Hurricane Roof Protection in Charleston

The season, and what the record shows

The National Weather Service puts the Atlantic hurricane season at June 1 through November 30. Its Charleston office has gone back through the official storm record: from 1851 through 2018, 41 tropical cyclones made landfall in its forecast area, which runs from Charleston County down to the Georgia coast, and 17 of those came ashore in Charleston County itself. August and September each saw 12 of the landfalls; the earliest came in May and the latest in October.

Two storms set the local benchmark. The office calls a 1752 hurricane that struck just south of the city near high tide likely the worst ever to hit Charleston. Within living memory, Hugo crossed Sullivan's Island around midnight on September 22, 1989, with sustained winds the weather service estimates at 135 to 140 mph, and its hurricane-force gusts reached as far inland as western North Carolina. Summerville and Moncks Corner are not out of reach.

What design wind means at your address

Each department states an ultimate design wind speed, the gust the structure is designed for, and the number changes across the metro:

Those speeds drive more than shingles. South Carolina's changes to the 2021 code require a continuous load path that holds the roof down all the way to the foundation, and the code's Section R802.11 requires rafters and trusses to be connected to the walls to resist uplift for that design speed. In Moncks Corner, the town tells builders its 140 mph figure is past the limits of the code's standard prescriptive rules, and it requires impact glazing everywhere and design-pressure ratings for every door and window on plans.

Where a roof lets go first

FEMA's coastal guidance and the FORTIFIED standard both concentrate on the same places: the roof's edges, its openings and its deck.

• Eaves and rakes. Wind gets under the first course and peels upward. FEMA's shingle guidance adds sealed starter strips and dabs of roof cement at the rakes for this reason.
• Ridges and hips. Caps with too few fasteners lift off, and FEMA's metal roof advisory shows ridge flashing blown away where screws were spaced too far apart.
• Vents. Ridge vents and other openings can let wind-driven rain into the attic; the FORTIFIED Roof standard requires vents rated to resist it.
• The deck seams. Once shingles and underlayment are gone, rain pours through the joints between sheathing panels. FORTIFIED requires a sealed roof deck so a damaged covering does not mean a wet house.
• The deck nails. Sheathing that pulls off the rafters takes everything above it. FORTIFIED requires ring-shank nails in a tighter pattern, which it says roughly doubles the deck's wind resistance.

The weather service also warns that roofing material and anything left outside can become flying debris in a hurricane, which is how one failed roof damages the next house over.

The FORTIFIED Roof standard in plain terms

FORTIFIED is a building standard set by IBHS, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. For the roof, the program lists these requirements:

• A sealed roof deck, so water cannot run through the sheathing joints if the covering is lost.
• Ring-shank nails in an enhanced pattern, with closer spacing, to hold the deck down.
• A wider drip edge and a fully adhered starter strip at the edges.
• Asphalt shingles with the highest wind ratings, ASTM D3161 Class F or ASTM D7158 Class H.
• Attic vents rated to resist wind and rain.

IBHS tells homeowners to hire a FORTIFIED-trained roofer, so ask anyone quoting a FORTIFIED roof how the designation will be documented. Most of the pieces are worth having either way; see roof shingles for the wind classes.

SC Safe Home grants: how the program works

SC Safe Home is the South Carolina Department of Insurance's hurricane mitigation grant program. Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester are among the coastal counties it serves. Per the department's pages:

• Who qualifies. Owner-occupants of a single-family, freestanding home that is their primary residence, with an active homeowners policy, no earlier Safe Home grant and no prior storm damage or storm claim payouts on the home.
• How much. Up to $7,500 non-matching or $6,000 matching for a Resilient Mitigation project, up to $5,000 or $4,000 for Sustainable Mitigation, and up to $3,000 for shutters or other opening protection. Non-matching amounts depend on household income.
• What it pays toward on a roof. Stronger roof deck attachment, a secondary water barrier, a covering rated for high wind, bracing at gable ends and stronger roof-to-wall connections.
• The order of things. An inspection and grant approval come before any work, and work already done is not reimbursed.

