The weather impacts every part of your Nashville home’s exterior, and your roof’s no different. In fact, how weather affects your roof can also impact your home’s health.
Unfortunately, most of the time, it’s not in a positive way. So, how does the weather in Nashville impact your roof and home?
For over 30 years, Bill Ragan Roofing has helped homeowners through roofing problems caused by the weather-related events we’ve had in Nashville. Let’s put this experience to use and help you understand how the weather in our area impacts your roof and home.
By the end of this article, you’ll learn the following ways the weather in Nashville impacts a roof:
- General wear and tear
- Roof leaks
- Storm damage
- High temperatures
- Cold temperatures
- Ice damming
General wear and tear
While our seasons vary, we see all kinds of weather and extreme temperature changes in Nashville, TN. These elements and weather patterns lead to general wear and tear during a roof’s life.
Luckily, this is completely normal because every roof goes through wear and tear as the years pass. However, the roofing material and quality of installation determine how fast it affects your roof’s lifespan.
Extreme weather also speeds up the impact of wear and tear, but the Nashville area is spread out. If East Nashville gets hit with hail or wind storms, it doesn’t mean Bellevue or West Nashville will also be impacted.
So, it really does depend on where the weather hits and how frequently.
Rain leading to roof leaks
The most obvious way the weather in Nashville impacts a roof is leaks during rain storms. It’s always possible for leaks to occur during light or normal rain showers, especially when there are serious problems.
However, most leaks show up when the Nashville area gets heavy rain during storms. Hard, horizontal rain sends water places it wouldn't normally go on your roof.
This leads to water getting into or behind areas that aren’t meant to shed water, which causes a leak that wouldn’t happen under normal circumstances. There’s also a lot more water running down your roof that can easily turn into a leak if there’s already a small problem (like nail pops).
If this happens, the excess water will just make an existing leak more noticeable when the area gets saturated.
Severe storms causing roof damage
The biggest and most severe way Nashville weather impacts your roof is when extreme weather comes through the area. Our area sees everything from straight-line winds (aka damaging winds) during heavy thunderstorms to hail storms to the occasional tornado.
Straight-line winds that hit speeds of 60+ mph rip shingles off roofs if they’re not properly installed or reached the end of their lifespan, especially 3-tab shingles. The Nashville area occasionally gets storms with hail large enough to damage roofs, but most areas are more likely to get pea-sized hail during storms.
While it doesn’t have an immediate impact, even small hail will shorten your roof’s lifespan the more it’s exposed to it. Since we are in the Ohio Valley region, we get the occasional tornado.
If a tornado hits your home or the area around it, obviously, your roof will have extensive damage. We usually get heavy storms in the Spring and Summer, but it’s very hard to predict.
However, if any extreme weather we get in Nashville hits your roof, your homeowner’s insurance will cover any damage.
High temperatures in a poorly ventilated attic
Proper attic ventilation is crucial to your roof’s lifespan and home’s health. With the high temperatures and humidity we get in Nashville, a poorly ventilated attic creates huge problems.
If the temperature outside is 90°F, the temperature in your attic can get as high as 170˚ without proper ventilation. This trapped hot air has nowhere to go, which literally burns your roof up, causing your asphalt shingles to crack, curl, and become brittle.
And that’s just the roof side of the story. If the temperature inside your attic is 170˚F, the floor can be as high as 140˚F.
This causes your home's upstairs to reach temperatures that make it uncomfortable during the day. It also means your AC has to work harder to keep your home cool, which increases your monthly energy bills during the hotter months.
Cold temperatures creating moisture in your attic
While it’s more noticeable in the summer, improper attic ventilation is just as damaging during winter in Nashville. When the cold air in your attic meets the heat from the home’s interior, condensation forms on the underside of your roof's decking.
The wood holds onto the moisture, which eventually leads to swelling, becoming wavy, and rotting. The wavy look is bad enough, but it also affects your decking’s ability to hold nails and load-bearing capacity.
This leads to serious structural damage if it goes unnoticed for too long. The excess moisture also creates an environment for mold and mildew to thrive, which creates potential health hazards.
As if mold and mildew aren’t bad enough, rotting wood is perfect for termites and other insects.
Ice damming when it snows
Snow and ice are hit or miss in Nashville, but we can count on getting phone calls for ice damming every time our area gets it. Ice dams are the main cause of roof leaks when there’s snow and ice sitting on a roof.
They form when snow and ice freeze at your gutter line (eaves) to create an actual blockage (dam). When the snow above the dam starts thawing, the water can’t drain down into your gutters.
The water then backs up on your roof until it eventually finds its way into your home, stopping only when it’s warm enough for the dam to thaw out. Unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do about ice dam leaks when they start.
However, there are things you can do when replacing your roof to prevent ice damming leaks in the future. You can also lessen the chances of them forming with proper attic ventilation and by keeping your gutters and roof clear of debris.
What should you do if your roof was damaged by a storm in Nashville, TN?
Now you know how the weather in Nashville impacts your roof. Obviously, there’s nothing you can do about the weather that hits our area.
Keep in mind that the type of roofing material plays a huge role in how much the weather in Nashville impacts a roof. No matter what, the weather affects every roof in some way, shape, or form.
However, storm damage is the biggest concern when it comes to roofing-related questions. This is simply because it’s more noticeable, you know when we’re getting extreme weather, and insurance is involved.
But what should you do if your roof gets damaged by one of the strong storms we see in Nashville?
Check out What Should I Do When a Storm Damages My Roof in Nashville, TN, to learn the steps you should take when experiencing roof damage caused by weather events.
