How Solid is Your Roof?

Home is where your heart is. It’s where our loved ones, treasured memories, and most valued possessions go to be sheltered and find comfort, not just a place to lay our heads at night. When it comes to protecting your home, the support structure is important, weatherproofing matters, and even the windows you choose can have a big impact. Even more important than most of your home’s construction is a feature often overlooked or disregarded: your roof. Where a solid foundation and weatherproofing measures help protect your home from damage underneath, your roof does the same from the top down. But did you realize that your roof does more than simply prevent rain or leaves from landing on you in your sleep?

Better Protection All Around

Your roof does so much more than simply cap off your home and add that extra layer of curb appeal. The primary goal, as you probably imagine, is to offer protection against the ravages of wind and rain so you and your family can sleep soundly knowing you’re not going to get a surprise soaking or have a branch from your old oak conk you on the head. But your roof does more than protect against those obvious attackers; it also provides protection against smaller issues that your home could otherwise face. A well-built roof will help keep your home insulated, so it stays cool during the summer and warm in the winter without a huge cost in utilities. It also serves as one of the primary levels of defence to help your home last. Without a good roof, the internal structure of your home would wear away at a much faster rate—to the point that you’d be repairing walls and floors constantly, or very nearly that often. Your roof helps stop prevent damage to your home’s interior structure, which in turn means your home as a whole will last longer, assuming you keep your roof in good repair.

How A Roof Protects

Think back to those science classes as a kid, and what you learned about the effects water and wind can have on just about anything in nature. A slowly trickling stream can eventually carve away silt, sand, and even dense rock to form a riverbed that will, over time, grow to a canyon. Add in wind, and that process speeds along even more quickly. Now, imagine what would happen to your home if water could seep into your walls and get under your floors every time it rained. The wood and insulation used to create the walls are a great deal softer and more porous than rock, so without protection, it would all wear away quickly, leaving you with little more than a foundation and some siding.

All of the modern materials used on the exterior of a home—whether we’re talking siding, windows, doors, or roofing materials—are designed specifically to protect your home as much as possible from the gradual wearing that happens just from natural effects. Add in home improvement projects gone wrong, and your kid’s exuberance for practicing for the baseball team and, well, your home needs all the help it can get to stay strong and protected. The multiple layers of your roof are designed to provide a watertight barrier so moisture and pests cannot find their way into your home’s internal structure. In fact, even the way your roof is shaped and put together is done in such a way that it prevents as much as possible from getting in.

Charleston-Specific Roofing Concerns

There are a few things to consider specifically when it comes to protecting your Charleston home from the climate and weather we experience here. The local climate should always be taken into account when choosing roofing materials, so you know your home is protected against what it should be. And, let’s face it, blizzards aren’t exactly a huge concern. Taking climate into account is a way to balance what your home needs for protection as well as a way to save money by cutting out unnecessary costs.

On average, Charleston sees 119 rainy days a year. While we don’t see a ton in the way of freezing temperatures, that’s nearly a third of the year that will be wet—and as we mentioned above, that moisture can rapidly have a negative effect on your home if it isn’t properly protected. Of course, anyone who has lived in the area for more than a year or two understands that rain isn’t the only problem. Your roof should not only be able to withstand the wet, but also the wind. While no roofing company can guarantee a hurricane-proof roof, there are methods to help your roof better withstand the high winds, rain, and batterings from high-powered storms.

Sadly, it’s not just those high-speed winds that cause major issues. South Carolina rates as one of the states that sees the most hail storms each year. We know, it’s not something we really want to be known for. Unfortunately, that doesn’t change the fact that it happens, so whether you’re choosing materials for a new roof or you’re replacing your aging one, be sure it’s prepared for all the hail! At Kramer Construction, we have been helping Charleston residents with their roofing needs for more than twenty years, so we know how to focus in on those local weather concerns that are most likely to impact your home.