CertainTeed is a North American manufacturer of

building materials Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings and other structures, like bridges. Apart from natur ...

for both commercial and residential construction and is a wholly owned subsidiary of

Saint-Gobain Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, founded in 1665 in Paris as the Manufacture royale de glaces de miroirs, and today headquartered on the outskirts of Paris, at La Défense and in Courbevoie. Originally a ...

SA, based in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

History

The company was established in 1904 as the General Roofing Manufacturing Company by George M. Brown in East St. Louis,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, with $25,000 in start-up capital. In 1917, the company restructured, incorporated, and changed its name to the Certain-teed Products Corporation. It began trading on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

in 1918.

Operations

CertainTeed operates 65 manufacturing plants in the United States and Canada. Certainteed manufactures products for four industries : Roofing, Siding, Insulation, Gypsum and Ceilings. It exports building products to more than 50 countries. CertainTeed has held more than 350 patents on its products in the past 30 years. In 2015, CertainTeed was recognized as the top brand in Siding: insulated, Siding: Vinyl categories, Roofing: Clay/Concrete/Synthetic Tiles, and Roofing Photovoltaic categories.

Litigation

Historically, CertainTeed was a major manufacturer of asbestos-cement pipes for water utilities for many decades.

Asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...

was mixed into the cement as a

binder Binder may refer to: Businesses * Binder FBM, a former German jewelry manufactory * Binder Dijker Otte & Co., the expansion of "BDO" in BDO International Computing * Binder Project, package and share interactive, reproducible environments * Fil ...

. CertainTeed phased out the use of asbestos in its products around 1990. As a result, CertainTeed is now a major defendant in

product liability Product liability is the area of law in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who make products available to the public are held responsible for the injuries those products cause. Although the word "product" has ...

lawsuits brought by persons who worked on water utility projects and their families. On April 29, 2010, in a product liability case filed by a

mesothelioma Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs (known as the mesothelium). The area most commonly affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. Less commonly the lini ...

patient whose husband used to cut CertainTeed pipe for a living, a

Los Angeles Superior Court The Superior Court of Los Angeles County is the California Superior Court located in Los Angeles County. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The Superior Court operates 36 courthouses throughout the county. Curr ...

jury returned a verdict of $8.8 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages against CertainTeed and the

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal Public utility, utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021–2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of wat ...

. The allocation of fault was 70% to CertainTeed and 30% to LADWP. On July 21, 2010, the Court overturned this verdict, and specifically granted CertainTeed's post-trial motions, holding that the punitive damage award was unconstitutional, that the amount of punitive damages could not exceed the amount of compensatory damages, and that a new trial was required on all issues. The case is currently on appeal. A class action suit brought by representatives of the end users against CertainTeed Organic Shingles was approved on September 1, 2010. The complaint was that the shingles were subject to early failure or did not perform as expected by warranty. Some 30 years shingles only lasted 10 years. CertainTeed denies that the shingles were faulty, but quit manufacturing that particular type in 2005. The Court's role in the Settlement was to make sure there was a proper and fair settlement and did not decide in favor of either the Class or CertainTeed. A similar lawsuit is underway for similar complaints arising from CertainTeed Landmark, Independence, and Presidential fiberglass shingles. Throughout 2011 and 2012, many home owners that purchased CertainTeed Fiber Cement Siding (also called WeatherBoards Fiber Cement exterior siding) filed class action lawsuits against the manufacturer due to problems with shrinking, cracking and warping. On January 23, 2020 the successor to CertainTeed filed for bankruptcy protection for Certainteed's asbestos products in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina in Charlotte.

References

External links

Official site

CertainTeed Building Knowledge Blog

Saint-Gobain

Certainteed India

Certainteed Belarus

Premier Exteriors
{{Authority control Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Building materials companies of the United States Manufacturing companies established in 1904 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 Manufacturing companies based in Pennsylvania Companies based in Chester County, Pennsylvania Saint-Gobain American subsidiaries of foreign companies