Storm Roof Damage in Charleston

What a hurricane wind does to a roof

Storm wind lifts a roof more than it presses on it, and the edges take the worst of it. FEMA's coastal guidance for shingles in high-wind regions spells out extra securing at the eaves, rakes, hips and ridges, and that is where storm damage usually starts:

• Unsealed and creased shingles. A tab that lifts and folds back leaves a crease that will not lie flat again, even if the shingle is still there.
• Ridge and hip caps peeled back or gone.
• Flashing and edge metal bent up, which opens a path for wind-driven rain.
• Bare deck. Once the covering goes, water pours through the seams between panels. The FORTIFIED Roof standard requires a sealed roof deck for exactly that reason.
• Debris strikes. The City of Charleston's design table places the city in wind-borne debris zone 2, and the Weather Service warns that signs and roofing material left outside become missiles in a hurricane.

Building departments here design houses for 133 to 150 mph, depending on location. Building a roof to hold at those speeds is the subject of hurricane roof protection.

Hail on this coast

Hail is not the first storm anyone here thinks of, but it does fall. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has 83 reports of one-inch-plus hail on file for Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties between 2016 and 2025, spread over 34 separate days:

June 10, 2024 was the busiest single day, with eight reports across the three counties. These are reports from spotters and the public, not a full record, so a street with no report may still have been hit.

Hail damage hides well from the yard. On shingles it shows as soft, dark bruises where granules were knocked loose, or as cracked mats. On metal vents, gutters and flashing it leaves dents, a handy record of the storm. A roof that looks fine from the driveway can still have a slope of bruised shingles.

After the storm: a safe order of things

1. People first. Stay off the roof and clear of downed lines and standing water.
2. Photograph. Before anything is cleaned up, take date-stamped pictures of the roof from the ground, the yard, and any water inside.
3. Stop the water. A tarp over the open area, and buckets and plastic indoors. Keep receipts for anything you buy.
4. Get the roof looked at. A slope-by-slope inspection tells you whether there is damage worth a claim before you file one.
5. Read your policy, then call your insurer. The claim is yours to open and to manage.

After some large disasters, at the request of FEMA and the state, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has run Operation Blue Roof, which puts free temporary covers on damaged homes. In past missions it was limited to primary residences with standard shingle roofs, with metal roofs considered case by case, and the Corps warned that anyone asking for money for a blue roof is not part of the program.

If the house sits in a flood zone, the cost of storm repairs can count toward the flood rules' 50 percent test for substantial improvement, and Charleston County totals the permits from the past five years when it applies that test.

How a roof claim works in South Carolina

You open the claim with your insurer, the insurer sends its adjuster, and the insurer decides what the policy covers. That part does not change whoever inspects the roof.

What South Carolina adds is a line around roofers. Under S.C. Code 40-59-25(D)(1), a builder or contractor "shall not represent or negotiate, or offer or advertise to represent or negotiate" on a homeowner's insurance claim tied to repairing or replacing a roof. Subsection (D)(2) keeps the useful part: you may have a contractor of your choice evaluate the roof and use that evaluation in your own dealings with the insurer.

So that is what we do. We inspect, photograph every slope, and write a line-item scope of the damage, and you decide whether that report goes to your insurer. Conversations with the insurer are yours.

Public adjusters are a separate, licensed trade in this state (Title 38, Chapter 92), and that chapter gives contractors no exemption. It also says a property repair contractor may not use a power of attorney from the owner to get around that licensing. A roofer who asks you to sign one is a roofer to walk away from.

Your contract rights after a storm

When a roofing contract is to be paid from insurance, S.C. Code 40-59-25 gives you these protections:

• A cancellation window. If the insurer sends written word that the claim, or any piece of it, falls outside your coverage, you may cancel the roofing contract up to midnight on the fifth business day after that letter reaches you.
• It must be in the contract. The cancellation statement has to appear in bold type, with a separate notice-of-cancellation form attached.
• No payment up front. Until that window closes, the roofer cannot require you to pay, apart from emergency services you have signed off in writing as necessary.
• No deductible offers. Subsection (E) makes it a misdemeanor for a roofer to advertise or promise that it will pay or rebate any share of your insurance deductible as a sales inducement, and the statute treats a yard-sign discount, a gift, a bonus or a referral fee as the same thing.

A separate rule covers sales made at your door. Under S.C. Code 37-2-502, a home solicitation sale on credit, which includes paying by credit card, can be cancelled up to midnight on the third business day after the day you sign. You can give up that right only with your own signed, dated statement describing an emergency, not a printed form.

Storm chasers, and the rules that slow them down

After a big storm, trucks show up from everywhere. South Carolina's rules help you sort them:

• Registration. On a house, any roofing job over $500 calls for a roofer the Residential Builders Commission has on its register, and working off the register is a misdemeanor that also costs the roofer the right to file a lien or sue on the contract. Check any name at llr.sc.gov.
• Out-of-state crews. The commission's regulations allow an emergency registration for out-of-state contractors only after the Governor declares an emergency.
• Price gouging. Once the Governor declares a state of emergency, charging an unconscionable price for goods or services in the declared area is unlawful (S.C. Code 39-5-145).
• Permits. Most offices here want a permit for roofing, and many towns want a local business license first. Mount Pleasant and Hanahan both caution owners against taking out a permit in their own name at a contractor's request.

What a storm inspection from us includes

It costs nothing. The roof is measured off aerial imagery first; then we climb up and photograph every slope, the ridge, the edges and every penetration, plus the gutters, vents and flashing where hail leaves its dents. You get the photos and a written, line-item scope of what is damaged and what it takes to fix it, with materials named by brand and product.

If there is no storm damage, the report says so, and you have saved yourself a claim. If there is, you decide whether the report goes to your insurer, and the claim stays in your hands. If water is coming in, emergency tarping comes first.

When the work goes ahead, we pull the permit, and the job follows the same steps as any roof replacement or repair.

Common questions about storm damage in Charleston

Where we work

Storm damage across greater Charleston, from the sea islands and beach towns to Summerville, Goose Creek and Moncks Corner. Each city has its own page with the permit rule and code edition that apply there: