In 2019, Owens Corning launched Duration Flex shingles, an exclusive blend of SBS polymer modified asphalt.
These shingles were designed in such a way that they deliver improved flexibility and superior performance in harsh weather conditions. Just like other Owens Corning shingles, SureNail technology is still present, and with the combination of new flex technology, it provides even better strength against blow-offs.
Storm Group Roofing owner Dmitry Lipinskiy decided to test Owens Corning’s new shingle, looking to substantiate its claims of superior flexibility, durability and hail resistance.
Let’s take a look at each category to see how they stacked up.
- Flexibility
You can literally roll this shingle. That’s unheard of in the asphalt shingle world. The shingle stands up to its name and flexes very easily without cracking. It shows promise as being the innovative roofing product Owens Corning has created.
Compared to regular shingles, it flexes, bends, and goes back to its original form. This is very important in harsh conditions. - Strength
Next, Dmitry and his team performed hail simulation tests to see how it would hold up.
A two-inch steel ball was dropped from twenty feet onto the Duration Flex. This was the most impressive part. Both Duration and the competition’s shingle received deep dents, and you could feel if the shingle would hold in water that was dented from impact.
On the flex shingle, you could see where it hit, but you couldn’t feel it with the touch of your finger on either the front or back of the shingle.
This makes it one of the best class-4 shingles we have ever tested. In the coming months, we will see how their shingles stack up against their competition. - “Freezer” Test
In Owens Corning’s promotional video, they claim their shingle performs much better than other class-4 shingles, but have a disclaimer stating that the test “is not scientific.”
Scientific or not, claims were made, so Dmitry and his Storm Group Roofing team felt inclined to mimic it. In the Owens Corning video, shingles were placed in a freezer for 24 hours. The temperature of this freezer was not disclosed.
Dmitry had placed the Duration Flex and the competitor’s shingle (not class-4) into his freezer for two hours.
The results were very different.
At every point, both shingles kept breaking when Dmitry tried to bend it.
Does this mean that the Flex failed?
Not at all.
No one expects any asphalt shingle to perform well during the winter, but there is a noteworthy takeaway: both tests were not scientific, and ergo it isn’t fair to compare products while they are in extremely cold conditions.
But since OC performed the test first, we wanted to point out that it can be misleading and send the wrong impression regarding how the new Owens Corning products work.
Conclusion:
Duration Flex is one of the best asphalt shingles on the market, and the best product we have seen from Owens Corning. While it will break in extreme conditions, we believe it will perform better in colder temperatures and will have a lower temperature and flexibility threshold compared to most competitors’ products.
