In North Charleston, the 2021 IRC is in force and the median home was built in 1996. We replace and repair roofs here and inspect after hail, starting with a free, photographed inspection.
North Charleston runs to about 78.0 square miles and roughly 119,913 people. It sits about 12 miles northwest of downtown Charleston. The community dates back to 1972. We cover ZIP codes 29404, 29405, 29406, 29418, 29420, 29456 and 29485.
No completed roof in North Charleston is logged in our job records yet.
In 1914 the North Charleston Development Corporation was formed to build houses for the area; Park Circle was named one of This Old House's 2012 Best Old-House Neighborhoods, and the Navy Yard officers' quarters along Navy Way and Hobson Avenue are a historic district.
We work across North Charleston rather than one corner of it — Park Circle, Olde North Charleston, Liberty Hill, Oak Terrace Preserve, Cameron Terrace, Wando Woods, Indigo Fields, Colony North, Ferndale and Russelldale included. Age and construction change between them, which is why we look before we quote.
North Charleston grew up as Charleston's industrial and military 'North Area' between the Ashley and Cooper rivers, home of the Charleston Navy Yard from 1901, and became a city in 1972. Park Circle was laid out as an English garden-style planned community, and the city counts more than 50 neighborhoods. Hurricane Hugo struck the area in 1989.
Housing from this stretch in North Charleston 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.
North Charleston has 54,781 homes in the Census Bureau's count and a median year built of 1996. 631 of them (1%) went up before 1940 — 17th of 28 places on this site for pre-1940 share — and 25,431 (46%) in 2000 or later. The 2010s were the busiest decade, adding 11,859 of today's homes (22%). That is below Charleston County's 5%.
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. That puts 29,350 homes in North Charleston, the 54% built before 2000, past at least one full roof life, and the 12,283 built before 1970 (22%) are usually on a third covering or later. Homes from the 2000s (11,705 in North Charleston) are reaching their first replacement, while the 13,726 built since 2010 are mostly still on the roof they were built with.
Detached single-family houses make up 50% (27,301); attached houses and townhouses 7% (3,967). 9,678 homes (18%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings and 9,916 (18%) in buildings of ten units or more, where a resident rarely gets to choose the roofer. The count also takes in 3,872 mobile homes, which are a different kind of roof job. 24,483 of 49,185 occupied homes (50%) are lived in by their owners. Read together, those figures point toward first replacements on 2000s builder-grade shingles, flat and low-slope sections, which turn up more on attached and multi-unit buildings and hail checks on newer roofs that look fine from the driveway.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 631 | 1% | |
| 1940s | 3,068 | 6% | |
| 1950s | 3,922 | 7% | |
| 1960s | 4,662 | 9% | |
| 1970s | 5,272 | 10% | |
| 1980s | 6,391 | 12% | |
| 1990s | 5,404 | 10% | |
| 2000s | 11,705 | 21% | |
| 2010s | 11,859 | 22% | |
| 2020 or later | 1,867 | 3% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 54,781 homes, 49,185 occupied. Survey estimates.
From 2016 through 2025, NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center recorded 12 reports of hail of 1 inch or more within 5 miles of North Charleston’s center, spread over 7 storm days. 1 of them was 1.75 inches or larger. The largest, 1.75 inches, came on March 20, 2018, about 3.4 miles northwest of the center. The most recent was 1 inch on July 14, 2024. A report needs someone to see the hail and send it in, so the count is a floor, not a full tally.
| Latest reports | Size | From center |
|---|---|---|
| July 14, 2024 | 1 inch | 4.8 mi SE |
| May 9, 2024 | 1 inch | 4.7 mi NE |
| August 19, 2020 | 1 inch | 2.6 mi E |
| March 20, 2018 | 1.75 inches | 3.4 mi NW |
| July 19, 2017 | 1.25 inches | 3.8 mi E |
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 residential permit fee chart lists roofing among the kinds of work it permits, with the fee based on the job's value plus a $30 filing fee. The city lists roof work among the jobs with required inspections, and the permit holder must provide a ladder for the inspector. City code makes it a misdemeanor to build, alter or demolish a structure without the proper permits, and working without a permit costs triple the permit fees. Permits are good for 6 months; if no inspection is done in that time, the permit expires.
North Charleston enforces the 2021 IRC. The city lists the 2021 International Residential Code and the 2021 International Building, Fire, Plumbing, Mechanical and Fuel Gas Codes as mandatory codes, adopted and in effect January 1, 2023, along with the 2020 National Electrical Code and the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code.
The published number is 843-740-2562. The city refers to a building official and a deputy building official but does not name the building official. Its permit page lists Chad Kurp as Commercial Plan Reviewer and Building Deputy. The department page is here.
Design wind here is set by location, not one figure for the whole area: across greater Charleston the published ultimate design wind speeds run 133–150 mph, depending on where a house stands. The building department for North Charleston can tell you which figure applies. What it does to a roof is in the roofing code guide.
North Charleston borders Charleston, Hanahan, Goose Creek, Ladson, Summerville and Ashley River. Our pages for them:
Also in Charleston County:
| City | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Charleston | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1996 |
| Charleston | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1995 |
| Hanahan | Not published | 2021 IRC | 1986 |
| Goose Creek | Yes | 2021 IRC | 2002 |
| Ladson | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1990 |
| Summerville | Yes | 2021 IRC | 2001 |
| Adams Run | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1984 |
All 22 Charleston County cities side by side →
The city's residential permit fee chart lists roofing among the kinds of work it permits, with the fee based on the job's value plus a $30 filing fee. The city lists roof work among the jobs with required inspections, and the permit holder must provide a ladder for the inspector. City code makes it a misdemeanor to build, alter or demolish a structure without the proper permits, and working without a permit costs triple the permit fees. Permits are good for 6 months; if no inspection is done in that time, the permit expires.
North Charleston enforces the 2021 IRC. The city lists the 2021 International Residential Code and the 2021 International Building, Fire, Plumbing, Mechanical and Fuel Gas Codes as mandatory codes, adopted and in effect January 1, 2023, along with the 2020 National Electrical Code and the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code.
Median year built 1996, by the Census Bureau's 2020–2024 estimates. Of 54,781 homes, 29,350 were built before 2000 and 631 before 1940, so most roofs in North Charleston are not the first one the house has had.
Yes. The most recent report of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of North Charleston's center was 1 inch on July 14, 2024, one of 12 such reports from 2016 through 2025.
It can. North Charleston has Charleston Navy Yard Historic District, Charleston Navy Yard Officers' Quarters Historic District and Charleston Naval Hospital 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 North Charleston 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.northcharleston.org · www.northcharleston.org · www.northcharleston.org · www.northcharleston.org · www.northcharleston.org · www.northcharleston.org · www.northcharleston.org · www.northcharleston.org · www.northcharleston.org · en.wikipedia.org · www.northcharleston.org · www.northcharleston.org · www.northcharleston.org · www.scencyclopedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · www.nationalregister.sc.gov · www.nationalregister.sc.gov · www.nationalregister.sc.gov · www.nationalregister.sc.gov · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · www.scstatehouse.gov · www2.census.gov · data.census.gov · www.spc.noaa.gov. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.
