What is an impact rating and why does it matter?

By Emma Peterson.

Get insight on why both contractors and homeowners should care about high impact rated shingles.

Recently, Heidi J. Ellsworth got the chance to sit down with Jack Gottesman and Dyana Sweigart for an episode of Roofing Road Trips® to talk about impact ratings. This discussion was prompted from IKO Residential announcing that the minimum rating on their three lines of laminate shingles is Class 3. But what exactly does that mean?

Impact ratings are a type of test done by third-party labs on shingle products. In general, there are two labs that tend to rate roofing products' impact resistance, FM Labs and UL Labs. Jack elaborated, “These labs test based on the size of an impact and how much a shingle can or a product can withstand.” There are a variety of different tests that are conducted in order to assign a rating to a product, but the simplest one is a drop test. Jack explained, “One of the tests is basically dropping a metal ball from a height onto the shingle. And then you test what the result of that impact is, how it affects the asphalt, how it affects the granules and how it affects the shingle. The result of that is to see how the shingle is designed to withstand impact.”

So, it is generally accepted that the higher a rating a product gets (on a scale of 1-4), the better it will hold up against storms and other natural phenomena because it is more durable. Having that peace of mind is a huge factor for homeowners. Dyana shared, “Impact ratings are critical for the longevity of your roof as weather gets more intense and for the peace of mind for homeowners. That’s what drove IKO to have all of our laminate shingles be either a Class 3 or Class 4 impact resistance rating.” In addition to that peace of mind and better performance, there are even some insurance companies that will offer discounts or better pricing for homes that have high impact resistance rated shingles installed.  

Read the transcript or Listen to the conversation for more about IKO impact resistance rated shingles and what they can do for a home.