do roof shingles go bad?

[v7guy]

bought a house about a year ago and found a pack of shingles stored in the garage attic. a lot of the stuff up there was from the 70s so I'm sure they're pretty old. can I use em, or should I just chuck them?

 

[Stuart in MN]

They're probably all glued together by now, plus what can you do with one bundle of shingles? They probably won't match anything new.

 

[Justanoldguy]

Do they match the house?
They are probably for repairing the roof when it needs it.

 

[cowboyjosh]

They are probably brittle as hell if they are original to the house and might not even match the roof now, unless they are left over from a recent roof replacement. I'd toss 'em.

 

[ForceFed70]

I'd think that they are glued together, very brittle, and probably no-longer match the shingles on the house (weathering). They are probably garbage.

 

[tcianci]

The short answer is no, they don't go bad and if they are indeed the same shingles that are currently on the house, you will be hard pressed to find anything that will be closer in color than that extra bundle. So, check and make sure that they are even the same ones, if they are really from the seventies, chances are that the current roof on your house could be newer than that. In that case there is no sense saving a shingle that no longer belongs to your house. As far as them being stuck together, to some extent, that's possible but most "self seal" shingles have an anti-stick tape on them that keeps the shingles from sticking together in the package, and even if they are tacked together, if you need them in a pinch, it will be well worth the coddling it may take to get them apart.

 

[trailwart]

use them for dog house roof or free on craigslist. dont just toss them, they will have some use for somebody.

 

[rockchucker]

I would not use them for anything but a dog house. Roof Shingles get old and brittle even when not exposed to sunlight and high temperatures. If you are talking 70's then they are well beyond their life expectancy. Trash or give them away. My .o2

 

[Cage]

Just my 2 cents here. I just took the cupola down from my garage roof which left a 44 inch wide hole that had to be patched. Up in the attic of the garage I found a bundle of shingles that are from the late 70`s. They matched and money is tight so I used them, I did lay some rubber down first and silconed all seams. 3 thunderstorms and a day long rain this past week and no leaks. Like I said, I did add some weather proofing before laying them down. They weren`t brittle and seem to be sticking for now. It might depend on where they were stored, mine were in a dark attic. Hope this helps.

 

[v7guy]

well, they're fairly flexible and lightly stuck, I could pick the top couple off the stack and they made a tacky/sticky sound as I pulled em apart. But they did come apart without drama.

The misses has talked about a getting a dog, sounds like a good use for the pack. I'll lay them in the corner for when I'm ready to use em

Thanks for the suggestions and help guys

 

[HemiRambler]

I put a roof on the house 15 or 20 years ago. Just last fall a storm tore a few shingles off. No leaks but it looked like ****. I had 1/2 a bundle shoved under the blast cabinet from way back - no they no longer matched perfect but looked a heck of alot better than missing shingles!!!! Who knows, by the time I'm ready to replace the roof - maybe they'll have faded and match prefectly by then!! ha ha ha

 

[BrushWhackin]

We (general contractor) give our old shingles to one of our flooring installers. He uses them as shims when doing hardware or laminate flooring. I know that our roofers take their tear-off shingles to a recycler that turns them into asphalt. Just another option.

 

[gatchel]

They could also be used as starter shingles for a re-roof is they are not too bad and can be separated.