CertainTeed

CertainTeed is a North American manufacturer of roofing, siding, insulation, gypsum and ceiling products. It was founded in 1904 by George M. Brown in East St. Louis, Illinois, as the General Roofing Manufacturing Company, and is today a wholly owned subsidiary of the French materials group Saint-Gobain.

History

The company started with USD 25,000 in capital and made roofing products from the outset. In 1917 it was reorganised, incorporated and renamed Certain-teed Products Corporation; it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange the following year. Over the twentieth century the business expanded from roofing into other building materials. It phased asbestos out of its products around 1990.

CertainTeed is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Saint-Gobain and forms part of that group's construction-products activities in North America. In 1989 CertainTeed bought the US clay tile maker Ludowici, whose management later passed to another Saint-Gobain company, Terreal.

Roofing products

CertainTeed's residential roofing range is based on asphalt shingles, including laminated designer lines, along with underlayments, ventilation and accessories. It also produces commercial low-slope roofing products. Its fibreglass shingle lines have been sold in the US and Canada under brand names such as Landmark.

Litigation

Like several older North American roofing companies, CertainTeed has faced product litigation. A class-action settlement covering certain organic-mat shingles, which the company stopped manufacturing in 2005, was approved in 2010. Asbestos liabilities associated with a predecessor business were placed into a separate entity that filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2020. Its products are sold in both the United States and Canada.