Shingle Matching & Product Identification
The carrier's repair estimate assumes a shingle that matches yours can still be bought. Often nobody has checked. We send a sample of your shingle to an independent lab such as ITEL to identify the product and confirm whether it is still made, lay the closest available shingle on your roof, and take the lab report, the photos and Ohio's matching rule to your carrier with our estimate.
Request an Inspection
Has your carrier offered a repair instead of a replacement? Tell us what the estimate says.
A CertainTeed ShingleMaster™ roofing contractor
What Gets Compared
Why a Repair Shingle Will Not Match Your Roof
Close is not a match. Ohio's matching rule says a repair has to match in quality, color and size. These are the ways a repair fails that test:
Dimensional Mismatch
Shingles have been made in different sizes and exposures over the years. A new shingle of a different size does not lay in cleanly with the existing courses.
Granule Color Fade
Granules weather and shift in color with years of sun exposure. A factory-fresh shingle placed next to weathered ones usually stands out.
Product Discontinuation
Manufacturers retire product lines over time. When yours is discontinued, the lab report says so in writing and names the closest shingle still made. That is the shingle we test on your roof.
Brittle Shingles Crack During Repair
Older shingles can become brittle. Lifting them to slide in a replacement can crack the surrounding shingles, so a small repair can cause additional damage.
How It Works
Shingle Match Testing: What to Expect
Inspection & Photos
We inspect the roof and photograph the damage and the existing shingles, from the roof and from the yard.
Read the Repair Offer
We read your carrier's estimate line by line to see exactly what repair is being offered: which slopes and how many shingles.
Shingle Identification
We arrange for a sample of your shingle to go to an independent laboratory such as ITEL, which identifies the product, reports whether it is still made, and names the closest shingle still available.
Match Test and Your Carrier
We lay the closest available shingle on your roof next to the originals and photograph it. The lab report, the photos and Ohio's matching rule then go to your carrier with our line-by-line estimate.
The Result
What You Receive
Product Identification
The laboratory identifies the manufacturer and product of your shingle. It does not decide whether a mark is hail. That question is answered on the roof, in the inspection photos.
Production Status
The report states whether the product is still in production. It turns “we think it is discontinued” into “here is the report.”
Match-Test Photos
Photos of the closest available shingle laid on your roof next to the originals, taken from the roof and from the yard, the way anyone looking at your home would see it.
The Report Is the Middle of the Work, Not the End
We do not hand you a lab report and walk away. MATCHWORK™ puts the lab report, the match-test photos and a line-by-line estimate in front of your carrier, together with Ohio's matching rule, which applies when your policy pays replacement cost:
“When an interior or exterior loss requires replacement of an item and the replaced item does not match the quality, color or size of the item suffering the loss, the insurer shall replace as much of the item as to result in a reasonably comparable appearance.” (Ohio Adm. Code 3901-1-54(I)(1)(b))
We meet your adjuster on the roof to show the mismatch in person, and you get a copy of everything we send. A repair that cannot be matched is a scope question, and we write that scope. See the whole storm claim process, start to finish.
Carrier Offered a Repair That Will Not Match?
MATCHWORK™ pulls the sample, runs the match test on your roof, and takes the result to your carrier.