How Chicagoland Roofing Has Changed Since 1996
From three-tab asphalt and hot-mopped built-up to designer architectural shingles, cedar shake restoration, and modified bitumen — what's actually changed in 30 years of Chicagoland roofing, and what's stayed exactly the same.
The 1996 baseline
In 1996, residential roofing in the Chicago suburbs meant three-tab asphalt shingles for nearly every project. Architectural (dimensional) shingles existed but were expensive and used primarily on premium custom homes. Cedar shake was still on a meaningful number of older Mount Prospect, Park Ridge, and Wilmette homes from the 1950s-60s era, but new cedar installations had largely stopped — the wave of asphalt-replacement work after that period took most of the cedar inventory off Chicagoland roofs. Slate was rare except on historic North Shore estate homes that had retained original specifications. On commercial work, built-up roofing (BUR) — multiple plies of asphalt-saturated felt with hot-mopped asphalt between them and an aggregate or mineral-surface cap — was still the dominant flat-roof system on warehouses and commercial buildings. EPDM (rubber) was gaining share. TPO didn't really exist as a mainstream product yet.
What residential shingles look like in 2026
Architectural shingles displaced three-tab as the residential standard around 2005-2008 and have stayed there since. The dominant lines we install — GAF Timberline HDZ, Owens Corning Duration, CertainTeed Landmark — offer 30-50 year manufacturer warranties, dramatically better wind ratings (130 mph standard, with enhanced installation up to 130+ mph), and aesthetic profiles that make them appropriate on virtually any residential architecture. Above architectural shingles, designer shingles — GAF Camelot II, CertainTeed Grand Manor, Owens Corning Berkshire — replicate the look of cedar shake or slate in Class IV impact-resistant asphalt with extended warranties. These are increasingly common on the higher-end homes in Glenview, Lake Forest, Highland Park, Northbrook, Hinsdale, and similar communities. See our roof replacement page for current shingle systems.
Cedar shake's restoration era
Cedar shake was largely written off as a Chicagoland roofing material between 1990 and 2010 — the existing cedar inventory was aging out, the labor pool that knew how to install it was retiring, and synthetic alternatives became the easy substitute. That trajectory has reversed in the 2010s and 2020s. Estate-home owners on the North Shore (Lake Forest, Winnetka, Kenilworth, Highland Park) increasingly value the authenticity of natural cedar over synthetic alternatives, and there's enough premium cedar shake installation and restoration work now to support contractors who specialize in it. We installed cedar in 1996. We install meaningfully more of it in 2026. The premium-material market has come back. See our cedar shake service page.
Slate, synthetic slate, and the resurgence of premium specifications
Natural slate was rarely specified on new construction in the 1990s — too expensive, too heavy, too few crews who could install it correctly. Synthetic slate (DaVinci, Brava, EcoStar) didn't exist as a credible category until the 2000s. Today, both are routine specifications on North Shore estate-home work. Welsh and Vermont natural slate goes on historic restoration projects where authenticity matters. DaVinci and similar synthetic slates go on retrofit projects where the slate aesthetic is wanted but the structural framing wasn't designed for natural slate's weight. Five-thousand-square-foot estate homes in Winnetka, Kenilworth, and Glencoe routinely choose synthetic slate over architectural shingles now — a specification choice that wouldn't have been on the table in 1996. See our slate service page.
Copper flashing's comeback
By the 1990s, aluminum had largely displaced copper as the standard flashing material on Chicagoland residential work — cheaper, easier to fabricate, perfectly adequate on standard asphalt shingle roofs. Aluminum is still the right choice for those projects. But copper has come back as the standard flashing specification on premium-material roofs. Cedar shake roofs require copper because cedar's natural acidity reacts with aluminum and most galvanized products. Slate roofs require copper because the slate's expected service life is too long for any other flashing material to match. Standing-seam copper accent roofing on dormers, bay windows, and oriels is increasingly common on Tudor and Colonial Revival restoration projects. We do more soldered copper work in a typical month in 2026 than we did in a typical year in 1996. See our copper service page.
The TPO and modified bitumen era on commercial
On commercial flat-roof work, the displacement of built-up roofing by single-ply systems is the biggest change of the last 30 years. TPO (heat-welded thermoplastic) emerged in the late 1990s and is now the dominant new commercial roof installation in Chicagoland — cheaper, faster, more energy-efficient (white reflective surface), and well-suited to large commercial buildings. EPDM (black rubber) holds steady share on certain applications. Modified bitumen has held its niche for smaller commercial buildings, complex rooflines, and applications with foot traffic — many strip centers, small office buildings, and light-industrial properties in the Mount Prospect / Elk Grove / Bensenville corridor still get modified bitumen rather than TPO because the size and complexity of the building favors it. See our commercial roofing services and our dedicated modified bitumen page.
Energy code requirements transformed insulation specifications
In 1996, a Chicagoland commercial roof might have R-11 to R-15 of insulation under the membrane. The current Illinois energy code requires R-25 or higher on most commercial roof replacements. That's not a minor change — it's the difference between two inches of polyiso and four inches, which affects every roof-edge detail, every penetration flashing, every parapet condition, and the overall structural loading of the assembly. On residential, the equivalent shift has been air-sealing requirements — current code mandates air-sealing the attic floor before insulation, a step that nearly nobody specified in 1996 and that's now central to any conscientious attic insulation project. Ventilation requirements have also tightened, and proper soffit-to-ridge airflow is now non-negotiable for any manufacturer warranty.
Insurance claim work has become a discipline of its own
Hailstorms have always been part of Chicagoland — but the insurance-claim work that follows them has become a meaningful share of the residential roofing industry. The 2008, 2011, 2013, and 2025 events drove waves of claim activity. Storm-chaser contractors emerged as a category — companies that descend on a hail-affected region, sign as many homeowners as possible, do quick work, and disappear before warranty issues surface. The contrast with established local contractors who do storm work the right way (proper documentation, work directly with adjusters, maintain warranty service after the work is complete) became sharp. Homeowners who hire local versus storm-chaser see fundamentally different outcomes 5-10 years after the work is done. We've kept the discipline of doing storm work the documented, properly-warrantied way — and we don't chase storms outside of our service area.
What hasn't changed in 30 years
The fundamentals. Ventilation matters more than any premium material. Flashing details determine whether a roof leaks. Quality crews who care about the work outperform anonymous crews who don't, regardless of the company name on the truck. Customers who get clear written estimates with line-item scope get better outcomes than customers who get bottom-line bids. Contractors with long local tenure outperform contractors who arrived after the most recent storm. None of those truths are different in 2026 than they were in 1996. The material changes are real, the system changes are real, the code changes are real — but underneath all of it, the standards that produce a long-lasting roof haven't moved.
Why this perspective matters when you're choosing a contractor
Three decades of Chicagoland roofing experience isn't a slogan — it's the only way to actually know how each material category, each commercial system, and each installation method performs across the full Illinois weather cycle. The contractor who started yesterday doesn't know how cedar shake from 1996 looks now. The contractor who's been here through three decades does. Leaders Roofing Corp has been operating from the same Mount Prospect address since 1996 under IL Roofing Unlimited License #104.010248. Read our 30-year anniversary story or call (847) 312-2727 for a current-day assessment.