Asphalt Shingle Roofing in San Antonio, TX

Drive through any 1980s or 1990s tract neighborhood around San Antonio and you'll see flat, thin 3-tab shingles curling at the edges. They were never made for Texas heat or Texas hail. Architectural shingles are what we put up instead. You'll also hear them called dimensional or laminated: two layers of asphalt-coated fiberglass mat bonded into one. That means more weight, a deeper shadow line, and a wind rating somewhere in the 110 to 130 mph range.

Our crews install Owens Corning and GAF, the brands Texas-RRR prefers and the ones they know by feel. On Bexar County roofs that's mostly Owens Corning Duration and GAF Timberline. Both come in colors that get through HOA review in Stone Oak and Alamo Ranch without a fight.

If you're paying for a tear-off anyway, 3-tab doesn't save you much. Same labor. Same underlayment. You'd give up ten years of roof life to shave a little off the material. That's why every shingle roof replacement we quote starts at architectural.

Almost every house in Central Texas has one of three asphalt shingle types on it. In a county that gets this much hail, here's how they compare.

3-tab shingles

• Lifespan in Texas heat: roughly 12 to 18 years, often shorter on west-facing slopes
• Wind rating: about 60 mph, and a spring storm line blows past that easily
• Hail rating: none
• Insurance discount: no
• Where it fits: rentals, sheds, or matching a small repair on a roof that's already 3-tab

Architectural (dimensional) shingles

• Lifespan in Texas heat: 20 to 30 years if the attic is ventilated right
• Wind rating: 110 to 130 mph, depending on the line and nailing pattern
• Hail rating: standard lines aren't impact rated
• Insurance discount: usually not
• Where it fits: most owner-occupied homes in San Antonio

Class 4 impact-resistant shingles

• Lifespan in Texas heat: 25 to 30 years or more, since the reinforced mat holds its granules better
• Wind rating: 130 mph on most lines
• Hail rating: UL 2218 Class 4, as high as an asphalt shingle goes
• Insurance discount: lots of Texas carriers offer one, so ask your agent for the form
• Where it fits: the hail corridor from Helotes across the north side to Converse, and anybody sick of filing claims

Don't know which one's on your house? A free roof inspection answers that in twenty minutes.

In the last decade Bexar County has been hit by two of the worst hail events Texas has ever had. Hail up to 4.5 inches fell in Helotes on April 12, 2016, in what was then the costliest hail event in the state's history. Then on April 28, 2021, the same storm that set the Texas hailstone record (6.4 inches, in Hondo) dropped baseball-size hail on San Antonio along I-10.

To earn Class 4, a shingle has to pass the UL 2218 test, which means taking a 2-inch steel ball dropped from 20 feet without the mat cracking. Is that hail-proof? No, and anyone telling you it is wants to sell you something. What it does mean is that a 1.5-inch stone that would bruise a standard shingle usually bounces off. We install Class 4 lines from both Owens Corning and GAF. The rating, the insurance paperwork and HOA rules are all covered on our Class 4 impact-resistant shingles page.

The insurance savings are real but they aren't automatic. Plenty of Texas insurers discount the wind and hail part of the premium for a documented Class 4 roof, and your agent files the form using the product name and install date from our invoice. Re-roofing because of a storm? Our insurance claim team can price the Class 4 upgrade against what the carrier is paying.

In August, a San Antonio attic can hit 140 degrees. Some architectural lines use reflective granules that throw back more sunlight than a regular dark shingle. That cools the attic a little and might trim the electric bill. On a well-ventilated roof the gain is small. On a badly ventilated one, it's bigger. We'd fix the ventilation first: ridge vent, soffit intake, and a solar attic fan if the layout needs one. Then go lighter on color if your HOA allows it. You'll get more comfort for the money that way than from any one product. Where we notice it most is single-story houses with a big attic and not much shade, which is about half the subdivisions north of Loop 1604.

We don't price roofs over the phone. The free estimate happens at your house: we walk the roof, look at the decking from the attic if we can get up there, and tell you plainly whether you need a repair, a restoration or a full re-roof. All the options are on our San Antonio roofing page.

On install day, the crew tears off to the deck and replaces whatever decking is rotted or delaminated. Synthetic underlayment goes down, with ice-and-water membrane in the valleys and around penetrations. After that comes new drip edge, new pipe boots and step flashing at the walls, then shingles nailed to the manufacturer's pattern and a ridge vent on top. Since we run 8 full crew teams, most single-family roofs are done in a day. Your old roof is gone in the trailer by that afternoon.

Inside city limits, permits are easy. San Antonio's Development Services hands out a re-roof permit over the counter when the pitch isn't changing, and we pull it. In Monte Vista or King William it's different: you need a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Office of Historic Preservation first, which takes longer, so let us know early. Not sure your street is in a historic district? Ask when you call and we'll look it up. Same crews, same process for homeowners all over San Antonio and the rest of Bexar County, Helotes to Converse.

From Alma T.'s Google review: "Materials were ordered promptly and once the work began, it was nonstop until the job was completed. The roof looks great!!" Thinking about standing seam instead? Our metal roofing page lays out the trade-offs honestly. We install both, so we don't care which you pick.