My house is in approximately the same price range as yours, and we did the Timberline shingles in the Weathered Wood. They look so nice. The Weathered Wood is a great color and goes with everything.

What color is your house?

I like the camelot shingles too, but for twice the price, I think you'll be more than happy with the Timberline shingles - which are a very good quality. Definitely not "settling" for a subpar shingle. If it were me I'd use that $4500 for something else - I could use a new garage door or some landscaping!!

Hi caroleoh,

Thanks for the reply. The color of my house is off white stucco with darker orange trim around the windows and school house brick surrounding the main entry front outside.

The terra cota matches the school house brick perfectly and is a little lighter then the trim itself. The house has full glass doors both the entrance and the front door which is white in color.

I will look at the weather look; but I called a realtor to get her opinion too.

I just don't see why I cannot use a high grade shingle?

Harry

Is it the quality of the shingle or the cut that you like about the Camelot? Because the Prestique Lifetime is certainly a decent grade shingle...I went with a very high-grade shingle (Malarkey Legacy) but I wouldn't spend $4500 more for *looks* only. If I were doing that, I'd be more tempted to get metal (they make metal shingles, too), because it's virtually a forever roof, more ecologically responsible *and* energy efficient for your home than asphalt can ever be...have you looked into those? Not to throw more confusion into your decision, but...well, I guess I'm throwing it in there...

I have the camelots on my house (maybe a 600K house? who knows with the dive in housing prices lately?) and I really like them. I was never told that they were too high-end for my house. Around here, it's all over the map what goes where - some million dollar houses have regular old architectural shingles while others have real slate or cedar ($$$$). You should just get what you like.

Your roofer probably just doesn't want to deal with the camelots because they're heavy. I can't imagine they're any different to lay than regular shingles - they are just asphalt, after all - but they are wicked heavy. After lugging bundle after bundle up to the top of my roof, my roofers were probably ready to kill me. You will want to make sure your existing roof framing can handle the extra weight, especially if you live in an area with potential heavy snowfall.

My guess (and this is only a guess and of course, may vary depending on your location) is that if your roofer is still recommending regular 3-tab shingles, he must be a pretty low-end roofer. We've reroofed our last 2 houses and gotten estimates from a ton of roofers for both jobs and not one has even considered 3-tabs. They just aren't done here anymore - the architecturals (even the lower end ones) just look so much better and last better too, because they're thicker. So at the very least, I would go with architectural (we put Timberline 30s on our last house and they looked great) but if you like the camelot and you can afford it and you don't have anything else you'd rather do with the money, then go for it. I doubt you'll see $4500 more when it's time to sell your house because you have an upgraded roof, though, so just be aware that you're doing it to please yourself and not to recover any money in the end.

Good luck!

I'm in the same boat. We're putting CertainTeed Grand Manor on our not-so-grand house. 1. I like the look. 2. It comes in a good shade of red. 3. I want a heavy roof that will last. The lesser grade shingles don't hold up very well. Yes, we looked into metal roofs too: 4 times the cost of asphalt shingle, unfortunately, and the installers would have to drive across half the state to get here.

The Camelot is a beautiful roof, and it comes in a nice shade of red. My sister considered it when reroofing her house recently, but went with the Grand Manor, which she felt was a little sturdier. She also commented on the number of houses with Weathered Wood. A bit overdone, she thought, if you're the kind of person who likes to do something a little different from the crowd.

One thing that will come of the upspending may very well be bragging rights when selling, though, which is always good in a tight market. Anything to distinguish yourself.

I agree re 3-tabs--had missed that originally--yes, those are more in the past than current practice, I thought...maybe that's just me but there are some houses with original roofs that didn't go with shake around us and they *had* 3-tabs, but the reroofed ones have gone with architectural.

Architectural shingles look better on bigger houses. On a recent walk through our neighborhood, that's predominantly cottages, I noticed how the look seemed overwhelming on the smaller homes.

Thanks for all your comments! It was very helpful. The realtor told me that it will help when and if I decide to sell my house. $4.5K is not that much of an additional investment she saids; if you consider not having to reduce the price of the house as much because the house might show better and get a much better and quicker offer. So I going with the Camelot Shingles. I have not told my roofer yet; so I cannot wait to see his reaction since he try to talk me out of it with a passion.

I will post the results on Monday or Tuesday!

That's what I meant, harry...it will make your house stand out from the others. An extra added bonus for the buyer :). Good luck. And if that roofer doesn't want to do them, I can imagine you could find someone else who would.

I am in the process of getting Camelot shingles put on my very modest house. I have another post on gardenweb about them. My house is even lower in cost than yours ($150K or so) but I live in a cheap housing area--northern Indiana. I chose the Camelot shingles primarily because I liked the look of them and they were different. To, me when you get into grades of shingles you are considering they are all going to the job of stopping water from getting into your house. After that it is a design & budget issue. I had a lot of different quotes for the Camelots and was told much like you that they take special training for putting them on and that they are much harder to work with. I did a search on the GAF website and found one of their "recommended or preferred" roofers (can't remember what they call them). Anyway, the GAF recommended roofers were hugely better. They told me that putting the Camelots on is basically the same procedure as standard 3 tabs--just heavier material. The GAF certified roofers also can offer a better warranty that is backed by GAF. And best of all the cost was $1500 less to go with the GAF recommended roofer than the cheapest of the other guys I called.

One thing you should ask about is the availability of the Camelots. I signed my roofing contract in May and the shingles just arrived last week. There are not a lot of Camelots being used around the country so the production schedule is slower. You might have to wait. My Camelots are actually going on my house as I write this. Can't wait to get home at lunch as see how they look.

Good luck with your roofing project.

Harry, the three tab shingles are actually more difficult to put on than the architectural shingles, because they must be aligned perfectly evenly. Any small deviation from the "right" placement causes a huge deviation at the other end (top down or bottom up) and is painfully visible from the ground. Architectural shingles have the color patterns to simulate shadows and can be put up much faster than 3 tabs, since small deviations won't be seen. If your Camelot shingles are installed like 3-tab shingles they may take longer, as well as being heavier.

In most markets a roof does not contribute anything to the value of a house except detract if there is obvious deferred maintenance. If this kind of roof is not "standard" in your neighborhood or in your price range you will reap no benefits from it when you sell your home.

That said, if you like it that's a good reason to buy it, and it sounds as though the colour you selected will look nice. You haven't posted photos of your home and I am not assuming this is the case with yours', but sometimes using a single high-end material makes the rest of the house look substandard... just something to think about!

eks6426, what color did you get? Congrats on your choice. The Camelot shingles are very pretty.

Harry - I'm not sure that you'll see this message - at such a late date. But I'm curious. What happened? Did you ultimately go with the GAF Camelot? Do you have any photos? If so, post them here, or send me one.
I put a Camelot roof on my house and think it looks great. You can see the roof photos on my web (click below).
Best regards, Mark Flynn
Grants Pass, Oregon

Here is a link that might be useful: Mark Flynn - home page - Camelot Roof