Replacement shingles that actually match what’s already on your roof can be very hard to track down, and a repair job can turn into a big headache fast. One day, you have a well-maintained home, and the next day, you have storm damage or a minor leak that needs shingles that the manufacturers stopped making years ago. Suddenly, your house has that patched-together appearance that no homeowner wants.
The whole situation gets even more frustrating once you find out that the exact shingle color or style you need vanished from the store shelves, maybe 10 years ago. Manufacturers are always discontinuing their product lines whenever they want to roll out newer versions. You could spend an entire afternoon driving from one supply yard to another, and at each stop, they’ll probably tell you that your particular shade hasn’t been available since 2015 or something like that.
What makes matters worse is that if you install shingles that obviously don’t match, your property value could drop by as much as 5%. The National Association of Realtors has data on this, and it’s not pretty. About 80% of homes across the US have asphalt shingle roofs and discontinued GAF or CertainTeed shingles. The identification techniques and sourcing strategies we’re about to cover will help you work within New Jersey’s local supplier networks to find shingles that match well enough or discover alternative options that maintain your home and its value.
Let’s talk about how to blend new shingles with your existing roof!
Find Your Current Shingle Type and Brand
The right match for your existing shingles is actually not too hard to find. Big manufacturers like GAF and Owens Corning have been stamping identification codes on the back of their products for decades now, and these codes tell you everything about when they were made and what color they are. You’ll have to gently lift up the edge of one of your shingles to see these markings, and it can be a bit tedious. Once you find that code, though, you’re basically home free.
As you’re already up on the roof checking those codes, it’s worth observing all the little details that make your particular shingles different. The shape and cut of the tabs vary quite a bit between manufacturers and even between different product lines from the same company. The texture of the granules is another dead giveaway – some feel rough and gritty, and others are very smooth. The shadow lines are especially telling because each brand engineers these differently to create their signature look.
For roofs that were installed in the 1990s, there’s actually an interesting bit of history that might narrow down your search considerably. Many architectural shingles from that era failed prematurely and ended up being part of massive class-action legal cases. The silver lining is that if your roof dates back to that period, you’re probably looking at one of a handful of particular product lines that were part of these cases.
Photography matters quite a bit for this process, and the time of day makes a real difference. Morning light brings out very different colors and textures than what the afternoon sun brings out. Take plenty of photos at different times throughout the day and bring the entire collection with you to the roofing suppliers. They need to see the full picture of how your roof looks in different lighting conditions to get the match right. Most manufacturers have kept their records for 20 to 30 years, and this works in your favor even if your particular shingle line isn’t made anymore – they can identify what you had and point you toward the closest match available today.
The reality of shingle matching is that it can go either way. An exact match could be sitting right there on the shelf at your local supplier, ready to go. Or you might discover that your particular product line was discontinued a decade ago and now you’re looking at alternatives that are close but not quite perfect.
Options for Your Old Shingle Lines
Once you’ve gone through all the work to figure out what type of shingles are on your roof, there’s a decent chance that the manufacturer doesn’t even make them anymore. That’s actually a pretty common problem that homeowners run into. Manufacturers always discontinue older product lines, and they’ll launch newer versions with very different names and product numbers.
CertainTeed’s Landmark series is a perfect example of how this works. The company discontinued its entire Hallmark line a while back and replaced it with the Landmark shingles that have nearly identical specifications. The color palette is sometimes a bit different from the original, or maybe the texture feels slightly different when you run your hand across it. For most repair jobs, though, the match is close enough that nobody will notice the difference from the ground.
Most local roofing suppliers have large databases specifically for matching old shingles to whatever’s currently available on the market. These cross-reference systems are very helpful because they show which new products work best as replacements for those discontinued lines. Suppliers pay for these databases because customers call about old shingles all the time – it’s just part of the business. A quick phone call to your local supplier can save you hours of research, and they’ll usually know what your best options are.
Homeowner’s insurance might actually cover the cost of a roof replacement when you can’t find anything that matches your existing shingles closely enough for a repair. Insurance adjusters know that mismatched shingles can seriously hurt your property value, and they’d rather pay for a uniform roof than leave you with a patchwork mess. Documentation is the main thing, though – you’ll need to save all your receipts from the different suppliers and get written statements that confirm the product is unavailable anywhere.
Every once in a while, contractors stumble across what the industry calls new-old-stock bundles. These are just leftover shingles from years ago when suppliers ordered way too much inventory for large development projects that either got scaled back or were canceled completely. Warehouse clearance sales are worth looking at, too. I remember one contractor who found 20 perfect bundles of discontinued shingles just sitting in a warehouse for 5 years – they matched his customer’s roof exactly and saved them from a full replacement!
Take Shingles from the Hidden Areas
When you need to repair damaged shingles and can’t find a perfect match at the store, the answer might already be sitting right there on your own roof. Lots of experienced contractors use this technique for these situations – they’ll carefully remove shingles from the parts of your roof that nobody can see from the ground and then use those exact same shingles to patch up the damage in the areas that are actually visible. The back side of your chimney is a perfect example, or maybe that section underneath a dormer window – these areas are invisible from the street level. But they have the exact same shingles that were installed everywhere else on your roof.
The only tricky part is that you have to be very careful during removal because older shingles can be brittle and can crack when you’re not gentle with them. This is especially true for any shingles that were installed before 2000, which was right around the time when most manufacturers made the switch from organic felt to fiberglass mats. This works especially well in historic districts like Princeton or Cape May, where actual laws require you to maintain the original appearance of homes.
