Hurricane Matthew impacts roofing in Jacksonville Fl

Hurricane Matthew scrubbed the east coast of Florida this week and sure made a mess of things, this we all now by now.
For years this writer has been commenting in one form or another, just how bad the weather force known as a hurricane is, and finally after over 5 decades later the real thing finally came through our area in Jacksonville Fl and the entire metro Jax Fl area a very large area, as Jacksonville Florida, is the largest city by land area, in the United States.
Surprisingly, as bad as this storm was and its massive size, damages as a whole were not catastrophic considering the immensity, and potential destructive power of this hurricane.

 

Damages to roofing resulting from Hurricane Matthew

So far the damage reports and repair requests coming in are damage from tree branches, and for that matter entire tree’s falling on homes and buildings as a result of hurricane Matthew. Going forward for the foreseeable future this writer expects a wide variety of requests to repair roofing systems, anything from a few missing shingles to vents being blown off and tree damage resulting in some carpentry repairs to roofing structures. The drama was high leading up to this storm and during then after all were thankful this was not a direct hit by hurricane Mathew.

 

Hurricane Matthew roof damages

Now going forward after everyone has a moment to take a breath, plus have their electricity returned back on, please be thankful and know that even though this hurricane caused a great deal stress and distraction we should collectively be so grateful for the track it took mostly sparing the east coast from a catastrophic situation that would have taken many years to recover from.

As for roofing at this time, roofing companies are going to be very busy initially as a result of hurricane Matthew recommend try to determine with a walk a round buildings right away and see if there is any obvious damage and find a roofing professional and get on their schedule, as the hurricane season does not end till November so there is a chance another could threaten, the east coast.

Get the roof repaired as there will be more rain and storms still to come.

As far as the future is concerned going forward with respect to damaged roofing, many roofing systems have been loosened up and are windblown, and may have attachment issues, especially with shingle roof systems, they are attached to the structure using nails, specially designed for shingle application, the shingles  may not be even attached any longer, should another hurricane enter the area, or high winds then there is a good chance sections could blow off, and when it begins to rain again, there will be leaks a plenty, as some building owners, will either not notice damage that has occurred as a result of hurricane Matthew, or there is concealed damage that can not be accessed due to height restrictions and accessibility for the a novice, in the case of the latter point, not contacting a roofing contractor to inspect things up top, could result in a rude awakening at some point in the near future, this writer’s highly recommended advice, is to have the roof inspected as soon as possible, so to be ready for the next threat of storms, or another hurricane.

Issues will pop up long after this storm has faded into the not so distant memory of most folks, some ask themselves what is going on things have been calm weather wise, now if a reader caught this article, it may clear up some confusion, and this can be the case for a building that has a roof that is less than a few years old even, when it comes to a hurricane, roofing, tree’s and fences take a beating.

Roof leaks will come out of no where as a result of this storm. If there is insurance to cover damages for most, still some folks will not need to make claims as the damages may be only minor for some buildings, so try to get things fixed as soon as possible, so a small issue does not grow into a big one.

This was a wake up for everyone and the building practices of the last 10 or more years proved that even though the region was spared the worst of Matthew, what has been borne out of all the damage from the storm, is that good construction practices go a long way in protecting buildings from damages from a hurricane.