Roofers in the state of Florida see high levels of wind damage each year, much of which is caused by frequent hurricanes and severe tropical storms.

To protect homes from these powerful storms, roofing services can recommend roofing materials designed to withstand hurricane conditions; however, there are other factors, including roof shape, that should be considered as well.

Roofing contractors find that homes designed with a roof shape that can withstand high winds are the ones that stand the best chance of escaping the storm undamaged.

Why Are High Winds The Main Roofing Concern In Hurricanes?

Though people often think of the torrential rains that hurricanes bring with them, it is actually the extreme winds that initially cause the most home damage.

Florida roofers see everything from shingles and metal panels torn off of homes to entire roofing structures ripped off the walls on homes lacking the right design or roofing materials.

With winds that can reach 150 mph or more during a Category 4 or 5 hurricane, roofer services often see vulnerabilities in roof construction and design as the cause of most of this damage.

Protecting a house involves not only choosing the right wind-resistant materials but also knowing which roof shapes are most likely to experience wind damage that could jeopardize the entire structure.

How Does Wind Load Affect Different Roof Designs?

To fully understand how wind can damage a roof and home, it is essential to consider wind load and how it affects roofs of different shapes and sizes.

Roofing contractors see wind damage in two types:

Direct damage caused by strong winds blowing against a surface.
Uplift damage caused by suction created by winds blowing up and over large spaces.

Generally, roofers see that wind load or force exerted by wind is higher on larger, longer, and taller roofs than it is on shorter, lower ones.

Additionally, both high-slope and low-slope designs can experience higher amounts of wind uplift than those with moderate slopes between the two.

What Roof Design Do Roofers Recommend To Avert Damage?

Taking both design extremes into consideration, Florida roofing services find hip roofs to be the most resilient against hurricane-force winds, as this design constitutes the perfect mid-point between low and high-slope architecture.

Hip roofs, which have four shorter angles that converge at a lower ridge point, are less susceptible to uplift than flat or gable roofs and also more resistant against higher wind loads than gable roofs with their longer, higher pitches and taller ridges.

That resistance is even more pronounced on homes with multiple angles and slopes with hip design, as the more angles there are making up the entirety of the roof, the more effective they are at dispersing strong wind gusts, reducing the impacts of wind load and uplift.

Roofing contractors often see residential gable roofs, which consist of two steeper and taller angles that meet at higher ridge points, suffering the most damage due to their larger surface area.

Discuss Windproof Design and Materials With A Florida Roofer!

While protecting a home against hurricane damage starts with choosing the right hurricane-resistant materials, knowledgeable roofers also stress the importance of roofing design and how physical design is impacted by wind load and uplift.

Florida homeowners seeking ways to make their homes more hurricane-proof should discuss roof design with an experienced roofer service to determine their risk factor and whether there are ways to improve wind resistance.

The right roofing design and materials installed by a skilled roofing contractor can help homeowners in Florida get through hurricane winds and rains with minimal damage!