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BRAND REVIEW · August 15, 2026

Shingle Weight Per Square by Brand: Structural Load Table

Shingle weight per square by brand, from GAF, CertainTeed, Owens Corning, Malarkey and Atlas data sheets and EPDs, plus the layover load math.

By The Roofing Brief Team

Shingle weight per square by brand runs from about 184 pounds for GAF Timberline HDZ to about 300 pounds for CertainTeed Landmark Premium, per the manufacturers’ own technical data sheets and their third party verified environmental product declarations. One roofing square covers 100 square feet, so that band works out to roughly 1.8 to 3.0 pounds per square foot of covering. The table below names the exact source document behind every figure, because most published shingle weight charts name none.

By The Roofing Brief Team. Last reviewed: August 2026.

Shingle weight per square by brand: the published numbers

Every figure below comes from a document we retrieved and read: a manufacturer technical data sheet, or an environmental product declaration verified under the UL or Smart EPD program. Weights are stated per roofing square (100 square feet of finished roof) and converted to pounds per square foot (psf), the unit a framing check actually uses. Nothing here is a shop estimate or a weighed bundle.

Product (named) Type Published figure Per square (lb) psf Source document
GAF Timberline HDZ and HDZ RS Laminated architectural 8.96 kg per square meter 184 1.84 NSF verified EPD11104, issued August 2025
Owens Corning Supreme 3-tab (strip) 9.26 kg per square meter 190 1.90 Owens Corning UL EPD 4789400789.101.1, Table 4
Owens Corning Oakridge Laminated architectural 9.93 kg per square meter 203 2.03 Owens Corning UL EPD 4789400789.101.1, Table 4
Owens Corning Duration Series Laminated architectural 10.12 kg per square meter 207 2.07 Owens Corning UL EPD 4789400789.101.1, Table 4
CertainTeed Landmark (and AR) Laminated architectural 211 to 225 lb per square 211 to 225 2.11 to 2.25 CertainTeed Landmark technical data sheet
Asphalt shingles, US and Canada industry average Installed covering 10.6 kg per square meter of roof 217 2.17 ARMA Asphalt Shingle Roofing System EPD, Table 2
CertainTeed Landmark PRO (and AR) Laminated architectural 231 to 240 lb per square 231 to 240 2.31 to 2.40 CertainTeed Landmark PRO technical data sheet
Malarkey Vista (Southgate, CA plant) Polymer modified architectural 1,210 kg per 100 square meters 248 2.48 Malarkey UL EPD 4791004914.108.1, Table 3
Malarkey Vista AR (Portland, OR plant) Polymer modified architectural 1,220 kg per 100 square meters 250 2.50 Malarkey Vista AR EPD, Table 3
Malarkey Legacy Scotchgard (Oklahoma City plant) Polymer modified, 4 bundle 1,440 kg per 100 square meters 295 2.95 Malarkey Legacy Scotchgard EPD, Table 3
CertainTeed Landmark Premium (and AR) Luxury laminated, 4 bundle 300 lb per square 300 3.00 CertainTeed Landmark Premium technical data sheet
Atlas Pinnacle Pristine Laminated architectural 4.65 kg per square meter of shingle product not directly stated not directly stated Smart EPD 2026-108-0799-01.1 (Daingerfield and Meridian plants)
Atlas StormMaster Shake Class 4 impact laminated 4.68 kg per square meter of shingle product not directly stated not directly stated Atlas StormMaster Shake Smart EPD (Daingerfield plant)
GAF Timberline UHDZ Class 4 impact laminated not published not published not published No weight on GAF Timberline spec sheets; no UHDZ EPD in the NSF listing
IKO Cambridge Laminated architectural not published not published not published IKO Cambridge technical data sheet, 04/2026 revision
IKO Dynasty Laminated architectural not published not published not published No weight in IKO’s published technical data
TAMKO Heritage Laminated architectural not published not published not published TAMKO Heritage data sheets (Dallas and Phillipsburg plants)

Two patterns fall straight out of the table. Architectural asphalt clusters tightly between about 1.8 and 2.5 psf, a spread of roughly 65 pounds per square across GAF, Owens Corning, CertainTeed and Malarkey. And the heaviest asphalt on the list, CertainTeed Landmark Premium at 3.00 psf, still weighs less than a third of what standard concrete or clay tile puts on the same rafters, which our composite, clay and slate tile structural load reference covers in detail.

Why online shingle weight charts disagree by more than 200 pounds

Search results for shingle weight quote everything from 180 to 430 pounds per square for the same category of product. The spread is not manufacturing variation. It comes from three different quantities being reported under one label: weight of shingle material, weight of installed covering, and shipped bundle weight including packaging.

