TAMKO: When Extreme Weather Hits, the Shingle Maker Lends a Hand

In January 2023, a monster tornado blew through Houston, its fierce winds ripping roofs off buildings and flipping over vehicles. After downing countless power lines, the tornado left 120,000 without electricity.

Many companies soon came to Houston’s aid, including TAMKO, a maker of quality roof shingles. The company donated $250,000 to the Houston chapter of the American Red Cross. The bequest provided residents with shelter, food, clothing, medical supplies, crisis mental health services, and more.

Jeff Beyer, TAMKO’s chief operations officer, said the shingle producer sprang into action after learning of the tornado. TAMKO’s headquarters in Joplin, Missouri, is in Tornado Alley. Joplin and TAMKO’s employees understand tornadoes. This familiarity was one reason TAMKO donated to the American Red Cross.

“Our hearts went out to them,” Beyer said. “The people here know what that means, you know, they understand how devastating it can be and disruptive. So we knew as soon as it happened, we knew we needed to help.”

Houston residents couldn’t remember such a damaging tornado in over 20 years. It was an EF3, capable of 136-to-165 mph winds.

“I haven’t seen anything like this before, especially in our area,” said Capt. Ryan Lee, a 20-year veteran of the Houston Fire Department.

TAMKO Builds Roof Shingles Guaranteed to Resist 160-MPH Winds

TAMKO has been in the shingle game long enough to know about extreme weather. If a shingle producer can make residential shingles that resist a tornado, it’s TAMKO. The company produces technologically advanced shingles, including its trademarked StormFighter IR and Titan XT shingles, which resist extreme weather conditions. TAMKO’s management isn’t shy about claiming its roof shingles can withstand winds up to 160 mph. Executives created a special guarantee for it: the WindGUARD Warranty.

“We tested [our shingles] for ourselves for some performance videos we did,” Melissa Dunson says. “We had blowing 200-mile-an-hour winds right up against the shingle. The nailing strip never, ever failed.”

What finally removed the shingles was the vibration of the howling winds, which caused the nails to wiggle and shake until they finally popped out of the plywood.

TAMKO shingles are reinforced on the underside with the company’s proprietary AnchorLock layer technology. This AnchorLock innovation strengthens StormFighter IR shingles so significantly that they qualify for a UL 2218 Class 4 Impact Rating — the highest possible distinction for asphalt shingles’ impact resistance. Testing is done by the Underwriters Laboratory, an independent organization, in conjunction with the nonprofit scientific research enterprise the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety.

TAMKO Shingles Nabbed Top Honors in Readers Choice Favorites

TAMKO’s passion for producing the best roof tiles hasn’t gone unnoticed. Readers of The Joplin Globe, a print and digital daily newspaper in Joplin, voted TAMKO Favorite Industrial Employer for the 2022 Readers Choice Favorites of Four States Contest. It was the fifth time TAMKO won the award.

TAMKO claimed another victory as the 2022 Readers Choice Favorite Employer for the fourth year. And that’s not all.

The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association flattered TAMKO with a flurry of accolades in 2022. ARMA presented the residential shingles manufacturer with a whopping 13 awards centered around safety.

ARMA gave the Perfect Employee Safety Certificate to six different TAMKO facilities. The Award of Excellence went to TAMKO’s Inwood, West Virginia, facility for maintaining a perfect safety score for three consecutive years.

It’s no surprise that TAMKO keeps safety top of mind. It implemented its Zero Incident Safety Culture program in 2005. Since creating the program, TAMKO says it’s achieved an 84% overall reduction in Occupational Safety and Health Administration-recordable injuries.

“Safety is a top priority and essential to all we do at TAMKO,” said David Humphreys, TAMKO’s chairman, president, and CEO, when the company received 13 safety awards. “TAMKO’s safety message to all employees is simple: If it’s unsafe, don’t do it. I’m proud of our employees’ continued efforts to put that message into practice daily.”

TAMKO — Decades of Dedication

To understand where TAMKO is coming from, it’s useful to know some backstory. E.L. Craig was 69 in 1944 when — true to his entrepreneurial spirit — he began a roofing business in an old streetcar barn in Joplin. Earlier, he’d grown several companies — including a poker parlor, a boxing gym, and a soup kitchen — and sold them to move on to the next enterprise.

TAMKO has always been a family affair. His wife, Mary Ethel Craig, named the new roofing company TAMKO. She used the first letter in the name of each of the five states that became TAMKO’s early sales territories: Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. TAMKO has now been around for almost 80 years.