What your insurer has to tell you

South Carolina puts a disclosure duty on home insurers. Under S.C. Code 38-75-755, when a personal residential policy is issued and again at each renewal, the insurer must spell out the range of any price break it gives for features or building methods proven to cut windstorm losses, explain catastrophe savings accounts, and describe what you can do to lower the windstorm part of your premium. The same section requires the insurer to say whether a separate hurricane or named-storm deductible applies to your policy, with a worked example.

The Department of Insurance adds that SC Safe Home and FORTIFIED Roof work can make a home eligible for insurance discounts, and that the amounts vary by company. The statute sets no percentages, and nothing on this site can tell you what your insurer will offer.

The useful step is simple: find that notice in your renewal packet, read what your company lists, and ask your agent which upgrades it recognizes and what paperwork it wants as proof before any work starts. Our inspection report and the photos from a replacement are yours to hand over.

A roof check before June

Most of this can be done from the ground with binoculars and from the attic with a flashlight:

1. Edges. Look for shingles lifted or missing along the eaves and the gable ends, and for loose or bent edge metal.
2. Ridge and hips. Cap shingles or metal caps that are cracked, lifted or missing fasteners.
3. Penetrations. Pipe boots, vents and chimney flashing that look cracked, rusted or pulled away.
4. Gutters and downspouts. Cleared out, and the hangers and straps tight; see gutters.
5. Trees. Limbs hanging over the roof are the ones that come through it.
6. The attic. Daylight at the roof edge, water stains on the sheathing, and whether you can see metal straps or clips where the rafters meet the walls.
7. Photos. Take dated pictures of every slope you can see, the attic and the outside walls. If a storm does damage the roof, pictures from before are the best record you will have.

If you would rather have someone else climb, our inspection is free and photographs every slope and the gutters, and you keep the report and the photos even if you never hire us.

Upgrades that ride along with a new roof

When the old roof is off, the deck is open and the cost of strengthening it is mostly materials. That is the moment to settle:

• Deck fastening. Loose or under-nailed sheathing re-fastened before anything covers it. Several departments here make the deck a checkpoint: Kiawah Island's ordinance calls for a roof sheathing inspection before the covering goes on, and the City of Charleston, Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island list sheathing and strapping inspections.
• Deck seams. Charleston County's underlayment form accepts 4-inch strips of self-adhering membrane over every joint in the deck, with underlayment over the whole roof, as one of its methods.
• Shingle class and nails. Class H or Class F shingles, and stainless nails within 3,000 feet of saltwater, as FEMA's coastal guidance recommends.
• Edges, ridge and vents. Drip edge at every eave and rake, a sealed starter course, and vents built for wind-driven rain.

We pull the permit, and the scope prices each of these separately, so you can weigh them one by one. Six nails a shingle and ice-and-water membrane along the eaves and in the valleys are standard on our replacements.

After the wind drops

Stay off a wet or damaged roof. From the ground, look for missing shingles, bare deck, bent edge metal and debris, and check the ceilings inside for new stains.

If water is coming in, a temporary cover is the first job, and we do emergency tarping. The local rules make room for it: Charleston County lets emergency repairs start before the permit as long as the application follows by the next business day, Sullivan's Island notes a permit may still be needed for emergency repairs, and in Mount Pleasant's Old Village a stopgap cover that keeps damage from spreading is exempt from historic review.

For what comes next, including federal tarp programs after declared disasters and how a claim works under South Carolina law, see storm damage.

Common questions about hurricane roof protection in Charleston

Where we work

Hurricane roof protection across greater Charleston, from the sea islands and beach towns to Summerville, Goose Creek and Moncks Corner. Each city has its own page with the permit rule and code edition that apply there: