Recycled Tire Shingles

Now, I’m no Bob Villa, but as a new homeowner who has to replace his roof, I have been looking into environmentally friendly alternatives to either asphalt or “premium” wood. And Enviroshake definitely falls into the first category. Made primarily of reclaimed materials, Enviroshake might just be the answer.

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Their cellulosic fibre materials shingles are made out of post industrial plastic(s), recycled rubber elastomers and cellulosic fibre materials. Looking at the photos though, it’s pretty hard to tell that they’re made from former tires.

Other added benefits are that because these shingles are made of reclaimed materials, they don’t require any pretreatment, and once installed they’re maintenance free. According to the manufacturer, they’ll last for decades and can form part of a building’s LEED application.

So what’s the catch? They’re more expensive. Life’s like that sometimes.

How much more expensive would be good to know, so we can make a cost/benefit analysis. Still, another good use of recycled tires. interesting to find that old tires we throw out would be expensive when recycled. The upfront cost must be pretty low. Wonder how the heat and cold affect the sidewalks. How heavy a load can it support?

5 Comments
1
Menk said on July 20th, 2009 at 6:25 am
Me and my girl have to cross a section of rubber sidewalk on the way home from our favorite bar.

It’s become a ritual to say “i hate walking” on the concrete before we reach it, and then yell “I LOVE WALKING” when we step on those awesome, bouncy rubber tiles.

You forgot a couple of other benefits:
1. Shoes last longer
2.COMFORT
3. Great for the very young, very old, or very clumsy - rubber is a lot more forgiving than concrete if you fall.

Why aren’t these everywhere?

2
OlhoNaTV said on July 20th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Cool!

3
John R. Hopper said on July 20th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Just a quick question…any idea about how this product does with the leaching of chemical from the rubber?

4
Bob said on July 20th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
How expensive is this per square foot compared to regular concrete.

What we keep finding out is that these products usually are much more expensive than they should be considering the tires are a waste product now.