What's the difference between a manufacturer warranty and a workmanship warranty?

They cover completely different failures, and every new roof involves both. CertainTeed states the split in its own homeowner guidance: "Contractors warrant their workmanship. Manufacturers, on the other hand, warrant the roofing material against defects in manufacturing." So a defective batch of shingles is the manufacturer's problem, and a flashing detail done wrong is the contractor's. Neither one covers the other's failure, which is why a roof with a great shingle warranty and no real installer behind it is still a bad roof. (as of 2026-08-18.)

What's the difference between prorated and non-prorated coverage?

Non-prorated means a full remedy; prorated means a shrinking one. GAF's up-front window is called the Smart Choice Protection Period and is explicitly the period during which coverage is non-prorated: labor to repair or re-cover defective products is paid in full. After that window, GAF's own document is blunt — "Labor will no longer be covered" — and the product contribution is reduced by how much use you've had, calculated as months elapsed divided by months in the term. Owens Corning runs the same two-stage structure under different names, a TRU PROtection Period followed by a Prorated Period in which "no labor or other costs will be covered." CertainTeed's SureStart period covers 100 percent of material and labor and "is not prorated or otherwise reduced." Different brand names, one mechanic.

How much does proration actually reduce a payout?

Enough that the number surprises people, and the manufacturer publishes the math. GAF's example is in the warranty itself: for lifetime shingles on a single-family home, the term is deemed to be 600 months for years 11 through 40, so a claim filed 25 years after installation — 300 months — is reduced by 300/600, or 50 percent. From year 41 on, GAF's contribution is 20 percent. And in every one of those later years, labor is out entirely. The practical read: the meaningful protection in a lifetime warranty lives in the non-prorated years at the front, not in the word "lifetime."

What voids a roof warranty?

The most common answers are installation and ventilation, and there's a nuance in how it works. GAF's warranty says that even if the products were not properly installed to its instructions or to standard good roofing practices, the limited warranty "remains in effect" — but GAF will not be liable for damage caused by improper fastening or application, by inadequate ventilation, or by failure to hand-seal shingles installed in cold weather. So it isn't torn up; it just stops covering the thing that actually went wrong. Owens Corning reaches the same place from the other direction, excluding improper or faulty installation outright and requiring compliance with local building codes, plus damage from improper or inadequate ventilation, unvented attics, or enclosed rafter assemblies.

Do I have to register my roof warranty?

For the base warranty, usually not — GAF states plainly that it is not necessary to register your shingles and accessories in order to access the protection available in its base warranties, though you may register anyway. What you do have to keep is proof: manufacturers require proof of the installation date and proof that you owned the property at the time when a claim is filed. Enhanced or extended warranty programs are a different animal and typically do require registration through the installing contractor. Keep the paperwork either way — the manufacturer's own instruction is to retain the document, because notice to your contractor or dealer is not notice to the manufacturer.

Is a roof warranty transferable when I sell the house?

Usually once, on a clock, and often with the coverage cut down. GAF's base warranty may be transferred only once, and the second owner must notify GAF in writing within one year after the property transfer; if that transfer happens inside the up-front protection period the new owner gets the same coverage, and if it happens afterwards the warranty is reduced to a two-year period following the ownership change. Owens Corning also allows one transfer, requires the second owner to submit proof of purchase, installation date and ownership history within 60 days of the real-estate transfer, and charges a transfer fee. CertainTeed's SureStart protection transfers at no cost during the SureStart period. Deadlines are the thing that kills these — read your own document and calendar the date.

Does Liberty Roofing offer a workmanship warranty?

Yes — Liberty offers a workmanship warranty on the roofs we install. We are deliberately not publishing a term length or the specific terms on this page, because we haven't documented them in a form we're willing to put in writing to the public, and a warranty number you can't hold us to isn't worth reading. Ask us for the details on your job and we'll tell you exactly what's covered. If a roofer's warranty terms only ever exist as a number in a sales conversation, that's worth noticing regardless of who you hire.

Roof warranties · what the documents actually say

Roof warranties, explained without the sales pitch

Every new roof comes with two warranties from two different parties, and almost every homeowner hears about them as one thing. This guide pulls the mechanics straight out of the manufacturers' own published warranty documents — what “lifetime” is defined to mean, what proration quietly does to a payout, and the two exclusions that decide most real claims.

