The topic of wind-lifted shingles remains a controversial subject in the roofing industry. There are many misconceptions and a number of issues with asphalt shingles that are commonly incorrectly attributed to wind effects. Some of the current and most hotly debated issues relate to the assertions by some that:

1. “Wind-lifted” or “wind-damaged” shingles are not always visually apparent but are damaging to the roof.
2. Any shingle with inadequate adhesion is a “wind-lifted” or “wind-damaged” shingle.
3. Empirical tests can easily demonstrate the strength reduction of a shingle after a storm event.

Rather than adhere to these misconstrued assertions and come to unfounded conclusions, proper wind damage assessments must be carried out. The assessments should consider locations of damaged shingles, any patterns of unsealed shingles across a roof slope and across the entire roof, the directions of slopes with unsealed shingles, and the prevailing direction of the wind during the storm event in question.

Download this technical paper to learn more about these positions and the misconceptions associated with them.