Wondering if F Wave Shingles are the best shingle for your home?
We wanted to give people a full review of F Wave shingles and help answer if these are a product they should consider for their home. As for all comprehensive reviews, we will put these F Wave shingles to the test. So, we got some F Wave shingles and we are going to install them, and push them to the absolute limit. Let’s see how they do.
First Impressions of F Wave Shingles
Packaging
First off, these have some nice packaging. There is also a QR code you can scan with in-depth installation instructions. That makes it pretty easy for people to look up instructions to make sure they are installing the shingles correctly.
Build Quality
You can tell right away that these shingles are tougher than your traditional asphalt shingles. F Wave’s shingles are actually synthetic shingles which make them much more durable to impact.
Installation
Most shingles have a fairly standard installation process, but in our experience, we have learned each brand and type can have their own nuances. This is what we found interesting about the installation process for F Wave shingles.
Recommended Drip Edge
One interesting thing about these shingles, and I know they told me about this before, but F Wave recommends a drip edge to be installed around the edges. This would be a standard 5/8″ lip to cover up the edge of the shingles.
While this seems a little odd at first, we found that when these shingles are cut to size, it can leave a fairly unappealing edge. Granted, this is because they are a bit thicker shingles and are also synthetic. When cut in half, you can see the grid like pattern on the underside which isn’t the most appealing thing.
Ring Shank Nails are Recommended
When reviewing the installation instructions, they emphasized using ring shank nails. While I am sure your standard nail will work just fine, it is always best to go with the manufacturers recommendations for installation. This will ensure your new f wave shingles are installed correctly and will last the test of time.
Installation Temperature
To install a shingle correctly, it’s important to consider the recommended installation temperature. This is because shingles often require a specific temperature necessary for them to seal correctly.
For these F Wave shingles we found a temperature requirement of 50 degrees, Fahrenheit, 10 degrees Celsius, and rising with a rooftop surface temperature exceeding 74 degrees.
Bottom line, you don’t want to install these in the cold. Wait till it’s at least 50 degrees outside to ensure your roof seals properly.
Cutting and Resizing
This is a cool feature of F Wave shingles. Located on the shingles are these tabs where you can fold it, crease it, and then cut it easily with a hook blade. If you want, you can even pop/tear it apart along the line as well. This makes it fairly easy to cut through the thicker material.
Granted, when you do this, there is a nasty edge from cutting along the material, but this is most likely why they recommend the drip edge along the edges of the roof.
F Wave Shingle Size
F Wave shingles come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, but these synthetic, asphalt style shingles come in at a 14 inch width, with 10 shingles per bundle. It also takes 60 shingles to cover a hundred square feet. So that comes down to six bundles per 100 square feet.
Durability
The thing about these shingles that is very interesting is it has a rating for class four impact. Which means it’s the highest rating a shingle can get for impact resistance. That’s a two inch steel ball dropped from 20 feet on this numerous times without causing significant damage.
In addition to being a top rated option for impact, these F Wave shingles are a 50 year product and have an exclusive five-year hail coverage warranty. This might vary by your insurance company and policy, but in some cases you can actually get discounts for getting these shingles.
Appearance
While we are only reviewing one of the many F Wave shingle styles, I know there is a number of different profiles, colors and textures available. Considering the high performance across the board, they have a lot of variability.
Cost
F Wave synthetic shingles definitely cost more than your standard asphalt shingle, but when compared to other synthetic products out there, it is quite reasonable. When you consider the class four impact resistance, you are really getting a great value for your money.
One of the coolest things about this is that it’s installed like a normal shingle. The labor amount to install this is a little bit more than a regular shingle, just because, the cutting, drip edge, and other stuff that will increase overall installation time. But at the end of the day, it’s not as much as most other synthetic products out there that are class four impact resistant.
When you consider other roofing materials like metal, sure it can go on pretty quick, but metal has a similar material cost and will dent in severe hail. F Wave shingles should be pretty resistant to impacts and if it does get minor damage, it won’t show as much as it does with metal.
The final cost we landed on is about three and a half to four times the material cost of a traditional asphalt shingle roof. Labor cost of installation would only be a little bit more than an asphalt roof, so it is definitely an investment, but it will be a solid improvement in terms of aesthetics, durability, and longevity.
Putting F Wave Shingles to the Test
While F Wave shingles have been tested by the manufacturers rigorously, we wanted to complete our own test to see how they hold up to some truly rugged conditions.
Hopefully your roof will never be in any of the situations we put these shingles through. And yes, we know no shingles will be able to stop an arrow. But, we were able to see many instances where the shingles were able to hold up against some ridiculous situations (like a hockey puck slamming into it after a hard slapshot). For the flame test, these shingles actually performed quite well in comparison to others we have tested in the past.
Overall, our team at Northface is confident in the durability and overall offering of F Wave shingles.
Our Final Thoughts on F Wave Shingles
Instead of putting a number of roofs on over time from hail damage, wind damage, age, and all that other stuff, F Wave shingles could be the option to explore for your next roof. As you have seen in our testing video, they are very durable, especially when compared to your standard asphalt shingle. At the end of the day, these F Wave synthetic shingles will outlast asphalt and will most likely save you money in the long run.
If you are looking for a quality roofing contractor to handle installation of your new roof, whether it is asphalt or some F Wave shingles, our team at Northface Construction would love to help! Give us a call today to get started!
