Roofing for Sullivan's Island homes: replacement, leaks and storm damage. In Sullivan's Island, the 2021 IRC is in force and 74% of the 1,088 homes were built before 2000. Any permit the job needs is ours to pull.
Sullivan's Island runs to about 2.5 square miles and roughly 2,087 people. It sits about 6 miles east of downtown Charleston. The community dates back to 1975. We cover ZIP code 29482.
Most of the island's historic houses sit in local or National Register districts, and a change to a historic property needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the town's Design Review Board, separate from the building permit. Regular maintenance usually needs no review. The town's guidelines ask for historic slate, standing-seam metal and tile to be repaired and replaced in kind, allow composition shingles to replace worn composition shingles, and treat standing-seam or crimped metal as the traditional island roof.
No completed roof in Sullivan's Island is logged in our job records yet.
Mostly one- to two-story frame island houses and cottages from about 1880 to 1950 on raised pier foundations, plus former Fort Moultrie officers' quarters sold to private owners after 1947 and larger homes built since Hurricane Hugo.
That includes Moultrieville and Atlanticville. Housing age and construction shift across Sullivan's Island, sometimes by decades within a few streets, which is why we look at the roof before we quote rather than after.
Sullivan's Island sits at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, home of Fort Moultrie, and grew as a summer resort for Charleston. Its traditional 'island houses' are frame cottages built with porches to catch the ocean breeze, many raised on brick or wood piers to stand above high water, and storms have kept the island in a cycle of building and rebuilding. After Hurricane Hugo in 1989 many small island houses were replaced with much larger modern homes.
From this stretch of building, houses in Sullivan's Island sit on plywood or OSB, were first roofed in three-tab shingles, and are mostly on their second roof now. Trouble tends to be at the penetrations rather than across the field: the rubber collar on a pipe boot splits years before the shingles give out, and it is the leak we trace most often. Ridge vents were hit and miss in these decades, and OSB that stays damp for a season softens in a way plywood does not, something you feel underfoot rather than see from the yard.
The Census Bureau counts 1,088 homes in Sullivan's Island, with a median year built of 1981. 297 of them (27%) went up before 1940 — the 1st-highest pre-1940 share of the 28 places on this site — and 284 (26%) in 2000 or later. More of today's homes date from before 1940 than from any decade since. (Charleston County as a whole: 5% before 1940.)
The Residential Rehabilitation Inspection Guide published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development puts the service life of an asphalt shingle roof at about 20 years. By that measure, 74% of Sullivan's Island's homes — the 804 built before 2000 — are past their first roof; 442 of them (41%) predate 1970, old enough for two replacements already. First replacements are arriving on the 117 homes built in the 2000s, while the 167 built since 2010 are mostly still on the roof they were built with. Older houses are where a second layer laid over the first turns up, and that layer is what hides soft decking.
90% of homes in Sullivan's Island are single-family detached houses (982) and 1% attached ones such as townhouses (10). 31 homes (3%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings and 56 (5%) in buildings of ten units or more, where a resident rarely gets to choose the roofer. 85% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, 15% rented. Read together, those figures point toward full tear-offs on houses past two roof lives and deck and flashing checks on pre-war board sheathing.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 297 | 27% | |
| 1940s | 39 | 4% | |
| 1950s | 63 | 6% | |
| 1960s | 43 | 4% | |
| 1970s | 96 | 9% | |
| 1980s | 96 | 9% | |
| 1990s | 170 | 16% | |
| 2000s | 117 | 11% | |
| 2010s | 122 | 11% | |
| 2020 or later | 45 | 4% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 1,088 homes, 798 occupied. Survey estimates.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center logged 3 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of Sullivan’s Island’s center from 2016 through 2025, on 3 different days. None was 1.75 inches or larger. The largest, 1.5 inches, came on August 8, 2019, about 4.1 miles northeast of the center. The most recent was 1 inch on June 15, 2021. These are reports, not a full record: they come from spotters and the public, so busier areas log more.
| Latest reports | Size | From center |
|---|---|---|
| June 15, 2021 | 1 inch | 4.1 mi N |
| August 8, 2019 | 1.5 inches | 4.1 mi NE |
| July 26, 2018 | 1 inch | 4.1 mi N |
If one of those storms crossed your street and nobody has been on the roof since, a storm inspection photographs what it did.
