Roof replacement, leak repair and hail & storm damage for homes in Isle of Palms. In Isle of Palms, the 2021 IRC is in force and the median home was built in 1986. It starts with a free inspection that photographs every slope.
Isle of Palms runs to about 4.4 square miles and roughly 4,362 people. It sits about 11 miles east of downtown Charleston. The community dates back to 1953. We cover ZIP code 29451.
No completed roof in Isle of Palms is logged in our job records yet.
Large-scale building began after a 1946 bridge link, when J.C. Long built low-cost houses for returning World War II veterans; the 900-acre Wild Dunes resort community followed from 1975.
That includes Wild Dunes. Housing age and construction shift across Isle of Palms, sometimes by decades within a few streets, which is why we look at the roof before we quote rather than after.
Isle of Palms is a narrow barrier island hugging the beach, separated from the mainland by the Intracoastal Waterway. Hurricane Hugo's storm surge flooded much of the island in 1989, and the northeast end at Wild Dunes went through a serious beach-erosion crisis that led to a sand renourishment project in 2008.
Housing from this stretch in Isle of Palms sits on plywood or OSB decking and was largely first roofed with three-tab shingles. Most are on their second covering by now. The things worth checking are the penetrations rather than the field: pipe boots from this era are the single most common leak we trace, because the rubber collar splits long before the shingles wear out. Ridge venting was inconsistent through these years, and OSB that has been damp for a season goes soft in a way plywood does not — you find it with your feet, not from the ground.
The Census Bureau counts 4,588 homes in Isle of Palms, with a median year built of 1986. 13 of them (0%) went up before 1940 — 23rd of 28 places on this site for pre-1940 share — and 875 (19%) in 2000 or later. The 1980s were the busiest decade, adding 1,651 of today's homes (36%). That is below 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. That puts 3,713 homes in Isle of Palms, the 81% built before 2000, past at least one full roof life; 779 of them (17%) predate 1970, old enough for two replacements already. First replacements are arriving on the 547 homes built in the 2000s, while the 328 built since 2010 are mostly still on the roof they were built with.
Detached single-family houses make up 70% (3,209); attached houses and townhouses 3% (136). 172 homes (4%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings and 1,071 (23%) in buildings of ten units or more, whose roofs are normally an owner's or a board's call rather than a resident's. Owners live in 93% of the 2,043 occupied homes. On a housing mix like this, the likely work is first replacements on 2000s builder-grade shingles.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 13 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 177 | 4% | |
| 1950s | 213 | 5% | |
| 1960s | 376 | 8% | |
| 1970s | 600 | 13% | |
| 1980s | 1,651 | 36% | |
| 1990s | 683 | 15% | |
| 2000s | 547 | 12% | |
| 2010s | 314 | 7% | |
| 2020 or later | 14 | 0% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 4,588 homes, 2,043 occupied. Survey estimates.
From 2016 through 2025, NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center recorded 4 reports of hail of 1 inch or more within 5 miles of Isle of Palms’ center, spread over 3 storm days. None was 1.75 inches or larger. The largest, 1.5 inches, came on August 8, 2019, about 1.1 miles west 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 | 4.3 mi NW |
| August 8, 2019 | 1.5 inches | 1.1 mi W |
| August 8, 2019 | 1 inch | 1.7 mi NE |
| July 26, 2018 | 1 inch | 4.9 mi W |
If one of those storms crossed your street and nobody has been on the roof since, a storm inspection photographs what it did.
The city's permit page does not name roofing. For alterations, renovations and miscellaneous repairs it asks for a full list of the work with material and labor costs, a signed contract between the owner and the contractor, and a Wild Dunes permit where that applies. Building permits cost $60 plus $6 per $1,000 of project value, and a zoning permit fee of $25 applies to projects up to $50,000 that need a building permit.
Isle of Palms enforces the 2021 IRC. The city lists the 2021 South Carolina or International Residential Code with South Carolina modifications, the 2021 building, fire, plumbing, mechanical and fuel gas codes with South Carolina modifications, the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code and the 2020 National Electrical Code.
The published number is 843-886-9912. The city's building staff list names David Hines as Building Inspector. It does not name a Building Official. The department page is here.
Wind design changes with location across greater Charleston: the published ultimate design wind speeds run 133–150 mph, and the building department can say which figure applies to a given address. See the roofing code guide for what it governs.
Isle of Palms borders Sullivan's Island, Dewees Island, Breach Inlet, Intracoastal Waterway and Atlantic Ocean. Our pages for them:
Also in Charleston County:
| City | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isle of Palms | Not published | 2021 IRC | 1986 |
| Sullivan's Island | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1981 |
| Adams Run | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1984 |
| Awendaw | Yes | 2021 IRC | 2001 |
| Charleston | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1995 |
| Unincorporated Charleston County | Yes | 2021 IRC | — |
| Edisto Island | Yes | 2021 IRC | — |
All 22 Charleston County cities side by side →
The city's permit page does not name roofing. For alterations, renovations and miscellaneous repairs it asks for a full list of the work with material and labor costs, a signed contract between the owner and the contractor, and a Wild Dunes permit where that applies. Building permits cost $60 plus $6 per $1,000 of project value, and a zoning permit fee of $25 applies to projects up to $50,000 that need a building permit.
Isle of Palms enforces the 2021 IRC. The city lists the 2021 South Carolina or International Residential Code with South Carolina modifications, the 2021 building, fire, plumbing, mechanical and fuel gas codes with South Carolina modifications, the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code and the 2020 National Electrical Code.
The Census Bureau's 2020–2024 estimates put the median year built at 1986: 0% of Isle of Palms' 4,588 homes predate 1940 and 19% were built in 2000 or later. At the usual 20-year roof life, 81% have needed at least one new roof already.
Yes. The most recent report of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of Isle of Palms' center was 1 inch on June 15, 2021, one of 4 such reports from 2016 through 2025.
Not yet: no completed roof in Isle of Palms 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.iop.net · www.iop.net · www.iop.net · www.iop.net · www.iop.net · www.iop.net · www.isleofpalms.gov · www.isleofpalms.gov · www.isleofpalms.gov · www.isleofpalms.gov · en.wikipedia.org · www.isleofpalms.gov · www.isleofpalms.gov · www.scencyclopedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · pastforward.org · www.scstatehouse.gov · www2.census.gov · data.census.gov · www.spc.noaa.gov. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.
