Top Hazards and Dangers to Your Roof From a Hurricane

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported that the total amount of insured losses from Irma in Florida totaled $17.4 billion. While Hurricane Irma is the third most costly hurricane in the United States, it showcases the kind of damage that can occur from the powerful resulting storms. In Jacksonville, you are much more likely to experience a severe hurricane. In fact, six out of the 10 most costly hurricanes in the United States to date have resulted in significant losses in the state of Florida. Because of this, you will want to be fully aware of the potential hazards and dangers that can occur to your roof resulting from a hurricane.

Damage From Wind

In order to be classified as a hurricane in the first place, the storm winds must meet or exceed 74 miles per hour. This hurricane would be classified as a category 1. Whereas, a category 5 hurricane can experience winds greater than 156 miles per hour. What’s important to know is that even category 1 hurricanes can result in damage to your roof. Therefore, when your home and roof are exposed to category 5 wind intensity, you can expect complete total roof failure. The damage from wind can come either directly or indirectly. The wind could be so powerful that it snaps large branches off surrounding trees. Likewise, it could even snap a tree in half and cause it to fall directly on your roof. Whereas, your roof shingles can come flying off after being ripped from your roof.

Water Damage

Unfortunately, hurricanes are accompanied by both wind and heavy rainfall. When you have shingles ripped off your roof, it leaves the interior portion of your roof exposed to the elements which can result in further damage to your roof. Even if the wind doesn’t cause the first point of weakness to your roof, without a properly functioning gutter system, your roof could take on too much weight or have its structure weakened by the resulting heavy rainfall. This could cause your roof to completely collapse.

The best way to protect yourself from a complete roofing disaster is by having your roof routinely inspected by professionals. That way, you can correct issues before they spiral out of control and put you at an increased risk for suffering a roofing disaster. Also, you want to ensure that you aren’t waiting too long to replace a worn-out roof. By getting high-quality underlayments and materials, you should be able to mitigate the risk of taking on serious damage from lesser hurricanes that are much more frequent.

Whether you’ve experienced a roofing disaster resulting from a strong hurricane or you are looking to replace your roof to minimize future issues, you will want to ensure that you hire a reputable roofing contractor that cares about your satisfaction.

About Prime Roofing

Prime Roofing understands the unique challenges Jacksonville homeowners are faced with. We are an Owens Corning Platinum Certified Contractor with a proven track record of quality installations, and offer the best warranty in the business. Therefore, you can rest easy knowing that you are getting professional roofing installation from a company that cares about your satisfaction.

Call (904) 530-1446 to schedule a roof inspection or tell us about your home here.