Materials
Asphalt, metal, or slate: how to actually pick a roof
A foreman's decision tree, no marketing.
April 19, 2026 · 6 min read
Every roofing website tells you their roofs last the longest, look the best, and cost the least. Here is the honest version of the trade-offs, in plain English.
Architectural asphalt shingle. The workhorse. Twenty to twenty-five years of useful life on a Midwest house. Affordable. Wide color palette. Looks correct on virtually every residential elevation built since 1960. Downside: the shortest service life of the three, and the most sensitive to ventilation problems (a roof on an under-ventilated attic ages faster).
Standing-seam metal. The half-century roof. Fifty to eighty years of useful life. Excellent in heavy weather: hail, ice, fire, wind. Premium look on the right house. Pairs especially well with brick and cedar siding. Downside: two to three times the cost of asphalt, and the audible drumming during heavy rain that some homeowners love and others can't stand.
Natural slate. The hundred-year roof. Genuinely lasts the life of the house if installed correctly. Heaviest, most expensive, and most labor-intensive option. Looks right only on certain architectural styles: Tudor, English manor, French chateau, certain Cape Cod variations, and any home where the original roof was slate. Downside: cost. A slate roof runs five to seven times the cost of architectural asphalt.
How to decide: if your house is a 1950s-2000s suburban ranch, two-story, or split-level, architectural asphalt is the right answer. If your house was built before 1940 and you intend to be the last owner, slate is the right answer. If your house is somewhere in between and you want the best blend of look and life, standing-seam metal is the right answer. Skip the designer marketing names and pick on the architecture and the budget, in that order.
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