Lightweight roofing shingle and method for making same

Abstract

A lightweight roofing shingle comprising a saturated mat having an exposed side and an unexposed side wherein a fabric reinforcing layer substantially replaces the bottom asphalt coating and the backing aggregate on the unexposed side of a conventional shingle. The lightweight shingle will have a top asphalt layer applied to the exposed side of the mat and a layer of granular material applied to the top asphalt layer opposite the mat per conventional construction, and the fabric reinforcing layer is adhered directly to the unexposed side of the saturated mat. In one embodiment, the fabric reinforcing layer covers an entire area of the unexposed side of the saturated mat. The reinforcing layer may preferably be a nonwoven fabric made from PET or polypropylene. The lightweight roofing shingle may also include a release tape layer applied to the reinforcing layer opposite the saturated mat.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.