The declared unit inside an EPD is where this bites hardest. Owens Corning declares “1 square meter of constructed area using Asphalt Shingles,” which already accounts for the overlap of every course. Atlas declares “one (1) square meter of shingle product,” which is raw material before any overlap. Those two units are not interchangeable, and a chart that mixes them will make Atlas look about half the weight of Owens Corning.

The ARMA industry EPD publishes the conversion factor: a shingle roof consumes 2.35 square meters of shingle material for every 1 square meter of roof, plus a 2 percent scrap rate. Apply that ratio to Atlas Pinnacle Pristine at 4.65 kg per square meter of product and you land near 224 pounds per installed square. That is our arithmetic, not an Atlas published number, which is exactly why we left the Atlas rows in the table blank rather than presenting a derived figure as a specification.

Bundle weights from retail listings are the third trap. They include the shrink wrap and describe a package, not a finished roof. Use them for load planning on a truck or a dumpster, not for a structural check.

What a second layer of asphalt actually adds to the roof structure

A layover of architectural shingles adds roughly 2.0 to 2.5 psf, because it duplicates the covering without duplicating the deck. Against a residential roof frame that is typically designed for either 10 psf or 20 psf of dead load, that is a real number but a modest one. The failure mode is almost never the second layer on its own. It is a frame already carrying more than the designer assumed.

The covering is not the whole assembly. The ARMA industry EPD puts a complete installed steep slope shingle system at 11.8 kg per square meter, about 242 pounds per square or 2.42 psf, once underlayment, leak barrier, starter strip, hip and ridge, flashing, vents and nails are counted alongside the field shingles. Sheathing and framing sit underneath that; our comparison of OSB and plywood roof decking covers the deck side of the equation.

Here is what dead load costs in span. IRC 2021 Table R802.4.1(1), for a 20 psf roof live load with the ceiling not attached to rafters, allows a 2 by 8 Douglas fir-larch #2 rafter at 16 inches on center to span 18 feet 5 inches at a 10 psf dead load, and only 16 feet 0 inches at a 20 psf dead load. A 10 psf jump costs about 2 feet 5 inches of allowable span. A single layover consuming 2.0 to 2.5 psf uses roughly a quarter of that step, which is why most conforming frames absorb one and why nobody should assume a frame that is already marginal will.

When code allows a shingle layover at all

IRC 2021 Section R908.3 makes tear-off the default: roof replacement “shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck,” with one exception for an adhered ice barrier membrane that may stay and be covered. Section R908.3.1 then permits a roof recover where the new covering is installed per the manufacturer’s approved instructions, among other conditions.

Section R908.3.1.1 lists the disqualifiers, and they are absolute rather than engineering judgments. A roof recover is not permitted where the existing roof or covering is water soaked or has deteriorated past being an adequate base; where the existing covering is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile; or where the existing roof already has two or more applications of any type of roof covering. That third condition is why a third layer is off the table regardless of what the framing could carry.

Separately, Section R908.2 requires that the structural roof components be capable of supporting the roof covering system and the material and equipment loads encountered during installation. Note the second half. A crew staging 20 squares of shingles in stacks on one plane imposes a concentrated construction load far higher than the finished 2.4 psf. The cost and lifespan side of that choice sits in our guide to reroofing overlay versus tear-off.

How to check a layover against your roof, step by step

  1. Count the existing layers. Lift a shingle at a rake or pull a core at a vent penetration. Two or more applications already present rules out a recover under IRC R908.3.1.1, and no load calculation changes that.
  2. Identify the existing covering. Slate, clay, cement and asbestos-cement tile cannot be recovered over. Wood shake triggers the separate R908.4 requirement to cover the surface where a combustible concealed space would be created.
  3. Get the published weight of the new shingle. Use the table above or pull the manufacturer’s current technical data sheet. If the brand publishes nothing, ask the distributor for a written figure rather than accepting a rule of thumb.
  4. Add the two coverings. Existing plus new, in psf. Two architectural layers land near 4.0 to 5.0 psf of covering alone, before underlayment, deck and framing.
  5. Compare against the design dead load. Residential rafter spans in IRC Table R802.4.1 are tabulated at 10 psf and 20 psf dead load. If your rafter size, species, grade, spacing and span only work in the 10 psf column, the margin for a second covering is thin and worth an engineer’s eye.
  6. Check the deck fastening and condition, not just the load. A recover fastens new shingles through the old ones, so nail penetration into the deck shortens. Manufacturer instructions govern here under R908.3.1, and installing outside them voids both the warranty and the code permission.

Which brands do not publish a shingle weight

Four widely specified product lines publish no weight anywhere we could find: GAF Timberline UHDZ, IKO Cambridge, IKO Dynasty and TAMKO Heritage. This is not an oversight in the documents. IKO’s Cambridge technical data sheet, revised April 2026, lists shingles per bundle (20), coverage per bundle (33.3 square feet), bundles per pallet (56), overall dimensions and pallet size, and simply has no weight row.

