Onduline corrugated cellulose-bitumen roofing

[guad]

Hi, any opinion or comments on Onduline roofing? Has anyone here used it on their house or building? It is corrugated cellulose-bitumen and comes in panels.

There is a YouTube video apparently made by one of their dealers in the Philippines, entitled 'Onduline Classic Roof Installation'.

[Hchie]

We have just finished building a 110 sqm house with onduline roofing. If rain noise reduction is an issue for you, then onduline is it. It also helps insulate the house against our tropical heat although we still added Aerofoam insulation just to make sure. It is not as sturdy as galvanized roofing material and can crack when mishandled so care in installation is needed. Watch out for installers who walk without care on the roof. We've been living in the house for barely a month and so far happy with our choice.

[guad]

Thanks for that feedback.

It looks like a good product and being quieter than metal is nice. I am concerned though about long term. I noticed from Onduline brochure, that it is sold all over the world except USA. From searching the web, I think they used to sell in USA before, but then there was some kind of class action lawsuit having to do with the long term performance/behavior of the product and the supposedly lifetime warranty.

Interestingly, in USA, Onduline (French company) no longer seems to have a presence, but there is a new US company named Ondura that seems to be making a similar thing.

So I wonder what the story is with that lawsuit, whether there was any merit, and with this Ondura business.

[Redvers]

Onduline / Ondura is a terrible product.

We used it on our new house build in 1995. A couple of years later the colour was faded and the impregnated bitumen/tar/asphalt was leeching through the sheets making the roof black/grey/faded green colour.
We complained to Onduline who inspected the sheeting - told us that it was a "bad batch" and painted it at their cost.
A couple of years later - the paint started peeling off in big strips and flakes.
Now the roof is an absolute eyesore. The sheeting sags, collapses, becomes thin and brittle with cracks and holes. The corrugations disappear and flatten out. Because of this the roof leaks. The paint cannot adhere to the tar that leeches through all the time and therefore peels off.
Onduline are not interested in my complaints now - telling me to repaint or replace..... Yeah right - at HUGE expense.
BEWARE - THIS IS A DISASTER PRODUCT - STAY AWAY FROM IT.
Searching the web I came across the websites with many people with the same horror stories as mine (e-mail me and I can give you the links if you wish and I can show photos).
There was a class action suit against the company as well - if you search the web you will find it.

[npk]

Onduline....a major fire hazard...doesn't last...deform easily.

Been cheated thousands of dollars!!

Don't use Onduline!