Missing or Blown-Off Shingles
in Nashville, TN

Nashville's frequent spring supercells and summer thunderstorms generate powerful straight-line winds that create negative pressure on roof planes, literally lifting shingles from their nail strips. Three-tab shingles installed on homes before modern wind-resistance codes became standard in Metro Nashville are particularly vulnerable because their smaller contact surface and lower nail counts cannot withstand sustained uplift forces.

Asphalt shingles rely on a heat-activated adhesive strip along their lower edge to bond each course to the one below. In Nashville's climate, repeated cycles of summer heat above 95°F followed by hard winter freezes cause this sealant strip to dry out, crack, and lose adhesion over time — meaning shingles that appear intact can still be easily peeled away by modest wind because they are no longer bonded to each other.

Many Nashville homes that were re-roofed quickly after major hail events — particularly following the significant storms of 1998 and 2008 — had shingles applied by high-volume crews using nail guns set at incorrect pressure, resulting in overdriven or underdriven fasteners. Overdriven nails cut through the shingle tab, and underdriven nails leave the shingle loose, both conditions allowing shingles to release under far less wind load than a properly nailed roof would tolerate.