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Two warranties, two different parties, two different failures

CertainTeed says it in one sentence in its own homeowner guidance: “Contractors warrant their workmanship. Manufacturers, on the other hand, warrant the roofing material against defects in manufacturing.”(as of 2026-08-18, source) Everything else on this page follows from that split.

The manufacturer material warranty

Written by the shingle maker, published as a PDF anybody can read, and concerned with exactly one thing: whether the product left the factory defective. It has a term, an up-front non-prorated window, a prorated tail, a transfer rule, and a long exclusions list. It is not a promise that your roof will last that long.

Covers: defective product. Doesn't cover: the installation, the flashing, the ventilation, or the storm.

The contractor workmanship warranty

Written by whoever installed the roof, and it covers the part the manufacturer explicitly won't: how the roof was built. CertainTeed notes that these typically run one to five years — and then makes the more useful point, that “the length of warranty is less important than what it covers.”(as of 2026-08-18, source)

Covers: the install. Worth exactly as much as the company standing behind it is still around and still answering the phone.

The gap that catches people: most roof problems in the first ten years are installation problems, not defects. That means the warranty most likely to matter is the one written by the contractor — the one with no published PDF, no legal department, and no obligation to exist five years from now.

Bring us the warranty paperwork before you sign it. We will read the exclusions with you.

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The word that isn't what it sounds like

“Lifetime” means your ownership, not the roof's life

This is defined language, not marketing. GAF writes it into the warranty: “Lifetime” means as long as you, the original owner — or the second owner, if coverage was properly transferred during the up-front protection period — own the property where the shingles are installed(as of 2026-08-18, source).

There's a second restriction most homeowners never hear. Lifetime coverage applies only to a single-family detached residence owned by individuals. For a corporation, a governmental or religious entity, a condo or homeowner association, a school, an apartment building, an office building, or a multi-use structure, the term is 40 years(as of 2026-08-18, source). Owens Corning draws the same line — limited lifetime coverage applies to single-family detached homes where the owner of the roof is the resident occupying the home(as of 2026-08-18, source).

So: rent the house out, buy it through an LLC, own a condo, or sell without transferring the warranty on time, and the word stops applying. None of that is hidden — it's on page one of a document almost nobody opens.

And then it prorates

Even inside a lifetime term, the remedy shrinks. GAF's up-front non-prorated window is the Smart Choice Protection Period. After it: “Labor will no longer be covered,” and the product contribution is reduced by the use you've had — months elapsed divided by months in the term(as of 2026-08-18, source).

The manufacturer publishes the arithmetic. For lifetime shingles the term is deemed to be 600 months across years 11 through 40, so a claim at 25 years — 300 months — is reduced by 300/600, or 50 percent. From year 41 onward, the contribution is 20 percent(as of 2026-08-18, source).

Read that as the real shape of the product: a strong, labor-inclusive warranty at the front, and a materials-only, steadily-shrinking one for the long tail that gives the warranty its name.

Three brands, one mechanic

The up-front window is the part worth reading

Every major manufacturer runs the same two-stage structure and gives stage one a trademarked name. The names differ; the mechanic does not. Stage one is non-prorated and usually includes labor. Stage two is prorated and usually does not.

GAF

Smart Choice Protection Period

Defined in the warranty as the period during which coverage is non-prorated. During it, GAF pays the full reasonable cost of labor to repair or re-cover defective products. After it, labor is out and the product remedy is reduced by use.(as of 2026-08-18, source)

Owens Corning

TRU PROtection Period

Compensation to repair, replace, or recover defective products, then a Prorated Period in which — the document's words — "no labor or other costs will be covered," with compensation reduced by full years of use.(as of 2026-08-18, source)

CertainTeed

SureStart

Described as covering 100 percent of material and labor costs during the applicable period, "not prorated or otherwise reduced." CertainTeed calls the up-front years the ones where defect problems are most likely to surface.(as of 2026-08-18, source)

Two practical consequences. First, when a salesperson leads with the total term, ask what the non-prorated period is instead — that's the number with money behind it. Second, enhanced or system-level warranties, which extend that up-front window substantially, are sold only through contractors enrolled in the manufacturer's own certification program. If one is being offered to you, ask which program and verify the contractor's standing in the manufacturer's directory before you treat it as real.