GAF is the sharper case. The published Timberline HDZ spec sheet lists bundles per square (3) and pieces per square (64) but no weight, so the only GAF-sourced figure available is the one inside its EPD. As of August 2026 the NSF certified listing for GAF shows Timberline HDZ and Timberline HDZ RS under the asphalt shingle product category rule and no entry for UHDZ, so the heavier UHDZ has no published weight at all. TAMKO’s Heritage data sheets for the Dallas and Phillipsburg plants likewise give a minimum of 20 shingles per bundle and 3 bundles per sales square, with no mass. Where a brand publishes nothing, the honest answer is “not published,” and we would rather say that than invent a number. For the warranty, wind and impact side of the same brand set, see our 2026 shingle brand comparison report.

Published shingle weight per square has fallen since 2020

Two manufacturers have quietly revised their own published weights downward, and both revisions are visible in their current documents against their superseded ones. GAF’s 2020 EPD (NSF EPD10397) declared Timberline HDZ at 9.83 kg per square meter, about 201 pounds per square. The 2025 replacement (NSF EPD11104) declares 8.96 kg per square meter, about 184 pounds per square, a reduction of roughly 9 percent.

CertainTeed shows the same direction. An earlier Landmark series technical data sheet listed Landmark at 235 to 245 pounds per square and Landmark Premium at 300 to 330. The current sheets list Landmark at 211 to 225 pounds and Landmark Premium at 300. Landmark alone is down about 20 pounds per square.

Read this carefully rather than as a quality verdict. Mat and asphalt formulation changes, granule loading, and the LCA methodology behind an EPD all move the declared mass, and neither manufacturer frames the change as a specification cut. What it does mean in practice: a weight chart built on figures from five years ago overstates modern architectural shingle load by 8 to 10 percent, and any load calculation should cite the document revision it used. If you are weighing thickness and mass as a proxy for tier, our breakdown of architectural versus luxury shingles covers what the extra mass buys.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a square of shingles weigh?

A square of architectural asphalt shingles covering 100 square feet weighs roughly 184 to 300 pounds depending on brand and line, based on published manufacturer data. GAF Timberline HDZ declares about 184 pounds per square, Owens Corning Duration about 207, CertainTeed Landmark PRO 231 to 240, and CertainTeed Landmark Premium 300. That is 1.84 to 3.00 pounds per square foot of roof.

How much does a bundle of architectural shingles weigh?

Divide the published weight per square by the bundles per square. CertainTeed Landmark PRO at 231 to 240 pounds over 3 bundles per square works out to about 77 to 80 pounds per bundle. Malarkey Legacy at roughly 295 pounds per square over 4 bundles per square is about 74 pounds. Four bundle products spread the same square across lighter individual packages.

Which asphalt shingle brand is the heaviest?

Among products with published figures, CertainTeed Landmark Premium is heaviest at 300 pounds per square, followed by Malarkey Legacy Scotchgard at about 295 pounds per square derived from its environmental product declaration. Both are 4 bundle products. Several lines including GAF Timberline UHDZ, IKO Cambridge, IKO Dynasty and TAMKO Heritage publish no weight, so a complete ranking is not possible.

Does a heavier shingle mean a better shingle?

Not on its own. Mass correlates loosely with asphalt and mat content, but wind and impact performance are certified separately under ASTM D3161, ASTM D7158 and UL 2218, and a polymer modified shingle can outperform a heavier conventional one. GAF’s own declared weight for Timberline HDZ dropped about 9 percent between its 2020 and 2025 EPDs without a corresponding change in its wind classification.

Can my roof handle a second layer of shingles?

A second layer of architectural asphalt adds roughly 2.0 to 2.5 pounds per square foot. Residential rafter spans in IRC Table R802.4.1 are tabulated at 10 psf and 20 psf dead load, so most conforming frames absorb one layover. The binding constraint is usually code, not capacity: IRC R908.3.1.1 prohibits a recover where two or more coverings already exist.

Why do shingle weight charts online disagree so much?

They mix three different quantities. Weight of shingle material before overlap, weight of installed covering per square of roof, and shipped bundle weight including packaging are all reported as “shingle weight.” The ARMA industry EPD shows a shingle roof consumes 2.35 square meters of material per square meter of roof, so material and installed figures differ by more than double.

How much lighter is a 3-tab shingle than an architectural shingle?

Less than most people assume. Owens Corning’s own EPD declares its Supreme 3-tab at 9.26 kg per square meter, about 190 pounds per square, against 10.12 kg per square meter for Duration Series, about 207 pounds. That is a difference near 17 pounds per square, roughly 9 percent, from a single manufacturer measuring both products the same way.

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