These two shingles are the top of the designer asphalt category. We install both — typically Grand Sequoia three times for every Grand Manor — and the choice between them is rarely about quality. It is about which aesthetic the house wants.
Construction
Both are laminated, oversized, heavyweight architectural shingles. Both carry lifetime limited warranties. Both meet the Florida Building Code wind uplift requirements with the right attachment pattern.
- Grand Sequoia: 5/12 exposure, deeper random pattern, marketed as a wood-shake replacement.
- Grand Manor: 5/8 exposure, more uniform stagger, marketed as a slate replacement.
The Grand Sequoia is approximately 480 lbs per square. The Grand Manor is approximately 430 lbs.
Aesthetic
Grand Sequoia reads as cedar shake or weathered wood. The shadow lines are long and irregular. It looks beautiful on Shingle-style and Craftsman architecture; it reads slightly off on Mediterranean.
Grand Manor reads as slate. The tablets are visually distinct from one another, and the color blends mimic natural stone variation. Looks correct on homes that originally would have specified slate.
Color
Grand Sequoia's strongest colors are Cedar, Mission Brown, and Weathered Wood. Grand Manor's strongest are Stonegate Gray, Weathered Wood, and Colonial Slate. The Weathered Wood is the only color name they share, and the shingles themselves do not match.
Installation
The Grand Manor's heavier tablet stagger requires meaningful care at the nailing line — the laminated tablets can shift during fastening if the field is not stable. The Grand Sequoia's longer shadow runs need to be cut clean at hips and rakes; jagged hip cuts read worse on the Sequoia than on a standard architectural.
Both shingles need GAF Cobra ridge ventilation (or CertainTeed equivalent) to look correct at the ridgeline. A standard ridge cap on either of these shingles is a visual giveaway.
Cost
Within $1.50 per square foot of each other, installed. Not a decision driver.
What we recommend, by case
- Shingle-style coastal home: Grand Sequoia.
- Mediterranean Revival, value-engineered: Grand Manor.
- Colonial Revival: either, with a slight preference for Grand Manor.
- Modernist: neither — go to a metal standing seam or flat membrane.
A caution
Both manufacturers run periodic color discontinuations. If you are matching to existing roof areas, request a current color sample, not a brochure. The 2023 Grand Manor Colonial Slate is materially different from the 2026 version.
Filed under