Wind-Lifted Shingles: Check Before The Season, Not After

What holds a shingle down

Nails hold the shingle to the deck. But what keeps the exposed tab from lifting in wind is the factory sealant strip - a line of thermally activated adhesive on the underside that bonds each tab to the shingle below once the sun warms it. On a new roof in Florida that bond forms within days and is very strong. It is what wind ratings are based on.

Why it lets go

Age. As the asphalt dries out, the sealant strip loses its grip. Tabs that were bonded flat start to lift at the bottom edge - a millimetre at first, then a finger's width. Once a tab is loose, every gust works it back and forth, fatigues it at the nail line, and eventually creases or tears it. That is when the roof loses shingles. The storm is the last step in a process that started seasons earlier.

Why before, not after

A lifted-but-intact tab is a small repair: it is resealed or, if it is brittle, replaced. A torn tab after a storm is that plus whatever the exposed nail line let in, plus everyone in the county needing a roofer in the same week. We replace tabs like these on routine maintenance visits - before hurricane season, not after it.

What to look for

• Tabs whose bottom edge stands off the roof, most visible in low, sideways light.
• Creases across a tab - a shingle that has been folded back by wind and laid down again.
• Tabs on slope edges, rakes and ridges, which take the most wind.
• Any area where the pattern of the courses looks disturbed.

A word on storms

After a named storm, have the roof looked at regardless of how it looks from the ground, and have the findings photographed and dated. What happens with any claim is between you, your policy and your insurer - that is not something a roofer decides or promises. What a roofer can give you is an accurate, documented picture of the roof's condition, before and after, and that record is worth having whatever you do with it.

← All articles