The exclusions decide the claim

What a manufacturer warranty covers — and what voids it

A manufacturer warranty is a narrow instrument pointed at one question: was the product defective? Almost everything a homeowner worries about lives on the other list.

Generally covered

Manufacturing defects in the shingles and the manufacturer's own accessory products — that is the whole subject of the document. GAF's language is narrow and typical: it warrants that the shingles will remain free from manufacturing defects that adversely affect performance during the up-front protection period, or that cause leaks for the remainder of the term.(as of 2026-08-18, source)
Wind, but conditionally. GAF's wind coverage is "specifically conditioned on your shingles or ridge cap shingles being fastened and installed strictly in accordance with GAF's application instructions," and the covered wind speed is higher when the shingles are installed with the specified nail count and starter strip at eaves and rakes than when they are not.(as of 2026-08-18, source)
Algae discoloration, but only on shingles sold in packages carrying the manufacturer's algae-resistance label. Owens Corning states it the same way: if the product wasn't labeled algae-resistant, algae discoloration is simply not covered.(as of 2026-08-18, source)

Not covered

Damage caused by improper installation. Owens Corning lists it flatly under What Is Not Covered: "Improper or faulty installation of roofing products — installation must be in strict accordance with our written installation instructions and comply with local building codes."(as of 2026-08-18, source)
Damage caused by inadequate ventilation. GAF names it as its own exclusion. Owens Corning is broader still: damage caused by improper or inadequate roof ventilation or roof drainage, unvented attics, or enclosed roof rafter assemblies.(as of 2026-08-18, source)
Storms above the rated wind speed, hail, fire, and impact from falling objects — all of it filed under acts of nature rather than defect. Wind at or above the shingle's rated speed is an insurance conversation, not a warranty one.(as of 2026-08-18, source)
Pre-existing conditions and everything that isn't the manufacturer's product: failed flashing, corroded nails, loose chimney mortar, bad counterflashing, improperly designed gutters, structural movement, settlement. If the leak starts at somebody else's component, the shingle warranty has nothing to say about it.(as of 2026-08-18, source)
Failure to seal in cold weather. Self-sealing shingles need warm, sunny conditions for several days to bond. GAF's own note says shingles installed in fall or winter may not seal until spring, and that blow-offs before sealing are the nature of the product, not a manufacturing defect.(as of 2026-08-18, source)
Damage to the inside of your house. Interior damage, including mold growth, sits under consequential damages, which the warranty excludes.(as of 2026-08-18, source)

“Voided” is usually the wrong word. GAF's warranty says that even if the products were not installed according to its instructions or to standard good roofing practices, the limited warranty remains in effect — but GAF will not be liable for damage caused by improper fastening or application, or by inadequate ventilation(as of 2026-08-18, source). The document isn't torn up. It just stops covering the exact thing that went wrong. Functionally that's the same disappointment, arriving through a different door.

Shingle roofing on the Gulf Coast When it's an insurance claim, not a warranty

Why this matters more here

Wind coverage is conditioned on the install

On the Gulf Coast, the wind clause is the clause. GAF's wind coverage is “specifically conditioned on your shingles or ridge cap shingles being fastened and installed strictly in accordance with GAF's application instructions”, and the higher covered wind speed applies only with the specified nail count plus starter strip at the eaves and rakes — without that, the covered speed drops(as of 2026-08-18, source).

Read that next to Baldwin County's own re-roofing code, which requires shingles in a 130 mph wind class installed to the manufacturer's high-wind instructions with a minimum of six nails per shingle. The building department and the shingle manufacturer are asking for the same thing, for the same reason. A crew that shortcuts one has shortcut both.

There's also a seasonal trap: self-sealing shingles need warm, sunny days to bond, and GAF's note says shingles installed in fall or winter may not seal until spring — with blow-offs before sealing treated as the nature of the product, not a defect(as of 2026-08-18, source).

