Dear Tim,
I have to replace my roof and I want a black roof. All the "black" shingles I have found are really charcoal grey. I tried to find a black shingle 11 years ago when we built our home and was unable to then. I settled for the darkest sold in my area (S.E. North Carolina). The algae growth on the north side of the roof still showed up in time. I'd like to eliminate the problem in the future with a really black roof. What do you suggest? Thanks.
Lynne M.
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Lynne,
They may be tough to impossible to find. I just got off the phone with a friend who owns a roofing distribution business. Years ago shingles were made in solid colors. But there were shading variation problems caused by the rollers that press the colored granules into the hot asphalt on the shingles. If the press pushed too hard, you could actually see a slight color variation even when the granules were the exact same color.
To cut losses from this problem, manufacturers switched to a blend of differnet colored granules. You can stop the algae growth on your new roof by using shingles that contain copper in the granules. You can also install copper stips on your roof at the top. Each time it rains a minute amount of copper washes onto the shingles and inhibits algae growth.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB