One of my favorite television series is “The Twilight Zone.”  Part of the opening narration from Rod Serling was telling us that “There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man.”  I think I have found out what this fifth dimension is, it is the dimension of shingles!

This last weekend we had a new roof put on our house and they put on dimensional shingles. These are asphalt shingles with a “twist.”  

For many years man lived in huts, tents and caves,  Then he got the bright idea to build houses which lead to all sorts of unintended consequences like mortgages and aluminum siding salesman.  For many years the standard three tab asphalt shingle was fine.  However, now we need a “twist.”  These dimensional shingles are also called “architectural” shingles or “laminated” shingles.  Obviously by any of these names, they sound more expensive than “three tab” shingles and, of course, they are.   The news just keeps getting worse as now the folks out there who manufacture shingles keep pumping out more stylish, eye-catching shingle options.  I suppose there will be mounting pressure across this land to not only keep up with the Joneses, but to keep up with the Joneses’ shingles as well.

Apparently there is an upside, these dimensional shingles are supposed to last longer.  But I wonder if that is all marketing hype.  But it seems like the old styles are going by the wayside and I do not want my house to look too dated.  I can just imagine if I kept the old style shingles, the day would come when I wanted to sell the house and the realtor would come and say, “I have had several people really interested in the house, they like the yard, they like the size of the rooms, they like the layout, but I keep hearing say they just could not live in a house with three tab shingles.”

So, I have succumbed to the pressure and now I have dimensional shingles. ..Dimensional Shingles, isn’t that a disease you get when you are older if you had chicken pox as a kid?