What Alabama's roof code requires

Registration and transfer, in plain terms

Registration: GAF states it is not necessary to register your shingles and accessories to access the protection available in its base warranties(as of 2026-08-18, source). What you must keep is proof of the installation date and proof you owned the property then.
Transfer — GAF: once only. The second owner must notify GAF in writing within one year of the property transfer. Inside the up-front protection period, the new owner gets the same coverage; after it, the warranty is reduced to a two-year period following the ownership change(as of 2026-08-18, source).
Transfer — Owens Corning: one transfer, and the second owner must submit proof of purchase, the installation date and ownership history, and a transfer fee within 60 days of the real-estate transfer(as of 2026-08-18, source).
Transfer — CertainTeed: SureStart protection transfers from the original homeowner to the next owner at no cost during the SureStart period, for the remaining duration(as of 2026-08-18, source).

The pattern across all three: one transfer, a short deadline measured from closing, and reduced coverage if you miss it. Put the date on a calendar the week you go under contract.

Where Liberty stands

We offer a workmanship warranty. We're not publishing a number we can't back.

Liberty offers a workmanship warranty on the roofs we install — ask us for the details on your job and we'll walk you through exactly what it covers.

What we won't do is print a term length here that we haven't put in a document. A warranty figure that only exists on a marketing page isn't something you can hold anybody to, and this whole page is about not confusing a claim with a coverage.

The manufacturer warranty on your shingles is whatever the manufacturer publishes — the same documents linked throughout this page, available to anyone, identical no matter who installs them. The part that varies between bids is the install and the installer. That's the part worth asking about.

Alabama roofing license #7430. This page describes published manufacturer warranty terms for general reference, and it makes no claim that Liberty holds any manufacturer certification tier. Your own warranty document governs your roof — read it, and confirm current terms with the manufacturer.

Four questions to ask any roofer

"Which warranty am I actually getting — in writing?"
Ask for a copy of both documents, the manufacturer's and the contractor's, before the contract is signed. CertainTeed tells homeowners to do exactly this. The base manufacturer warranty is a published PDF anyone can read; a workmanship warranty is whatever the contractor puts on paper. If either one is described verbally and never handed over, you don't have it.
"How is my attic being ventilated on this job?"
Ventilation is a named exclusion in more than one manufacturer's warranty, and it is the exclusion most likely to be the roofer's fault and the homeowner's problem. Get the intake-and-exhaust plan described in the estimate, not assumed.
"How many nails per shingle, and where's the starter strip?"
Wind coverage is conditioned on strict compliance with the application instructions, and the higher covered wind speed usually requires a specific nail count plus starter strip at the eaves and rakes. On the Gulf Coast that isn't a detail — it's the difference between covered and not. It also happens to be what the Baldwin County re-roofing code requires anyway.
"Who do I call in year three — you, or the manufacturer?"
A good answer distinguishes the two. Leaks around a chimney in year three are almost never a manufacturing defect; that's a workmanship question. Widespread granule loss on a five-year-old roof might be the other way around. A contractor who can't draw that line before the job probably won't draw it after.

How to vet a roofing contractor

Read the source

The manufacturers' own warranty documents

Every quotation on this page comes from one of these. They're public, they're short enough to read in a sitting, and the version in effect when your roof was installed is the one that governs your claim — so if your roof is already on, find that version rather than the current one.

All five read live on 2026-08-18. Manufacturers revise these documents — GAF's current shingle warranty, for instance, states it applies to products installed after January 1, 2025, and Owens Corning's standard warranty to shingles purchased after January 1, 2026. Terms, periods, and exclusions change with each revision. Confirm against your own document before relying on anything here.

