Worried East Coast residents brace for what is expected to be a Category 4 hurricane that goes by the name of Earl. The Federal Emergency Management Agency warned people along the Eastern Seaboard to prepare for possible evacuations on Tuesday, as Earl whirled across the Caribbean with winds of 135 mph. The hurricane is expected to remain over the open ocean before turning north and running parallel to the East Coast, bringing high winds and heavy rain to parts of North Carolina. Forecasters are cautioning that it is still too early to tell how close Earl might come to land. Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the National Hurricane Center, said that not since 1991 with Hurricane Bob has such a powerful storm had such a large swatch of the East Coast in its sights. “A slight shift of that track to the west is going to impact a great deal of real estate with potential hurricane force winds,” Feltgen said.
On Monday, Earl delivered a glancing blow to several small Caribbean islands, tearing roofs off homes and knocking out electricity to people in Anguilla, Antigua and St. Maarten. In Puerto Rico, nearly 187,000 people were without power and 60,000 without water. Gov. Luis Fortuno said cruise ships were diverted and flights cancelled across the region. On Tuesday, strong winds from Earl’s outer fringes whipped palm fronds and whistled through doors in the Turks and Caicos Islands as tied-down boats seesawed on white-crested surf.
Each year, hail causes about 1.6 billion dollars worth of damage to residential roofs in the United States. In general, hailstone damage can be categorized into two types: aesthetic damage and functional damage. Aesthetic damage is simply damage that has an adverse effect on appearance, but does not affect the performance of the roof. Functional damage results in diminished water-shedding ability and a reduction in the expected service life of the roof.
The most effective way to reduce hail damage is to use impact resistant materials for roofing applications. Underwriters Laboratory has developed a test, UL 2218, to evaluate the impact resistance of roofing material. This test evaluates materials by dropping a steel ball onto the roofing panel twice at the same location. The material must show no evidence of fracture, cracking, splitting or any other failure, which would result in an opening of the roofing material. The sizes of the steel balls are from 1.25 inches to 2.00 inches.
There are many different types of materials available for roofing applications, and metal is one of them. While metal roofing is primarily used for commercial applications, it has become an attractive alternative for residential roofing because its relatively lightweight, meets UL2218 Class 3 or 4 specifications, and may have a Class A or B fire resistant rating.
Metal roofs have good impact resistance and are very likely to survive hailstones without functional damage, but can be vulnerable to aesthetic damage since hail can cause permanent indentations in the roofing panels.
Protect yourself and your home from Hurricane Earl with a SmarterRoof from Energy Roofing Systems that is wind tunnel tested up to 200 mph and rated to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. The metal is made from Galvalume substrates which combine the proven corrosion protection of zinc with the barrier protection of aluminum. The end result is a superior substrate that will provide years of service life for most applications. In fact, Galvalume substrates are warranted from the steel mills against perforation due to rust. A standard shingle roof has no defense against a monstrous hurricane like Earl. The SmarterRoof is designed to be installed on top of your existing shingle roof using a 3 part metal fastener system with a full trim package to keep your roof sealed water tight. All of their roofs are tax credit eligible and Energy Star rated to reduce your energy bills 30-40%.
For more information visit www.energyroofingsystems.net or call 770-781-4267.
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