle Roofing

Service life: 20–30 years
Weight: Light — any standard frame carries it
Good at: The default. Lowest installed cost, easiest to repair, hardest to colour-match after a regional storm.
Costs you: You will do it again in your lifetime.

Shingle Roofing in detail

A dark standing-seam metal roof with tall vertical seams over a white board-and-batten farmhouse, with a stone chimney and exposed timber porch brackets beneath a blue sky

02 40–50 years

Metal Roofing

Service life: 40–50 years
Weight: Light — lighter than the shingles it replaces
Good at: Wind. Concealed-fastener panels seamed along their length carry some of the highest wind ratings on a house.
Costs you: Two to three times the upfront number, and it must be detailed by someone who has done it before.

Metal Roofing in detail

A steep grey slate roof with a dovecote dormer and a curved eyebrow gable over a pale stucco house, framed by oak branches

03 A century, for natural stone

Slate Roofing

Service life: A century, for natural stone
Weight: Heavy — natural slate needs a structural check first
Good at: Permanence, and historic houses where nothing else looks right. Synthetic gets the look at about a third of the weight.
Costs you: The highest installed cost on this page, and its own trade to lay it.

Slate Roofing in detail

A terracotta barrel tile roof in graded red and ochre tones over a white stucco house, with a small tiled cupola and a palm tree against a clear blue sky

04 50 years or more, for the tile

Spanish Tile Roofing

Service life: 50 years or more, for the tile
Weight: Heavy — clay and concrete both need the frame checked
Good at: Gulf Coast character, and heat. The tile is not the waterproofing layer — the membrane under it is.
Costs you: Tile outlives two or three underlayment cycles, so re-laying is a job you should expect.

Spanish Tile Roofing in detail

A cedar shake roof in weathered browns catching low sun, running up to a stone chimney beside a shingled gable and a green-framed window

05 20–30 years with maintenance

Cedar Shake Roofing

Service life: 20–30 years with maintenance
Weight: Light — but it needs airflow above and below
Good at: Warmth and texture nothing synthetic quite matches, on houses that suit it.
Costs you: Gulf humidity halves it without treatment and ventilation. It is a maintained roof, not a fitted one.

Cedar Shake Roofing in detail

A crew in high-visibility vests working across a partly stripped roof, laying underlayment and moving bundles of shingles stacked along the ridge at sunset

06 A standard, not a material

FORTIFIED Roofing

Service life: A standard, not a material
Weight: Applies to whatever covering goes on top
Good at: Sealed roof deck, ring-shank nailing, locked-down edges — a published specification for hurricane country.
Costs you: A modest premium at replacement time, plus an independent evaluator’s fee. The designation is theirs to award, not ours.

FORTIFIED Roofing in detail

Nothing on this page is a designation we hold. Where a material has a published standard behind it, the standard belongs to the body that publishes it and is awarded by an independent evaluator. Warranty terms come from the manufacturer's documentation and from your contract, in writing, before you sign.

Straight answers

Choosing a material — the questions we get

Which material is the right one for my house?

Three things decide it and none of them is fashion: how long you intend to stay, what the frame will carry, and how much of the budget belongs to the roof rather than to everything else the storm touched. We fit all of them, so the recommendation is about your house rather than about our stock.

Are the service lives on this page guaranteed?

No. They are the ranges the trade generally quotes for each material, and they are here so you can compare like with like. What your roof actually gets depends on ventilation, detailing, exposure and weather. Any warranty that applies comes from the manufacturer's documentation and from your contract.

Can I put a heavier material on an existing house?

Sometimes. Natural slate and clay tile both need a structural check before anyone quotes them. If the framing will not take it, synthetic slate and lighter tile profiles get most of the look at a fraction of the load.

Does the material change what my insurer charges?

Some carriers price wind risk differently by roof covering, and some treat a roof built to the FORTIFIED standard differently again. Whether yours does is a question for your agent. We will not put a figure on it, and nobody selling you a roof can know it.

Which material handles TN weather best?

For wind, correctly detailed standing-seam metal. For heat, tile and reflective surfaces. For cost per year of service, architectural shingle is still hard to beat, which is why most of the street has it.

Samples on your kitchen table.

Tell us the house and the timescale and we will bring the two materials that actually fit it, with the trade-offs named out loud rather than left to the brochure.

(865) 555-0172 Book an inspection