The same way that wall coverings are just as important as the structure behind it, choosing good roof shingles is a very important consideration when speccing out your perfect home. Responsible for shielding your roof structure from the elements and easily guiding rain and snow down into the gutters, roof shingles are not something you would want to skimp on.
One of the most reputable companies making home roofing shingles is Owens Corning, which manufactures various product lines designed to cater to different needs and budget ranges.
In this comparison guide, we will be putting two of Owens Corning’s shingle products head to head—Owens Corning Teak and Brownwood—going through all of the important considerations you need like cost, durability, and curb appeal to decide which is right for your home.
Owens Corning Teak (TruDefinition Duration) Overview
Owens Corning Teak is a brown slate color offering available in their TruDefinition Duration product line. (While Teak is also a color that is available in other product lines, we will focus on the TruDefinition shingles for the sake of comparison.)
Priced on the higher end of the catalog, TruDefinition Duration (typically just shortened to Duration) shingles offer many of the innovations that Owens Corning has come up with over the years, but omits some of the features available in their top of the line options:
- SureNail technology ensures easier & more secure fastening
- StreakGuard algae-resistant additives
- TruDefinition colors for richer, longer-lasting hues
Owens Corning Brownwood (Oakridge) Overview
Owens Corning Brownwood is one of the brown color selections available in their Oakridge line of roofing shingles. True to its namesake, Brownwood shingles give you a selection of rick and deep brown shades that produce a bold, earthy look for your roof.Â
The Oakridge series was specifically geared to target the sweet spot between affordability and features, for which Owens Corning was awarded numerous accolades for executing well. To this end, these roof shingles feature:
- StreakGuard algae-resistant additives
- 110 mph wind resistance
- Class A certified fire resistance (ASTM E108)
Owens Corning Teak vs Brownwood: Comparison
The first major point of consideration for any roofing shingle is its durability. Mostly dictated by its material choice and construction, durability is often used as a general indicator of how long the shingles manage to do their jobs.
Both the Duration Teak and the Oakridge Brownwood shingles are made of Owens Corning’s unique blend of asphalt and fiberglass, and can generally be relied upon to hold up to all but the most unforgiving weather.
However, we did find the Duration shingles to be a bit tougher than the Oakridge variety on account of a redesigned material blend that improves its rigidity. And that is before the other improvements that Duration Brownwood has over Oakridge Teak, which we will go into more detail in the later sections.
Roof shingles have to deal with many forms of damage throughout the day—and often multiple of them at the same time. But of these, wind damage is arguably the most destructive.
Shingles are exposed to varying levels of wind day in and day out, and they can carry anywhere from dust and debris that can damage the surface over time to destructive force from storms that can dislodge shingles outright.
To this end, Owens Corning has gone to great lengths to make sure that all of their product lines have respectable wind resistance, even those that are considered the “budget options”. The Oakridge Brownwood shingles have been rated to withstand wind speeds of up to 110 MPH, while the more expensive Duration Teak shingles could handle 130 MPH.
Another major source of damage that roof shingles have to deal with is heat—both exposure to heat from the sun as well as how the shingles interact with fire.
Considering the fact that they are made of an asphalt and fiberglass composite (outside of any other additives), both Duration Teak and Oakridge Brownwood roof shingles feature more or less identical heat and fire resistance.
Once all of the basics have been accounted for, the real showdown begins as product comparisons start to dive deep into the extra features that allows each product to carve out its own niche.
Both Duration Teak and Oakridge Brownwood shingles are made with StreakGuard, a special formulation of mineral and metal components in the coloring that help prevent algae from taking root and growing on the shingles.
Being a more premium product, Owens Corning Teak Duration shingles have their unique SureNail Technology, which adds a three-layer strip of engineered fabric along the shingles’ nailing zone. The fabric layer gives roofers a clear nailing area that also helps to keep the nails secured without blowing through.
Now, comparisons of any two roof shingle products mostly revolve around the specs that we covered in previous sections. However, from the perspective of the homeowner, one of the most important criteria for selecting any roof shingle is, in fact, the color that it has.
For obvious reasons, making a value judgment on what is effectively a matter of personal preference is not exactly helpful for this guide. Both Teak and Brownwood are shades of brown that are highly versatile and easy to pair; however, Duration Teak does have TruDefinition technology that allows it to retain its color for longer.
It should also be noted that, while both roof shingles are designed with the capability to achieve the specifications needed to comply with California’s COOL Roof Code, the Teak and Brownwood colors are too dark by nature to achieve the desired requirements. Lighter colors are required for this.
When it comes to cost, finding exact figures for installing Duration Teak and Oakridge Brownwood is tricky as different contractors in different regions will naturally have different prices.
Thankfully, though, we can safely ignore contractor-side costs as the shingles themselves do have a price—$90 per square of Oakridge Brownwood and $100 per square of Duration Teak shingles, give or take a few dollars each.
There is not much of a comparison to make here in terms of warranty, as both Duration Teak and Oakridge Brownwood are covered by Owens Corning’s Limited Lifetime warranty.
The terms of this warranty effectively gives you warranty on your home’s shingles for as long as you, the homeowner, own your home. Since the warranty is non-transferable, you lose warranty coverage when you sell your home.
Owens Corning Teak vs Brownwood: Final Showdown
Owens Corning Teak and Brownwood are both excellent roof shingle options from Owens Corning’s extensive catalog and are mostly well differentiated in terms of features and price tiers.
Barring any overriding preferences in terms of color or a good deal from your contractor, however, the additional features offered by the TruDefinition Duration Teak shingles are more than enough to justify the 10% price premium per square over the Oakridge Brownwood ones.