The Building Department says building permits are required by law for any repair or improvement to a residential or business property, and the Town's floodplain permit page adds that a permit may be needed even for emergency repairs. The Town's substantial damage and improvement form lists roofing, including re-shingling or retiling a roof, among the costs it counts. Repair permits cost $59.50 plus $7.60 per $1,000 of value, plus a $29.75 issue fee, and work without a permit is charged double. When in doubt, the Town says to call the Building Official at 843-883-5732.
Sullivan's Island enforces the 2021 IRC. The town says it follows the current building codes adopted by the South Carolina Building Codes Council. Statewide that is the 2021 South Carolina Residential Code, in force since January 1, 2023, although the town's codes page still lists the 2018 editions. The town also publishes its own entries for the code's design table, including seismic design category D2.
The published number is 843-883-5732. The building official on record is Max Wurthmann, Building Official. The department page is here.
The design wind speed a roof in Sullivan's Island 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.
Sullivan's Island borders Mount Pleasant, Isle of Palms, Charleston Harbor, Breach Inlet and Intracoastal Waterway. Our pages for them:
Also in Charleston County:
| City | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sullivan's Island | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1981 |
| Mount Pleasant | Yes | 2021 IRC | 2000 |
| Isle of Palms | Not published | 2021 IRC | 1986 |
| 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 →
The Building Department says building permits are required by law for any repair or improvement to a residential or business property, and the Town's floodplain permit page adds that a permit may be needed even for emergency repairs. The Town's substantial damage and improvement form lists roofing, including re-shingling or retiling a roof, among the costs it counts. Repair permits cost $59.50 plus $7.60 per $1,000 of value, plus a $29.75 issue fee, and work without a permit is charged double. When in doubt, the Town says to call the Building Official at 843-883-5732.
Sullivan's Island enforces the 2021 IRC. The town says it follows the current building codes adopted by the South Carolina Building Codes Council. Statewide that is the 2021 South Carolina Residential Code, in force since January 1, 2023, although the town's codes page still lists the 2018 editions. The town also publishes its own entries for the code's design table, including seismic design category D2.
Older than most people guess: the Census puts 74% of Sullivan's Island's homes before 2000 and 41% before 1970, with a median year built of 1981 (2020–2024 estimates). A roof usually lasts about 20 years, so the deck and the layers get checked before any quote.
3 reports of 1-inch-plus hail fell within 5 miles of Sullivan's Island between 2016 and 2025, the biggest 1.5 inches on August 8, 2019 (NOAA Storm Prediction Center).
The building official on record is Max Wurthmann, Building Official. The department's own number is on this page, beside its name.
It can. Sullivan's Island has Sullivan's Island Historic District, Moultrieville Historic District, Atlanticville Historic District and Fort Moultrie Quartermaster and Support Facilities 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 Sullivan's Island 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: sullivansisland.sc.gov · sullivansisland.sc.gov · sullivansisland.sc.gov · sullivansisland.sc.gov · sullivansisland.sc.gov · sullivansisland.sc.gov · sullivansisland.sc.gov · sullivansisland.sc.gov · sullivansisland.sc.gov · sullivansisland.sc.gov · sullivansisland.sc.gov · sullivansisland.sc.gov · sullivansisland.sc.gov · en.wikipedia.org · sullivansisland.sc.gov · sullivansisland.sc.gov · www.nationalregister.sc.gov · www.nationalregister.sc.gov · www.nationalregister.sc.gov · www.nationalregister.sc.gov · www.nationalregister.sc.gov · en.wikipedia.org · charlestonmag.com · scencyclopedia.org · www.isleofpalms.gov · en.wikipedia.org · www.scstatehouse.gov · data.census.gov · www.spc.noaa.gov. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.
