One of the worst hit areas were the Northern suburbs of Dallas; Plano, Frisco, and Allen amongst others. There should be little surprise that the land of new construction was hardest hit. One particular area in Plano that was hard hit was the subject of a TV news story on the storm damage.
Here is a print version of the story, but it also aired on TV mentioning Certainteed by name.
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa070226_mo_shingleproblems.183b3e75.html
There is little doubt this was horrible pub for Certainteed. Shortly after the story, the local Certainteed rep (whose livelihood is tied to the sale of Certainteed shingles in this market) quit.
But was it deserved?
In short, no. I had the opportunity to give an estimate on one of these homes in the subdivision referenced above. Poor workmanship was all over this property. High nailing was everywhere. The shingles were gun nailed. Many nails were also over driven. In my opinion, any three tab from any manufacturer would have similar results with that workmanship.
What about that newer subdivision right next door with no damage at all?
The did not mention any specifics in the print article, but the TV camera pans to a laminated shingle roof with no blow offs. It is not fair to compare three tab shingles to heavier laminates. It is just not apples to apples. There is also a good chance that the crew that installed the laminate shingle roof is not the same as the blown off 20 year roof.
I would not have taken much leg work to get a few more facts and presented a more balanced story. The majority of blow offs I saw had two things in common; entry level shingles and pneumatic instillation. The brand of shingles did not really matter in my unscientific observations. What was a real surprise was that it did not matter if it were nails or staples, but that they were applied with a pneumatic device.
