The roof is an easy target for one of Mother Nature’s most unpredictable and powerful forces — wind. Strong winds could cause immediate, disastrous roofing damage when an extreme hurricane moves through. Still, asphalt roofing shingles can be negatively impacted on windy days when there’s no bad weather, hail, sleet, or snowfall from the forecast. If you’re concerned about prospective roofing damage from the wind in your asphalt shingle roofing, here is a crash training course on why it occurs, the best way to locate signs and symptoms of roofing problems, and also the lowdown on asphalt roofing shingles, which can be explicitly created for wind resistance.
Effects of Wind To The Asphalt Shingles Roof
Wind doesn’t always move in a stable, smooth flow — it swirls up, downward, sideways as well as in spherical patterns at different rates of speed in reaction to temperature and pressure differences in the Earth’s atmosphere and variations in the land’s topography and landscape.
When wind encounters a structure like your property, it moves in many fairly predictable ways:
- Wind striking the side of the home travels up and over your roof with various degrees of uplift pressure.
- Uplift pressure will be the highest at the corners in the roofline, and the pressure is nearly as high across the roofing corners, which makes these spots particularly prone to wind damage.
- As the wind goes across the roofing surface, negative pressure – also known as suction pressure – is made and could suck up, or elevate, shingles off a roofing outdoor patio.
Elements That Impact How Wind Influences Your Asphalt Shingle Roofing
Several elements affect the way the wind may affect or damage your homes roof, which includes its speed and direction in the event it encounters your property, together with:
- Your house is located, and the local weather patterns, your roof is much more prone to damage if you live inside a hurricane- or tornado-prone place or where high winds happen regularly.
- Your roof geometry. High-pitched gable roofs with broad overhangs are more vulnerable to wind uplift, while aerodynamic and four-sided hip roofs are more resistant to damage.
- Other variables. The nailing technique utilized to set up the shingles, the product quality and strength of your fasteners, and the installation temperature could also be a factor inside the roof’s capability to endure the wind.
- Set up flaws. Misaligned shingles, incorrect nail positioning, inadequately sealed flashing, or the absence of starter strip shingles can all trigger increased inclination towards the wind.
- Age and status of your roofing. Older roofing with dried-out, broken or curled shingles or spots where sealant bond has failed reaches a greater chance of simply being badly damaged through the wind.
- Earlier damage that hasn’t been resolved. A roofing that has present problems, like broken shingles, missing shingles, and/or missing flashing, is more prone to incur wind damage after a while or endure extensive damage during the extreme hurricane.
Indications of Wind Damage on Asphalt Shingle Roofs
Some signs and symptoms of roofing wind damage are more clear than others. Following an extreme weather conditions event, significant wind damage to roofing may be highly visible, like:
- A puncture from the dropped tree limb
- Big swatches of exposed underlayment where shingles are already blown off
- Mangled or missing sections of flashing, or
- Absent hip and ridge shingles
Other indicators may be subtler. However, you can spot them once you know what to look for both indoors and out. As usual, keep safety in your mind with what you do and wear proper safety gear. When you are struggling to properly look at the home’s external surfaces or interior for signs and symptoms of roofing damage, please speak to a skilled roof specialist.
Outside Proof of Roof Damage
Walk your home’s perimeter to check for items of shingles and scan your roof for:
- Areas where shingle ends look slightly elevated, which informs you the seals seemed to be broken
- Thin lines close to the shingle ends may indicate they seemed to be switched up and creased
- Scuff spots across the roofing area where wind-borne debris has raked across the roofing
- Destroyed ridge or soffit air vents
- Chipped or gaping chimney flashing
- Curled, split or elevated shingles across the roofing ends
- Deposits of debris like tree branches or broken glass in the roofing or perhaps in the rain gutters
Interior Proof of Roof Damage
You can examine for prospective signs and symptoms of wind damage inside your home by examining your attic and finished living areas. As usual, keep safety in your mind with what you do. When climbing into your attic, be sure to have a strong walking route and wear proper safety equipment. Again, if you’re not capable of getting this done properly, please speak to a skilled roof specialist.
The way to look at the attic for signs and symptoms of roofing damage:
- Climb to the attic while it’s still light outside the house.
- Utilize a flashlight to check for water leaks and staining in the bottom in the roofing or signs and symptoms of water damage on to the floor.
- Turn the lights off and scan your roof decking for any locations where daylight is shining by means that could indicate damage has transpired above.
- Inside your finished living areas, seek out discolored patches in the ceilings and walls that alert you that water gets in by means of wind-damaged spots in the roofing.
Asphalt Shingles Designed for Resistance To The Wind Might Help Decrease Your Risk of Roofing Damage
The primary ways of screening how the shingle when subjected to wind are standardized to aid customers in picking a shingle that offers the very best amount of defense regarding their residence. Resistance to the wind is categorized as outlined by one or both requirements published by ASTM Worldwide:
ASTM D3161, or the Standard Test Technique for Resistance To The Wind of Steep Slope Roof Merchandise (Fan-Induced Method). This screening strategy measures a shingle’s capability to hold up against fan-induced wind speeds and includes three categories:
Class A for shingles that passed on screening at 60 mph
Class D for shingles that passed on screening at 90 mph
Class F for shingles that passed on screening at 110 mph
ASTM D7158, or the Standard Test Technique for Resistance To The Wind of Sealed Asphalt Shingles (Uplift Force/Uplift Resistance Method). This standard assigns a category to individual shingle products based upon their potential to deal with uplift forces when examined at certain wind speeds:
Class D resist uplift at wind speeds up to 90 mph
Class G resist uplift at wind speeds up to 120 mph
Class H resist uplift at wind speeds up to 150 mph
Asphalt roofing shingles in the marketplace generally all carry the same resistance to the wind classifications: ASTM D3161 Class F and ASTM D7158 Class H. Even so, warranted wind coverage varies by individual product, so be sure to look into the manufacturer’s product details, guarantee details, and installation guideline. A manufacturer’s installation guideline and guarantee details will establish how shingles must be mounted to warrant wind coverage for certain wind speeds.
Your city, town, or municipal planning office can advise you where the amount of resistance is required to meet local building codes. Then, you must look into the product label over a shingle’s wrapper to get its ASTM D3161 or ASTM D7158 wind resistance classification.
For additional details on our products designed for increased roofing wind resistance, contact Roofscapes and avail of our services now!
