Shingle tears

I checked a roof for a homeowner that had a roof put on about 5 years ago. The shingles are tearing. The front of the house has the proper staggering of the shingles but the back side of the house doesn’t. The shingles on the back side were laid w/ a full shingle and the next course w/ a 6 1/2" offset, then the next course was a full shingle again. This leaves the shingles ends in the same position every other course. I know the offset of the shingles is not correct but the shingles are tearing on both the front and back of the house. Anybody know what could cause this?
Good ventilation. 7/16" decking on 2’ centers.

Not sure where you are located, but could they have been some strong storms and possible hail in the last 5 years ?

Check out this web site.

http://www.certainteedshinglesettlement.com/

I am located in southern Indiana. We haven’t had any hail for a long time. We did have some hard wind for a day from a hurricane a couple of years ago. I looks to me like the shingle has been pulled from a lateral force. Contractor says bad shingles but I did see this on a house a couple of years ago. The realtor said at that time the shingle was installed incorrectly.

They are Owens Corning dimensionsal shingles.

Those are not organic shingles. they have fiberglass base

http://www.inspectapedia.com/roof/SplittingShingles.htm

http://inspectapedia.com/roof/shingles.htm

http://www.nachi.org/forum/f16/asphalt-shingle-cracking-1129/

http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/features/certainteed-shingles.html

Yes, they are fiberglass based.

To me it looks more like tears than splits or cracks. also looks in spots to have granules missing like hail damage just IMO

Thanks for your help, I apprectiate it.

Notice that the tears are where the underlying shingles butt up against each other? I am thinking that it does have to with expansion and contraction of the shingles. If the upper shingle glues down to the underlying shingles when they are expanded and then the shingles shrink when they cool, I can see a tear resulting.

Hail does not do that type of damage…and expansion and contraction…uh…no.

Without physically being there I would simply say that the shingle did not seal at those particular locations, add to the admitted storm / hurricanes…that is likely culprit.

Simply report that several shingles are damaged and need to be replaced or repaired.

Shingles failed to seal. That could be an installation issue or a shingle quality issue. Regardless it left them vulnerable to being bent with a good wind and torn.

Report as damaged and in need of repair to prevent further damage and water entry.

I think James on the right track. Looks like the underlying shingle lifted in the wind and tore the tab of the shingle above. Were these shingles high nailed?