Shed Roofs to Last a Lifetime

Often times when people think of the roof for a storage shed there isn’t a whole lot of concern when it comes to quality. After all it is “just a storage shed” right? But don’t forget that storage sheds have to endure the same weather elements and abuse that your home does. This is why our philosophy on your roof, is that you should expect the same quality you would want on your home. Over the years, we have replaced many sheds built by both big name brands and Do It Yourselfers; sometimes only a couple of years after they were constructed. Don’t end up being surprised at how a less than quality roof can result in fatal damage to your storage shed. Here are a couple of things to look for when shopping for your new storage shed.

Quality Trusses

In case if you didn’t already know, “Trusses” are the beams that support your roof. However, trusses aren’t only critical for supporting the weight of your roof (and whatever is on it) they can also play a large role in keeping your storage sheds walls square. This means that with exposure to harsh winds or snow loads, weak trusses will bow or shift and can result in subtle problems such as a leaky roof or big problems like walls coming apart. Here at SUNSET, we always use strong 2×6 trusses on our Classic and Dura Ranch sheds to extend the life of our storage sheds. As a general rule; never go with trusses that you wouldn’t be comfortable walking on… You never know when you might have to.

Durable Shingles

You probably already knew that one of the most important contributors to a quality roof is the shingles. Quality shingles on your storage shed are critical for protection against weather elements. Here in Colorado shingles are subjected to high temperatures, low temperatures, high winds, and heavy loads sometimes all in the same day. From our experience, even shingles that work well for storage sheds in other areas just can’t hold up on sheds in Colorado.

You see shingles are held in place by a strip of tar at the bottom, and nails at the top. With lower quality shingles; high temperatures melt the tar and combined with high winds can pull shingles up. While low temperatures cause the tar to shrink and become brittle where it can break and rip away from the rest of the shingle. It is also very important that shingles can handle ice, heavy loads, and abuse caused from hail or falling branches from nearby trees. This is why SUNSET offers Lifetime Architectural shingles on our Classic and Dura models, the same used on homes. 

We offer Owens Corning Tru Definition Duration Shingles with a limited lifetime warranty. Click here to learn more about them and see all the color options. Duration shingles have SureNail Technology that have a triple layer of protection in the nailing zone to help against Colorado’s high winds.

Synthetic Underlayment

Never skip on underlayment and drip edge. Without underlayment, shingles will not properly stick, while drip edge is critical for keeping out moisture.  SUNSET uses the best of both. Sunset spends the extra money to use synthetic roof underlayment as opposed to tar paper. Synthetic underlayment consists of polyethylene or polypropylene weaved together with polymer to create a protective barrier on the roof. It is more durable, longer lasting, light weight and more water resistant than traditional tar paper. It has a higher heat tolerance and more fire resistant than tar paper as well.