Common questions

Roof warranty FAQ

What's the difference between a manufacturer warranty and a workmanship warranty?: They cover completely different failures, and every new roof involves both. CertainTeed states the split in its own homeowner guidance: "Contractors warrant their workmanship. Manufacturers, on the other hand, warrant the roofing material against defects in manufacturing." So a defective batch of shingles is the manufacturer's problem, and a flashing detail done wrong is the contractor's. Neither one covers the other's failure, which is why a roof with a great shingle warranty and no real installer behind it is still a bad roof. (as of 2026-08-18.)
What does "lifetime" mean on a roof warranty?: Not the life of the roof, and not the life of the house — the length of your ownership. GAF defines it verbatim: "Lifetime" means as long as you, the original owner (or the second owner if coverage was properly transferred during the up-front protection period), own the property where the shingles are installed. It applies only to a single-family detached residence owned by individuals; for a corporation, a school, an HOA, a condo association, an apartment or office building, the term is 40 years. Owens Corning limits its lifetime coverage the same way — single-family detached homes where the owner is the resident occupying the home. Sell the house and, unless the warranty is properly transferred, "lifetime" ended at closing.
What's the difference between prorated and non-prorated coverage?: Non-prorated means a full remedy; prorated means a shrinking one. GAF's up-front window is called the Smart Choice Protection Period and is explicitly the period during which coverage is non-prorated: labor to repair or re-cover defective products is paid in full. After that window, GAF's own document is blunt — "Labor will no longer be covered" — and the product contribution is reduced by how much use you've had, calculated as months elapsed divided by months in the term. Owens Corning runs the same two-stage structure under different names, a TRU PROtection Period followed by a Prorated Period in which "no labor or other costs will be covered." CertainTeed's SureStart period covers 100 percent of material and labor and "is not prorated or otherwise reduced." Different brand names, one mechanic.
How much does proration actually reduce a payout?: Enough that the number surprises people, and the manufacturer publishes the math. GAF's example is in the warranty itself: for lifetime shingles on a single-family home, the term is deemed to be 600 months for years 11 through 40, so a claim filed 25 years after installation — 300 months — is reduced by 300/600, or 50 percent. From year 41 on, GAF's contribution is 20 percent. And in every one of those later years, labor is out entirely. The practical read: the meaningful protection in a lifetime warranty lives in the non-prorated years at the front, not in the word "lifetime."
What voids a roof warranty?: The most common answers are installation and ventilation, and there's a nuance in how it works. GAF's warranty says that even if the products were not properly installed to its instructions or to standard good roofing practices, the limited warranty "remains in effect" — but GAF will not be liable for damage caused by improper fastening or application, by inadequate ventilation, or by failure to hand-seal shingles installed in cold weather. So it isn't torn up; it just stops covering the thing that actually went wrong. Owens Corning reaches the same place from the other direction, excluding improper or faulty installation outright and requiring compliance with local building codes, plus damage from improper or inadequate ventilation, unvented attics, or enclosed rafter assemblies.
Do I have to register my roof warranty?: For the base warranty, usually not — GAF states plainly that it is not necessary to register your shingles and accessories in order to access the protection available in its base warranties, though you may register anyway. What you do have to keep is proof: manufacturers require proof of the installation date and proof that you owned the property at the time when a claim is filed. Enhanced or extended warranty programs are a different animal and typically do require registration through the installing contractor. Keep the paperwork either way — the manufacturer's own instruction is to retain the document, because notice to your contractor or dealer is not notice to the manufacturer.
Is a roof warranty transferable when I sell the house?: Usually once, on a clock, and often with the coverage cut down. GAF's base warranty may be transferred only once, and the second owner must notify GAF in writing within one year after the property transfer; if that transfer happens inside the up-front protection period the new owner gets the same coverage, and if it happens afterwards the warranty is reduced to a two-year period following the ownership change. Owens Corning also allows one transfer, requires the second owner to submit proof of purchase, installation date and ownership history within 60 days of the real-estate transfer, and charges a transfer fee. CertainTeed's SureStart protection transfers at no cost during the SureStart period. Deadlines are the thing that kills these — read your own document and calendar the date.
Does Liberty Roofing offer a workmanship warranty?: Yes — Liberty offers a workmanship warranty on the roofs we install. We are deliberately not publishing a term length or the specific terms on this page, because we haven't documented them in a form we're willing to put in writing to the public, and a warranty number you can't hold us to isn't worth reading. Ask us for the details on your job and we'll tell you exactly what's covered. If a roofer's warranty terms only ever exist as a number in a sales conversation, that's worth noticing regardless of who you hire.

Where to go next

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Whether you hire us or not, we'll read a competing bid's warranty language with you and tell you what it actually says. And if your roof is already on and you're trying to work out whether a problem is a defect, an install issue, or a storm claim, a free inspection is usually the fastest way to find out.

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