TRUE OR FALSE? PROS SHARE THE BEST ROOFS TO TAKE THE WORST BEATING FROM STORMS

Pop Quiz! The answers may surprise you.

Hail, heavy rainstorms, lightning and high winds: your roof takes the full impact of powerful storms. Protecting your home from one of Mother Nature’s most fearsome forces means understanding how roofs perform. To see whether your home’s roof is up to the test, MRA’s leading roofing experts and installers invite you to test your own knowledge with this simple True or False quiz: 

True or False: The type of roof on your home makes a difference on how likely it might be struck by lightning.

Answer: False. Lightning typically strikes the highest object, regardless of what material it is. According to the National Weather Service, height, pointy shapes and isolation are the dominate factors for where a lightning bolt will strike. The presence of metal makes no difference. That’s why natural objects like trees and mountains (that are obviously not made of metal) frequently get struck.

The bottom line: Metal roofs are no more likely to draw or attract lightning than any other type of roof. In fact, metal is used frequently in the most lightning prone areas because it performs exceptionally well in severe winds, hail and rain that are often experienced along with lightning storms.

True or False: It’s rare that a home will get struck by lightning and if it does, the biggest danger is it catches on fire. 

Answer: False. The National Lightning Safety Institute estimates 1 out of every 200 homes will be struck by lightning per year. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), a house is a safe place to be, so long as you avoid water, electronic equipment (including corded phones), TV cables, concrete, doors and windows.

Most commonly, lightning causes a power surge that damages electrical systems and appliances. That said, fire is a definite potential. Each year, the U.S. Fire Administration estimates 17,400 fires are attributed to lightning. A properly grounded metal roof may work to help conduct energy from a lightning strike over a broader area of the roof, reducing the amount of heat transferred to the building and reducing the potential damage due to fire.

It’s important to remember that most lightning strike-caused fires happen when nearby trees, brush or other organic material ignite near home. Quality metal roofs also work to protect against wayward sparks and carry Class 4 ignition protection – the highest level of protection available against wildfires.

Quality metal roofing is top rated when it comes to severe storm, hail, hurricane and high winds protection. Photo courtesy of MRA member Drexel Metals

True or False: The underlayment selected is just as important as the roofing material when it comes to performance.

Answer: True. No matter what the roof type, quality underlayment is essential. Underlayment helps ensure a roof is watertight and protects against ignition in wildfire prone areas. Also important is a quality roof installation that ensures the roofing system is resistant to damage caused by severe storms, hail, and, in the case of fire, burning embers. 

True or False: Roof damage from large hailstones is always visible, making it easy to spot needed repairs.

Answer: False. On typical asphalt roofs, hail can cause hairline cracks and displace shingles; damage that can be hard to detect. A homeowner may not realize their roof has been compromised until it’s too late and a leak is found, potentially resulting in costly damage to a home’s interior as well.

True or False: A Class 4 hail impact roof rating is the best a homeowner can get.

Answer: True. Class 4 hail refers to a roof material test that measures a roofing product’s ability to withstand damage from hail impact. Specifically, this is the UL2218 Impact Rating test conducted by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a not-for-profit organization that independently tests and certifies roofing products.

The UL2218 Impact Rating test is considered the national standard for measuring a roof’s ability to withstand hail damage. During the test, steel balls of various sizes are dropped on the roofing product from varying heights. Based on the results, roofing products are certified as Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, or Class 4.

A Class 4 rating is the highest possible rating and indicates that the roof can withstand hail impact. Many quality metal roof systems achieve Class 4 hail ratings, making them a superior choice for regions that experience frequent lightning, hail, and high winds. 

True or False: Thanks to today’s building standards, most roofs perform about the same when it comes to protecting a home from high winds.

Answer: False. Many roofers believe metal is the gold standard for long-lasting resiliency in severe weather regions. That’s because when installed properly, quality metal roofs are rated to stand up to F2 tornado wind speeds (F-scale stands for the Fujita Scale of Tornado Intensity, with F2 equaling wind speeds of 113-157 mph), resist leaks and are much less likely to puncture, tear or crack due to flying debris or massive hailstones.

Even officials in Florida and the Gulf Coast – well-known for hurricanes

and monster storms – are calling into question the use of asphalt roofing. According to Florida officials at a hearing of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, asphalt shingle roofs age and can fail prematurely under harsh conditions, only provide full protection against hurricane winds until they are about 10 years old.