08/10/2026
If your modern home has a flat or low-slope section, shingles are the wrong answer — and a lot of crews will put them there anyway.
Asphalt shingles are a water-shedding product. They rely on gravity and overlap, not a seal. Below a 2:12 pitch they aren’t code-approved at all, and between 2:12 and 4:12 they require a completely different install than what most crews default to. Get that wrong and water backs up under the courses and finds the deck. That’s a leak inside the first year, not the tenth.
Anything flatter than 2:12 needs a membrane system — TPO or EPDM — which is commercial roofing technology on a residential build. And that’s where homeowners get stuck: residential roofers typically stick to shingles or metal, commercial crews don’t want a house, and nobody wants to own the transition between the two.
We run both. On this build:
→ TPO membrane on the flat sections
→ Architectural shingles on the steeper pitches
→ One crew responsible for the transitions between the two systems
Free tip if you’re designing or building a modern home right now: check your pitch before you finalize the elevations. Under 2:12, plan on a membrane and budget for it up front rather than finding out after the deck is dried in. Between 2:12 and 4:12, you can shingle it — but it needs doubled underlayment or a full self-adhering membrane underneath, and you should confirm in writing that your roofer is doing it. Then ask who owns the seam where two systems meet. That transition is where these roofs fail, and it’s far cheaper to solve on paper than on a ladder.
Building modern, or got a flat section that’s already given you trouble? Send us a photo of the roofline and we’ll tell you straight what system it needs.
Serving Morganton and surrounding areas!
