Hi Rileysmom, You will want to have continous soffit or eave venting for the best application with radiant barrier along with the ridgeventing. If you have open rafter tails for eaves, it would simply be making every rafter block a vent by drilling holes and installing screen material,(eave vents). If you have a soffit un-vented, it would entail installing a continous soffit venting along the length of the soffit material. The radiant barrier is simply rolls of foil faced over kraft paper typicall 50" wide,( 2" overlap), stapled to the underside of the rafters. You hold the first course up 3" from the soffit or eave venting and overlap it up to the ridge running the barrier perpindicular to the rafters and overlapping at the ridge as well. Foil taping the seams insures no sagging or openings there. The heated air is trapped between the roof sheathing/underlayment/sheathing and the radiant barrier on the underside of the rafters in the rafter cavaty. The heated air is pushed out the ridgeventing by way of air coming in at the soffit or eave vents keeping the attic sapce cooler not allowing the heated air from the roof in. Without radiant but utilizing the ridgevent/soffit venting, you would want to block off the gable venting. You wouldn't have to remove them, simply block them off from the back side. If you install the radiant, I would leave them open for the attic to breathe. We got our radiant barrier form the link below. Mr. Sumpolec is a retired NASA engineer whose career was extensively geared towards working with radiant barrier and has incorporated installs in residential applications. He leaves his phone # on his website and was very helpful on our build with info and install advise for our application, which is geared for holding the heat in during the colder months. I'm still going to go with the underside install in two small attic spaces we have for keeping them cooler, but we are building at 4500' in the sierras, so it doesn't get real warm there except a short season in the summer. Here's the link: Here is a link that might be useful: radiant barrier

Our Certainteed shingles were originally installed in 1996. By 2009 they were curling, pitted and we were getting excessive gritty material in our gutters. In Aug. '09 we submitted all of the paperwork along with the shingle, and sent it return receipt. Receipt never showed up but postmaster confirmed it was delivered. He said he'd sent in a lot of forms and shingles and Certainteed likely wouldn't return the form till they actually opened our package. We never did get the return receipt portion back and we'd all but given up on getting anything. But about 6 months later we got a check for around $1250 if I remember right. Our new shingles are being installed as I write this. This time we're going with Decra steel shingles. Of course the cost of the new shingles far, far, FAR exceed the Certainteed settlement, but at least we got something. Good luck!

I am leaning towards CertainTeed landmark pro Charcoal black because it is grayer it’s softer than miore black although it will look black in the shade and clouds. Miore black has a lot more variation than what I am looking for. This has been a tough one for me as well. I called Certainteed they gave me a bunch of phone numbers of companies who have used Certainteed charcoal and miore Black on residential roofs to get addresses in my area. I drive around to look at these which helped a lot!! They are close in color but the moire black just seems to much in darkness and variation. Charcoal black just enough variation and softer... CertainTeed customer service agrees. I had the higher end Timberline charcoal as 2nd in line. I like it but I am looking for the best quality and I feel I’m getting that with CertainTeed landmark Pro. BTY THE COLORS BETWEEN LANDMARK AND LANDMARK PRO ARE VERY DIFFERENT! So when you read everyone’s comment make sure they are talking about Pro or Regular Landmark. I dodged a bullet after figuring that out!!

Triple layer would be a thicker, heavier shingle and carry a higher cost as well as typically a longer warranty. At the end of the day all the major players quality wise are the same. Different roofers prefer one brand over another for their own reasons, maybe they like working with one shingle over another for perceived benefits, maybe they like a supplier better or they buy at a better price point. Both Certainteed and GAF are definitely considered major players and I would not be afraid to use either one.