I hear you on the “progress” thing. When we reroofed in 2018, the contractor pushed synthetic underlayment—said it’d outlast the shingles. Looked great on paper, but the crew rushed and left staples exposed. First big wind, half of it started peeling up. Had to get them back out to redo sections. Honestly, the old felt might not have been fancy, but at least you knew what you were getting and it was hard to mess up. I guess these new materials are only as good as the folks putting them down...
I’m honestly still on the fence about all these “new and improved” options. Synthetic sounds great in theory—lighter, tougher, fancier marketing—but is it really better if it only works when installed perfectly? I keep hearing stories like yours where one rushed job ruins the whole point. Is felt just more forgiving, or are we just used to its quirks? I’m low-key dreading my first roof project...