Longleaf Roofing

Why roofs fail

What grows on a roof here and what falls onto it end up in the same place, which is the valley.

A roof seldom fails out in the open. It fails where two things meet. Four of these six spend the Piedmont summer wet.
Garage Point 1: ridge caps 1 Ridge caps: thin, hot, first to loosen Point 2: the field of the roof 2 The field: streaks, then age Point 3: valleys 3 Valleys: pine straw, then one drain Point 4: flashing 4 Flashing: chimney, garage line Point 5: vent boot 5 Vent boot: cracks by its teens Point 6: eaves and gutter overflow 6 Eaves, where gutter overflow lands
  1. 1 Ridge caps. Thin, hot, and the first course to loosen on a Piedmont summer roof.
  2. 2 The field. Streaks first, then real age. The two are not the same problem.
  3. 3 Valleys. Pine straw mats where two slopes drain as one, and holds the water there.
  4. 4 Flashing. The chimney, and the line where the garage roof meets the wall.
  5. 5 The vent boot. Usually cracked by its teens, long before the field around it is.
  6. 6 Eaves. Where gutter overflow lands, and where the fascia goes soft first.

The six

Heat above, needles below

Five hot months a year that dry the covering from above, and from below in any attic that cannot breathe. Humidity that streaks every shaded slope with algae and never lets the edges fully dry. Pines that mat the valleys and gutters with straw. And flashing that outlives its sealant at every chimney and vent. What grows and what falls end up in the same place.

Roofing across the Carolina Piedmont →