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| Luxury shingles withstand massive neighborhood fire  Tim Swartos made a wise investment in his home's protection last year when he chose to replace his 30-year-old cedar shake roof with CertainTeed Presidential Shake luxury shingles. "Knowing that I lived on the rim of a ridge, with high winds and several possibilities for fire, I looked for something that would be more fire-resistant than cedar shakes," Swartos says. Since all of Swartos' neighbors in the Oregon Trail Heights subdivision in Boise, Idaho, also had cedar shake roofs, he researched a variety of cedar shake-emulating products and asked for recommendations from other local homeowner associations (HOA). He found many of the HOAs are now revising their covenants to allow Presidential Shake luxury shingles as replacements for traditional cedar shake roofs due to their durability, authentic cedar look, cost-effectiveness and fire resistance. Impressed by all of these attributes, Swartos hired Madison Roofing, of Boise, to install Presidential Shake luxury shingles on his 3,600 square-foot roof in June 2007. Just over a year later, Swartos' roof was put to the test. On August 25 of last year, an electrical line malfunction near the Oregon Trail Heights subdivision caused a massive, fast moving fire, fanned by 50 mile-per-hour winds. A mere two minutes after the fire started, it had burnt through several feet of dry grass and sagebrush and moved up the rim into Oregon Trail Heights. By the time the fire was extinguished, 10 houses in the neighborhood were destroyed and several more were damaged. Remarkably, Swartos' house was unharmed. And, since Swartos' roof was the only one in the neighborhood not to catch fire, firefighters were able to use it as a vantage point, giving them better access to the flames and helping them extinguish the fire sooner. But, the roof was still safe from harm. After the fire, Swartos called Madison Roofing out to do an inspection, and they confirmed that there was no damage done during the fire. "I couldn't detect anything wrong with the roof," says Hans Weikl, Residential Superintendent for Madison Roofing. "It was quite amazing. The houses that burnt down were the ones with the combination of cedar shake roofing and cedar shake siding." Presidential Shake luxury shingles deliver the classic charm and character of hand-split wood shakes, with the durability and strength that presides over wood in virtually every surrounding. Backed by CertainTeed's lifetime limited transferable warranty, Presidential Shake has many advantages over traditional wood shake roofing. Unlike wood, it won't rot or decay, and it offers Class 1(A) fire resistance. The product also provides excellent wind resistance, backed by a 10-year wind warranty that guarantees protection from winds up to 110 miles per hour. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Construction News :: home page |