Once you’ve moved those original shingles to the visible areas, you can patch up the hidden areas with whatever modern shingles come reasonably close in color, so no one walking or driving by will ever know that anything changed. Most professional roofers recommend it for smaller repair jobs, and I’ve seen it work beautifully lots of times. It doesn’t make sense to replace an entire roof and spend $10,000 or $15,000 when all you need is to move a few shingles from one place to another with a bit of planning. The repair ends up being completely invisible from the street, and you save yourself a massive expense in the process.
And actually, even when you manage to track down the exact same brand and model of shingle at your local supply store, a brand new one still wouldn’t match what’s currently on your roof. Weather exposure changes the color and texture of shingles over the years – the sun fades them, rain washes away some of the granules and temperature cycles affect their appearance in ways that make new shingles stick out like a sore thumb next to weathered ones!
Where to Find Your Specialty Materials
Weathered shingles can be hard to find if you only check the obvious places. Home Depot and Lowe’s are great for plenty of projects, but they don’t usually stock the aged materials that you need for a solid repair match. Regional suppliers like Cochran Lumber work on a very different model. They’ve built up relationships with contractors over the years, and those contractors usually bring back unused materials from their commercial jobs. The result is an inventory of older products that never get advertised online or in their catalogs – you have to actually go there and ask about it.
84 Lumber takes its inventory management a step further than what most regional suppliers do. They have a database that connects all their New Jersey locations so they can search for specific products across their entire network. Even if the location nearest to you doesn’t have what you need, another store 40 miles away could have a pallet of it that’s been there for years. The staff can look this up. But again, you have to specifically ask them to run the search.
Commercial demolition sales are an underutilized resource that I see homeowners miss all the time. Whenever businesses replace the roof on an office building or a warehouse, those old shingles need to go somewhere. Most contractors would rather sell them for a small profit instead of paying the disposal fees. The exact weathered shingles that you need to match your existing roof could be in a salvage yard 20 minutes from your house. Habitat for Humanity ReStores deserve a place on your search list, too. These nonprofit shops get roofing materials from different sources – sometimes it’s overstock from a distributor, and other times it’s leftover materials from completed projects. Their inventory rotates fast and unpredictably, so regular visits pay off.
Local contractor groups on social media can give you a head start on everyone else. Members frequently post about materials that they have available or know about before that information reaches the general public.
Most homeowners never know that calling suppliers directly yields much better results than checking their websites. Older inventory doesn’t usually make it into the online systems because it’s not worth the staff time to catalog every random pallet in the warehouse. The person at the counter, though, knows just what’s been sitting in that back corner for the past 3 years.
Turn Your Repair into a Design Feature
Your search for matching shingles might go on for weeks, and eventually you’ll have to accept that those exact ones from 15 years ago just aren’t made anymore. Once you reach that point, there’s actually a much better and simpler strategy than attempts to disguise the difference. The best way is to lean into the contrast and use it to your benefit – and make those new shingles work as an intentional design feature that brings character to your home.
Professional roofers have used a technique they call strategic mixing for years, and it’s smart in its simplicity. Instead of random placement of new shingles wherever they’re needed, you install them in deliberate patterns that anyone would assume were part of the original design. Maybe you create accent bands that run horizontally across the entire roof, or maybe you add diamond shapes or other geometric patterns that draw the eye. The whole point is to make the repair look so intentional that nobody would ever guess you were just using what was available.
Those beautiful old houses feature multiple shingle colors and textures that create great visual interest. When modern contractors repair these roofs, they can mirror those original patterns to preserve the home’s architectural heritage. It’s a perfect example of how a repair technique can show off architectural heritage. A gradual transition between your old shingles and the new ones can also work quite well and makes the most sense when you add a dormer or put an addition on your home, because the natural break between the original structure and what you build gives you a perfect place to change your shingle pattern without it looking forced.
The search for discontinued shingles or custom ones made to match can be very expensive – if it’s even possible at all. I’ve seen homeowners get compliments from neighbors who assumed they’d done an expensive design upgrade when actually they just made the best of storm damage repairs or replaced worn sections. Not a bad outcome when you have to work around what could have been a frustrating limitation!
Contact Our Team Today to Start Your Project
Replacement shingles can be a bit tough, and the path forward isn’t always obvious. You have a few different options, and the right choice depends on what you’re willing to spend and what your house actually needs. A lucky few manage to track down leftover stock from their original installation that has been stored in a warehouse for years. Others discover that a slightly different shade or texture actually makes their home look better and adds character they never knew was missing.
The best strategy is to take your time and look at all the options that you have available. Many homeowners rush toward the priciest answer when there’s usually a middle ground that saves money and still delivers the results you’re after.
When it comes to those results, we’ve been helping New Jersey homeowners solve these exact kinds of roofing puzzles for over 3 decades now at Magnolia Home Remodeling Group. Whether it’s urgent storm damage that needs immediate attention before the next rain or routine maintenance planning that will help your home stay protected through another decade of harsh Northeast seasons, our team brings the technical expertise and the creative problem-solving skills that turn tough repairs into fixes that will last for years. We have strong relationships with specialty suppliers throughout the state, and we keep detailed records of what products and techniques work best in different neighborhoods and architectural styles. Yes, we’ve successfully tracked down those impossible-to-find discontinued shingles more times than we can count over the years!
Give us a call for your free estimate and consultation, browse through our large project gallery to see how we’ve handled similar challenges for other homeowners or download our full homeowner’s guide to roof maintenance – whatever resource helps you feel most confident about taking the next step toward protecting your home and your investment.
