Roofing Tips & Guides
Expert Roofing Advice for Charlotte Homeowners
Learn from Charlotte's trusted roofing experts. Tips on maintenance, repair, replacement, and protecting your home from the elements.
Learn from Charlotte's trusted roofing experts. Tips on maintenance, repair, replacement, and protecting your home from the elements.
Getting a new roof is exciting. But it’s also scary when you think about all the things that could go wrong.
Here in Lake Norman, we see the same roof installation mistakes over and over again. These aren’t small problems that fix themselves. They’re big issues that cost homeowners thousands of dollars down the road.
The good news? Every single one of these mistakes is totally preventable when you work with experienced LKN roofers who know what they’re doing.
Let’s dive into the seven biggest roof installation mistakes we see – and how the best roofing contractors in our area fix them before they become your expensive headache.
Most people think nailing shingles is simple. Just shoot some nails through the shingle and you’re done, right? Wrong.
The Problem: Nails placed outside the nailing zone don’t hold shingles down properly. In our Lake Norman winds, these shingles lift up, break, and let water pour into your home. Even worse, wrong nail placement voids your shingle warranty completely.
How LKN Roofers Fix It: Professional roofers know that each nail must hit the nailing zone marked on every shingle. They drive nails straight down (not at angles) and make sure each nail goes through two layers of shingles into your roof deck.
This isn’t just about following rules. It’s about making sure your roof survives our summer storms and winter ice. When nails are placed correctly, your shingles stay put for decades.
Walk around any neighborhood and you’ll see roofs where the first row of shingles sits right on the edge. No starter course underneath. This looks fine until the first big storm hits.
The Problem: Without starter shingles, water runs right through the gaps between your first row of shingles. It soaks into your roof deck, rots your wood, and drips into your walls.
How Best Roofing Companies Handle It: We install a complete starter course along every edge before laying the first row of field shingles. This creates a sealed barrier that stops water and wind from getting under your roof.
The cost difference is maybe $50 in materials. But fixing water damage from skipped starters? That’s thousands of dollars you don’t want to spend.
Some homeowners think shingle alignment is just about making the roof look pretty. But when shingles don’t line up correctly, your roof becomes a water magnet.
The Problem: When shingle edges line up vertically (like a ladder), water flows straight down those lines into your roof. Plus, your shingles won’t seal together properly, making them easy targets for wind damage.
How Experienced Roof Contractors Fix It: Professional roofers create a staggered pattern, like bricks in a wall. Each row of shingles offsets from the row below it. This forces water to zigzag across your roof instead of finding a straight path down.
It takes more time and skill to do this right. But it’s the difference between a roof that lasts 25 years and one that starts leaking in year three.
Underlayment is like insurance for your roof. You can’t see it once the shingles go on, but it’s what saves your home when shingles fail.
The Problem: Some roofers skip underlayment entirely or install it wrong. They don’t overlap the seams properly, they use too few nails, or they choose the cheapest material available. When water gets past your shingles (and it will), poor underlayment lets it soak right into your house.
How Professional Roofing in LKN Handles Underlayment: Quality roofers use the right underlayment for your specific roof pitch and local weather. They overlap each row properly, seal the seams, and nail it down according to manufacturer specs.
In Charlotte’s climate, we often recommend synthetic underlayment. It costs more upfront but handles our temperature swings and humidity better than traditional felt paper.
Your attic needs to breathe. When it doesn’t, heat and moisture build up and slowly destroy your roof from the inside out.
The Problem: Poor ventilation makes your roof age twice as fast. In summer, trapped heat bakes your shingles until they curl and crack. In winter, ice dams form when warm air melts snow unevenly. Year-round, moisture rots your roof deck and ruins your insulation.
How Smart LKN Roofers Handle Ventilation: We calculate exactly how much ventilation your attic needs based on its square footage. Then we install the right mix of intake vents (usually in your soffits) and exhaust vents (typically ridge vents at the peak).
The goal is balanced airflow that keeps your attic temperature close to the outside temperature. Your energy bills drop, your roof lasts longer, and you avoid expensive ice dam repairs.
Shingles get all the attention, but flashing is where most roof leaks actually begin. Flashing seals the spots where your roof meets chimneys, vents, skylights, and walls.
The Problem: Bad flashing installation creates leak highways straight into your home. We see contractors who use too little flashing, don’t seal the edges, or rely on caulk instead of proper mechanical connections. The first heavy rain finds these weak spots.
How Professional Roof Installation Handles Flashing: Quality roofers treat flashing like the critical component it is. They use the right type of flashing for each situation, integrate it properly with your shingles, and create multiple layers of protection.
For example, around chimneys, we install step flashing that works with each individual shingle row, then add counter flashing that’s properly sealed to the chimney itself. It’s more work, but it prevents 90% of the leak calls we get.
This might be the biggest mistake on our list. Everything else we’ve talked about comes down to who you hire to install your roof.
The Problem: Cheap contractors create cheap results. They cut corners on materials, skip important steps, don’t pull permits, and disappear when problems show up. Storm chasers are especially bad – they blow into town after bad weather, do quick, sloppy work, then vanish before you realize what happened.
How to Find Quality Roof Contractors: Look for local companies with deep roots in the community. Check their licenses, insurance, and Better Business Bureau rating. Ask for local references and actually call them. A good roofer will gladly show you completed jobs in your neighborhood.
Also, make sure they pull proper permits. Yes, it adds time and cost, but permits ensure your work meets local building codes and gets inspected by professionals.
Our local climate makes these installation mistakes even more costly. We get everything from summer thunderstorms with hail to winter ice storms. Poor installation that might last a few years in Arizona fails fast here.
Plus, Lake Norman’s housing market means your roof affects your home’s value. A properly installed roof adds value. A roof with problems? That’s thousands off your selling price and a deal-breaker for many buyers.
Every one of these mistakes is preventable when you work with experienced LKN roofers who take pride in their craft. Yes, quality installation costs more upfront. But it’s nothing compared to the cost of fixing these problems later.
Remember, your roof is your home’s first line of defense against North Carolina weather. It deserves better than shortcuts and cheap fixes.
Ready to get your roof installation done right the first time? Best Roofing Now has been serving Lake Norman homeowners for years with quality materials, expert installation, and warranties that actually mean something. Schedule your free roof inspection today and let’s talk about protecting your biggest investment the right way.
Best Roofing Now
Charlotte's trusted roofing experts since 2019
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