Ondura Roofing?

country_wife · #1 04/08/07, 08:01 PM

Anyone here have experience with Ondura roofing material? Have you used it? How well does it hold up?

agmantoo · #2 04/08/07, 08:40 PM

Junk!

WisJim · #3 04/08/07, 08:42 PM

This is the asphalt material in corrugated sheets, I think. If that is right, we roofed a garage and shop building with it back in the 1980s, and moved away from there in 1989. A hail storm punched some holes in the roofing, and it was possible to crush the corrugations if you walked on the roof when it was hot and the material was a little soft. If I was doing it again I would use a metal roof. The hail was big, but it didn't damage any of our PV panels or our wind generator (we had shut down the generator so the blades weren't spinning). Nothing else was damaged on our place.

country_wife · #4 04/08/07, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agmantoo

Junk!

Care to elaborate? WHY do you think it's junk and have you used it?

agmantoo · #5 04/08/07, 09:35 PM

The ondura product was hyped a number of years back by the local co-op. Basically it is nothing more than a heavy tar paper that is formed in a corrugate fashion. It is easy to knock a hole in the product with hail, a thrown rock and falling limb, a high wind will lift the product off by ripping over the nail heads. A misplaced hammer or a slipped nut driver will punch a hole when attempting to install the material. I had much rather have rolled roofing over OSB if I were looking for a cheap covering. The ondura is junk! PS...I have not used it but I have replaced what was installed by others. Get metal corrugated...don't waste your time and money. Do not buy the economy corrugated at the box stores either, it will rust through in 5 years.

country_wife · #6 04/08/07, 09:52 PM

Thanks for the advice..you guys pointed out a few things I hadn't thought of.

rambler · #7 04/08/07, 11:13 PM

Ick.

--->Paul

WisJim · #8 04/09/07, 08:58 AM

Another thing that I didn't like about it--when installing it, it was hard to keep it square, as the sheets had enough flex that you could easily make them wider or narrower at one or both ends while nailing them down.

Avoid it.

crobar · #9 04/09/07, 11:11 AM

I installed it on my double wide, looks good. I have had people knock on my door asking what it is, take pictures. I used tiles(24" long I think), looks somehat like clay tiles. I do agree it is difficult to keep square, basically should not walk on it. Been on 5 years, had no problems, but it was expensive & when I reflect on it, I am concerned about durability.

country_wife · #10 04/09/07, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crobar

I installed it on my double wide, looks good. I have had people knock on my door asking what it is, take pictures. I used tiles(24" long I think), looks somehat like clay tiles. I do agree it is difficult to keep square, basically should not walk on it. Been on 5 years, had no problems, but it was expensive & when I reflect on it, I am concerned about durability.

What state are you in? I'm wondering how it holds up to snow, rain, wind.

crobar · #11 04/09/07, 02:18 PM

I live in deep southern Illinois. Thus far has held up well. Have to lay down plywood or something to walk on it. Doing valleys is qiute a trick. Using tiles was expensive. My roof had a small slump in it, which was one the reasons I used ondura. It certaintly hid that well. I repeat though I wonder about wind. It has held on thus far. We are in tornado alley, nail it well with their nails.

ChuckinVA · #12 04/09/07, 02:21 PM

I used it on a porch on a place that I owned in West Va several years ago. I had problems with the wind getting under it and pulling the fasteners through the material. I think if I had put it on over ply wood it would have been ok.

orangehen · #13 04/09/07, 04:19 PM

Had it installed on another house (contractor talked me into it), but they did a horrible job, they didn't flash around the off-set chimney which leaked until I got someone ELSE to fix it, roof is steep and Ondura is almost impossible to "walk" on, poor guy had to use lots of ropes and ladders to fix around chimney - all in all, I'd NEVER use it again. I think flashing is a big issue with Ondura.

Present house? I had steel put on last summer and love it. Had a conscientious contractor, though - makes a BIG difference.

Windy in Kansas · #14 04/09/07, 05:01 PM

It has always seemed overpriced to me. I took another look at it this spring and didn't think the warranty was long enough for the price.

Also all that was carried locally were short pieces.

crobar · #15 04/09/07, 05:08 PM

Flashing is a problem, buy their adapters. I thought about doing a steep roof on a rental but as orangehen points out would be a mess. However: when several different people, strangers knock on your door asking questions, taking samples, and pictures; it appeals to your vanity.

haypoint · #16 04/09/07, 05:29 PM

Back in the 1980s a friend of mine put it on his small barn. The plan was that in a couple years when he could afford to, he'd add open sheds on each side by extending the roof line. He bought enough Ondura to do everything. He stored the extra Ondura on a pallet, under a tarp. Two years later, he was ready to complete the open shed additions. He pulled the tarp off the Ondura and it had gotten wet and crumbled apart, totally useless. Since he had to match the ends of the Undura that was already up, he bought more sheets. In two years the Ondura had flattened out enough so he couldn't match it to the new Ondura. He had to strip everything off and put up metal roof.

freegal · #17 04/10/07, 07:20 AM

We re-roofed our barn with Ondura a couple of years ago. We couldn't afford the steel. We like the way it looks and it has held up well in all weather including high wind and hail. My DH & DS did all the work and it is lined up quite nicely with no leaks. Yes, they had to put down plywood to work on and they used ropes, but it took them a lot less time than regular shingles would have taken. I have seen Ondura used on many small commercial buildings.

sdrew · #18 04/10/07, 07:26 AM

I sold the junk for years through a building materials supplier. It originally came out under the name of Onduline, "the lifetime roofing". We sold TONS of it. People with barns and riding arenas loved it. It was light, and easy to work with compared to sheets of metal roofing. I spent hours and hours dealing with warranty claims within 5 years of selling. The finish/paint would peel off, and if left unfinished for long, would deteriorate quickly; crumbling as previously mentioned. I think they had so many problems, they changed the name (or were bought out perhaps) to Ondura. I would not recommend!

PineRidge · #19 04/10/07, 08:16 AM

We tried to use it once, but half way though dh got disgusted and just replaced the shingles. i know he had problems keeping it square, and it just gummed up any blade he used when trying to cut it.

crobar · #20 04/10/07, 09:03 AM

Haypoint, I believe your friend did not nail properly if it flattened out in time. The stuff is flexible would have to be nailed like instructions say. I also stored some outside for couple of years. Most of it did ruin. I didn't complete my project as soon as I thought I would. I think shingles stored in same way would have ruined too. Where possible cut it with circular saw blade backwards, regular handsaw also worked good. Mine too has been thru hail that knocked a hole in vinyl siding, roof ok. I do worry about wind & finish durabilty, ok so far. My old roof was ugly, swagging noticeable with shingles, also I didn't want to strip off old shingles, ondura tiles covered a lot; now if will only last. Dw & I decided on ondura for looks, on that count we are very satisfied. Looks a lot like clay tile even up close.