Roof Rejuvenation in Bunker Hill, WV

Old farmhouses and new subdivisions on the same road.

Bunker Hill runs along US 11 at the bottom of Berkeley County, close enough to the Virginia line that a lot of people here commute south. The housing splits into two groups that arrive at the same question from opposite directions.

The newer subdivisions off US 11 are the simple half. Straightforward rooflines, one age of shingle across a whole street, and an install date that puts most of them squarely in the 8 to 20 year band. Those are textbook rejuvenation candidates. The older farmhouses and small pre war homes around Mill Creek have almost all been reroofed at least once, so what matters is the age of the shingle up there, not the age of the house under it.

What we run into on Bunker Hill roofs

The bottom ground near Mill Creek holds humidity against north facing runs long into the morning while the open pasture lots a mile away are dry by nine. A shingle that keeps taking on water and drying out loses oil every time, and on the steep pitches common here the sun works the south plane just as hard from the other side.

• Whole subdivision streets shingled within a year or two of each other
• Older homes reroofed at some point, so shingle age is what counts
• Damp Mill Creek bottom ground holding humidity against north slopes

Asphalt shingles rarely fail because something hit them. They fail because the maltene oils that keep them flexible evaporate under sun and get worked out by freeze and thaw. Once the oil is gone the shingle stiffens, curls, sheds granules and starts letting water past. The treatment soaks into the mat and puts those oils back.

It reverses the chemistry rather than covering it up, and nothing gets torn off the house. We will not treat a roof past the point of holding it, and you hear that at the assessment.