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From the Architect’s Corner – Tornado Season

Back in 2008 something pretty scary happened in a residential neighborhood in Manhattan, Kansas. An F4 tornado touched down and left behind a lot of damage. Trees were uprooted, debris was everywhere, there was damage to property. You get the picture. So when Jeff Lord and Karen Hudson emerged from the basement of their home to find a tree on their house, they were expecting to find significant damage. They called the insurance company and had somebody out to have the tree removed. Now, if you have been through something like this then you know this is where things can go sideways as you start to have visions of months of damage repair, and a revolving door of bids and different contractors to fix different areas of your home. What they found surprised everyone. Despite having a tree crash onto their roof, and neighbors on surrounding sides all suffering significant damage, they had no damage to their DaVinci Roofscapes composite slate roof. 

We recognize a story like this may not be the norm when you are dealing with a weather event like that, but the take away here is with your residential clients aesthetics will get your foot in the door, but it won't always be the number one factor in making a decision on what roofing material they end up choosing as safety and performance need to also weigh in. Specifying a material that is Class A Fire Rated, Class 4 Impact Rated and wind certified to 110 mph, in addition to the fact it looks like real slate and cedar shake, will end up satisfying this goal, "I want a roof that looks beautiful and will protect my home at the highest level possible". 

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Happy Friday, Architects!