If you are looking to upgrade an old roof or build a new one, the shingles you choose make a huge difference. After all, they keep the wind and rain off your head. However, there are many brand names to consider in the world of shingles and roofing, with IKO and Soprema being two very popular ones.
Now, many people are probably familiar with IKO, but residential homeowners probably don’t know about Soprema. Well, after today, you’ll know everything there is to know about both of them, so let’s do a side-by-side comparison to see which one is better for you.
IKO Overview
First, we have IKO, which is a Canadian brand, started specifically in 1951, in Calgary AB, therefore making it around 70 years old.
What’s nice is that this has been and always will be a family-owned company, with nearly 40 different manufacturing facilities and processing plants located in North America and Europe.
It is therefore a fairly large brand name with a worldwide presence. It is also a respected brand, mainly because it has a decent selection of products that come in at good prices. Yes, IKO is often viewed as a budget brand, because most of the shingles are on the cheaper end of the spectrum, although there are also some much higher-quality options.
That said, for the most part, people choose IKO shingles due to their relatively low prices, with one of the most popular shingles from this brand being the IKO Cambridge.
Soprema Overview
We then have Soprema, which is an international manufacturer that specializes in the production of soundproofing, vegetated solutions, insulation, and waterproofing for roofing, particularly in the civil engineering sectors.
Keep in mind that this brand name is focused mainly on commercial roofing, such as bitumen flat roofing or rolled flat roofing.
This brand really does not focus on residential products or residential shingles, although there are a couple of options available.
Either way, this is an absolutely massive brand name, one that serves over 90 different countries with 4000 distributors, and nearly 10,000 employees worldwide, along with more than 100 different production facilities. This brand has been around since 1908, and it was first founded in Strasbourg, France.
What we need to make perfectly clear is that because Soprema doesn’t focus on residential shingles, they don’t have a big product selection on this front, nor is there much information available.
IKO vs. Soprema: How Do They Compare?
Now that you know the basics about both of these brand names, let’s do a quick comparison of some important categories.
Product Lineup
IKO features a pretty decent selection of products to choose from, about 10 different ones, which are spread across four categories, including performance, traditional, architectural, and designer shingles.
Each type of shingle also has a variety of colors to choose from. On the other hand, from what we can tell, Soprema only has four different shingles to choose from, and they’re all a part of the same product lineup. Remember, Soprema does not focus on residential roofing, so this is expected.
Overall Quality
In terms of overall quality, IKO is said to be fairly middle of the line, if not on the lower end of the spectrum. This is known for being a budget brand name that produces decent products at great prices.
This is not to say that IKO shingles are bad by any means, but there are much better ones out there, with Soprema shingles likely being some of those much better ones.
Although there is not much information to go on, from what we have gathered, mainly from anecdotal evidence, Soprema shingles are very good.
Durability
Once again, there really isn’t much information available about Soprema shingles, but from what we can tell, they should be quite durable.
This is because they use the same kind of technology they use for their industrial roofing practices, and their industrial roofing systems are very highly rated.
We would say Soprema shingles are absolutely much more durable than IKO shingles. Once again, IKO shingles are said to be fairly middle of the line.
Wind Rating
Most IKO shingles are rated at either 130 mph or 110 mph, which is pretty standard. Unfortunately, we don’t have any exact figures for Soprema shingle wind ratings, because there just isn’t much information available. That said, we really only hear good things about this brand name, and we haven’t heard any complaints about wind damage.
Algae Resistance
As for algae resistance, IKO shingles are perfectly fine. They use coated granules and other systems to ensure that algae does not grow.
It’s not the number one most reliable in the world, but it gets the job done, especially for the first few years. On the other hand, Soprema offers glass fiber mat bituminous shingles, which should automatically make you fairly resistant to algae.
Energy Efficiency
Most products from IKO are rated as being Energy Star certified, and we assume the same for Soprema shingles. That said, at this time, we were unable to find information on this front for the latter.
Fire Rating
Both of these brand names have Class A fire ratings for the vast majority of their shingles.
Warranty
IKO offers limited lifetime warranties on most products, although there is a lot of fine print that can easily void the warranties.
On the other hand, with Soprema, you can choose from a wide variety of very comprehensive warranties, although they aren’t cheap.
Price
IKO shingles will cost between $0.50 and $1.00 per square foot, whereas at this time, we cannot give you an exact price estimate for Soprema, although it is safe to say it will be much more than that.
IKO vs. Soprema: Which Offers Better Roof Shingles?
In general, Soprema as a brand name is very high-end and they’ve been trusted for commercial and high-quality roofing projects around the world for many years. Although they don’t focus on residential roofing, particularly on shingles, they do have a few very good products.
On the other hand, IKO is a much more budget-friendly brand name, albeit with a much larger selection of residential roofing shingles.
Ultimately, comparing these two brands is almost like comparing apples and oranges, with IKO being designed for budget-friendly residential roofing, and Soprema focusing on high-end commercial applications.
How Does IKO Compare with Other Shingles Brands?
See how IKO compares with: BP | CertainTeed | GAF | Malarkey | Owens Corning | TAMKO