Roofing for Rockville homes: replacement, leaks and storm damage. In Rockville, the median home was built in 1975. Any permit the job needs is ours to pull.
Rockville runs to about 0.4 square miles and roughly 121 people. It sits about 19 miles southwest of downtown Charleston. The community dates back to 1996. We cover ZIP code 29487.
Rockville's Design Review Board applies the town's design guidelines to residential work that needs a building permit, with stricter rules in the historic village: roofs there need at least a 4:12 pitch and architectural shingles, standing-seam metal or a material with a similar look. The town asks owners to contact the board before changing how a home looks from outside.
No completed roof in Rockville is logged in our job records yet.
Many antebellum summer houses built by planters, nearly all with spacious porches, raised foundations and central halls.
Rockville is a tiny town at the south end of Wadmalaw Island on Bohicket Creek, founded as a planters' summer retreat and one of Charleston County's oldest surviving summer resorts (about 1824). Nearly all of its historic houses have spacious porches, raised foundations and central halls built to catch sea breezes, under live oaks hung with Spanish moss. The town hosts the Rockville Regatta, held since 1890.
The postwar housing in Rockville is mostly simple to roof, which is why it gets done badly so often. Decking is usually 1x6 boards or early plywood, still sound but worth walking rather than assuming. The recurring problems are the low-slope sections — porch roofs, carport tie-ins, the flat bit over an addition — where a shingle was installed below its rated pitch and has been failing quietly ever since. Attic ventilation on houses of this era is also routinely short of what current shingle warranties require, and under-venting cooks a roof from underneath. We measure intake against exhaust before we quote rather than just nailing on a ridge vent and calling it solved.
The Census Bureau counts 71 homes in Rockville, with a median year built of 1975. 5 of them (7%) went up before 1940 — 8th of 28 places on this site for pre-1940 share — and 16 (23%) in 2000 or later. The 1970s were the busiest decade, adding 12 of today's homes (17%). That is above Charleston County's 5%.
About 20 years is the usual service life of an asphalt shingle roof, by the figure in HUD's Residential Rehabilitation Inspection Guide. On that yardstick the 55 homes in Rockville built before 2000 (77%) have outlived at least one roof; 30 of them (42%) predate 1970, old enough for two replacements already. First replacements are arriving on the 11 homes built in the 2000s, while the 5 built since 2010 are mostly still on the roof they were built with. At that age it pays to know whether the last roof was torn off or laid over the one before it, because a second layer hides the deck.
By building type: 66 detached houses (93%), 0 attached (0%). Owners live in 91% of the 58 occupied homes. With houses like these, the jobs we expect most are full tear-offs on houses past two roof lives and first replacements on 2000s builder-grade shingles.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 5 | 7% | |
| 1940s | 11 | 15% | |
| 1950s | 10 | 14% | |
| 1960s | 4 | 6% | |
| 1970s | 12 | 17% | |
| 1980s | 5 | 7% | |
| 1990s | 8 | 11% | |
| 2000s | 11 | 15% | |
| 2010s | 0 | 0% | |
| 2020 or later | 5 | 7% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 71 homes, 58 occupied. Survey estimates.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center logged no reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of Rockville’s center from 2016 through 2025. That is a gap in the reports rather than proof that no hail fell: reports come from spotters and the public.
Rockville's Design Review Guidelines apply to all residential work that needs a building permit, and the town asks owners to raise any change to a home's outward appearance beyond normal upkeep with the Design Review Board before work starts.
Rockville does not publish the code edition it currently enforces, so this page does not name one. Worth asking any contractor which edition they are building to.
The published number is 843-202-6930. The town's Code Enforcement Officer enforces town codes and can issue stop-work orders and fines. The department page is here.
The design wind speed a roof in Rockville is built to depends on where the house stands: across greater Charleston the published ultimate design wind speeds run 133–150 mph. The building department can confirm the figure, and the code guide explains what it governs.
Rockville borders Wadmalaw Island, Seabrook Island and Bohicket Creek. Our pages for them:
Also in Charleston County:
| City | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockville | Not published | Not published | 1975 |
| Wadmalaw Island | Yes | 2021 IRC | — |
| Seabrook Island | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1988 |
| Adams Run | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1984 |
| Awendaw | Yes | 2021 IRC | 2001 |
| Charleston | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1995 |
| Unincorporated Charleston County | Yes | 2021 IRC | — |
All 22 Charleston County cities side by side →
Rockville's Design Review Guidelines apply to all residential work that needs a building permit, and the town asks owners to raise any change to a home's outward appearance beyond normal upkeep with the Design Review Board before work starts.
Median year built 1975, by the Census Bureau's 2020–2024 estimates. Of 71 homes, 55 were built before 2000 and 5 before 1940, so most roofs in Rockville are not the first one the house has had.
It can. Rockville has Rockville Historic District. Inside a designated district, changing a visible roof material or color can need preservation review before the permit is issued. Like-for-like replacement usually raises fewer questions, but we check before quoting.
Not yet: no completed roof in Rockville is in our job records, so this page shows no job count.
Researched 2026-10-24; housing, Census ACS 2020–2024; hail, NOAA SPC. Sources: www.townofrockville.com · www.townofrockville.com · www.townofrockville.com · www.townofrockville.com · www.townofrockville.com · www.townofrockville.com · www.charlestoncounty.gov · www.charlestoncounty.gov · www.charlestoncounty.gov · llr.sc.gov · en.wikipedia.org · www.townofrockville.com · www.nationalregister.sc.gov · en.wikipedia.org · www.scstatehouse.gov · www2.census.gov · data.census.gov · www.spc.noaa.gov. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.
