Last reviewed October 31, 2026.
The estimate says “architectural shingle, lifetime warranty” and stops there. The neighbor two doors down swears by one brand. A cousin in another town swears by a different one. The roofer will order whatever you sign for. What matters is the specific line, and the manufacturer fine print that rides along with it.
The lines Long Island roofers say they put on
LI Roofing Co. in North Massapequa names the three products it installs most: GAF Timberline HDZ, CertainTeed Landmark and Owens Corning Duration. It says all three are readily available through Long Island distributors, and it will not install a shingle rated below 130 mph for wind (updated May 2025).
Home Team Construction in Mastic says standard architectural shingles from GAF, Owens Corning, CertainTeed or TAMKO are the right balance of cost and performance for most Long Island homes (July 2026). Cascella and Sons, with offices in Central Islip and Southampton, widens the field to IKO Cambridge and Atlas Pinnacle Pristine, and credits Atlas with Scotchgard algae protection (March 2026).
None of these companies publishes a ranking we could check against test data, so we don’t rank them either. Wind ratings for each line and what the basic warranties cover are on our asphalt shingle page. How the three big companies differ as businesses, from contractor programs to warranty ladders, is in our GAF, Owens Corning and CertainTeed comparison.
Impact class, from Class 3 to Class 4
UL 2218 sorts shingles by how well they take a hit, and GAF calls Class 4 the highest rating available. Two of the lines LI Roofing Co. installs most sit one rung below it. GAF’s January 2026 announcement, as reported by Roofing Contractor, lists Timberline HDZ at UL 2218 Class 3 with a Class A fire rating, and CertainTeed’s Landmark page lists Class 3 impact and Class A fire resistance.
Each company sells a Class 4 sibling:
| Brand | Class 4 line | What the maker credits |
|---|---|---|
| GAF | Timberline UHDZ | UltraMat high-performance fiberglass mat (GAF, February 2026) |
| CertainTeed | Landmark ClimateFlex | Polymer-modified asphalt (CertainTeed product page) |
| Owens Corning | TruDefinition Duration FLEX | SBS polymer modified asphalt (Roofing Contractor, January 2019) |
Read the hail clause before you pay for the upgrade. GAF’s UHDZ release says the company makes no warranty about the shingle’s impact performance against hail, and that hail damage is not covered under the limited warranty.
Home Team puts the possible insurance discount for Class 4 shingles at typically 15 to 30 percent off roofing coverage, a contractor estimate we could not match to any insurer’s published rate. Our metal vs shingles guide explains why New York leaves that discount to each insurer.
On the GAF side, stepping up changes the shingle itself. Pro Builder reported in February 2023 that UHDZ is thicker and about 20 percent heavier than HDZ, and carries a 30-year StainGuard Plus PRO algae warranty.
Algae coverage and the ridge cap catch
Dark streaks on an older roof are a cleaning job, and our roof cleaning page handles them. On a new roof, the thing to compare is how each algae warranty can shrink.
CertainTeed lists a 25-year StreakFighter algae warranty on both Landmark and Landmark ClimateFlex. Roofing Contractor’s January 2026 report describes the 25-year StainGuard Plus warranty on Timberline HDZ as available, so ask the roofer to confirm the bundles being ordered carry it.
Owens Corning ties its algae term to the peak of the roof. In the Platinum Protection warranty dated August 2026, the Duration series gets 25 years only if the crew finishes the peaks with one of five named Owens Corning ridge products. Use a different brand up top and the term shrinks to a decade, with only the first year non-prorated. The same warranty says algae resistance is available regionally and not on every product line, so ask the roofer to confirm it for your zip code.
Salt air, gutters and a late-season install
Owens Corning’s August 2026 warranty carries two warnings worth bringing to any roofer.
The first: copper from algae-resistant shingles can corrode aluminum gutters in some coastal areas. The second: its shingles need warm sun to seal, and blow-offs before sealing are not covered. That one matters for a roof that goes on during a cool stretch late in the year.
Our Owens Corning Duration page covers both clauses. If the house sits close to the bay, or the job lands late in the year, raise them with whichever brand the roofer is quoting.
When a designer shingle earns its price
Home Team says luxury lines such as GAF Grand Sequoia and CertainTeed Grand Manor often run $200 to $300 or more per square installed. Its take: they look impressive and offer excellent durability, but the performance gain over good architectural shingles is incremental. For most Suffolk County homes, it says, that gain does not justify the premium unless looks come first.
They are also heavier, so the roof deck needs to be in good condition. For overall budgets, the roof replacement cost guide has Long Island figures by roof size.
