Even with the best roofing material, if the airflow’s off, you’re just asking for trouble.
That’s the truth. I swapped to composite a couple years back after a windstorm sent half my old shingles into the neighbor’s pool. No regrets on the tiles—they’ve handled hail and heat better than I expected. But yeah, I learned the hard way about attic airflow. Thought I was being clever with extra insulation, but all I got was condensation and a weird “old gym sock” smell upstairs. Had to crawl up there and fix the vents myself (never again). Anyone else notice composite seems to keep the attic a bit warmer in summer, or is that just me?
Yeah, I’ve noticed the attic gets a bit toastier with composite too. I figured it was just my setup, but maybe it’s more common. When I was helping my uncle with his, he mentioned the same thing—said the heat lingered longer than with his old asphalt shingles. We ended up adding a ridge vent, which helped a lot. Honestly, I wouldn’t trade the durability, but the summer heat up there is no joke.
Yeah, that heat is no joke with composite. I swapped mine last year and the attic felt like a sauna by July. Ended up crawling around up there to add more insulation and a couple of vents—definitely helped, but I still wouldn’t hang out up there in August. Still, I’ll take that over replacing shingles every few years. Durability wins, but I do miss the cooler attic sometimes.
I totally get what you mean about the attic heat. We just moved into our first place last fall and went with composite tiles too, mostly for the durability. The old roof was asphalt and falling apart, so it felt like a no-brainer at the time. But wow, this summer I could really feel the difference upstairs—our attic basically turned into a bread oven by late June. I ended up putting a box fan up there just to keep the air moving, but it didn’t do much.
I’m with you though—replacing shingles every few years sounds like a nightmare, especially with how unpredictable the weather’s been lately. I do kind of miss how the old roof kept things a bit cooler, but not enough to go back to patching leaks every spring. Still figuring out if I want to add more vents or just live with it...feels like there’s always something new to learn as a homeowner.
Interesting you mention the attic heat—I've had kind of the opposite experience. We went with composite tiles too, but I actually noticed less heat transfer compared to our old asphalt shingles. Maybe it's the color or the underlayment? I did some research and apparently lighter-colored composites can reflect more sunlight, which helps a bit. Still, ventilation seems like a huge factor. Have you checked if your soffit or ridge vents are blocked? Sometimes it’s not just the roofing material, but how everything works together... Homeownership really is one experiment after another.
