We are a Waunakee roofing company with 33 completed jobs in the 53597 ZIP, and the thing that sets this market apart is what is not here: tree cover. Waunakee sits on open ground north of the lakes with farmland on three sides and young landscaping in most subdivisions. Wind arrives at your roof having been slowed by nothing.
Wind pressure on a roof is not uniform. It concentrates at the perimeter and the ridge, which is exactly where the shortcuts get taken.
First to go
Ridge cap sits at the highest-pressure line on the roof and it is the piece most often installed with the wrong fastener length or too few of them. On a Waunakee roof the ridge is almost always the first thing that lifts, and losing it opens the field beneath to everything that follows.
The missing starter
Everyone puts a starter strip along the eave. Far fewer run one up the rake edges, which is where wind gets under a shingle and peels a course. It costs very little material and it is the single biggest difference between a roof that survives a straight-line wind event and one that does not.
Four nails or six
Manufacturers specify a six-nail pattern for high-wind warranty coverage on most architectural shingles. Four is faster and it is what a lot of roofs got. On open ground that difference shows up in year eight rather than never.
Cold-weather installs
Shingles rely on a heat-activated sealant strip to bond course to course. A roof installed in cold weather may not seal until the following summer, and an unsealed roof through a Wisconsin winter on an exposed lot is a liability. Hand-sealing is the fix and it is a line item worth asking about.
Residential and commercial, across Madison, Dane County, & Southern Wisconsin.
Full tear-off, six-nail pattern, starter at eaves and rakes. Specified for the exposure rather than to the minimum.
Shingles carry wind ratings under ASTM testing. On an exposed Waunakee lot the rating is worth paying attention to.
Lifted ridge cap and peeled rake courses. Frequently a repair rather than a replacement if caught early.
Documented free inspection for your insurer, including the broken seals that do not show from the ground.
Balanced intake and exhaust. The fix for ice damming is almost never more shingles.
26-gauge standing seam with concealed fasteners. No individual pieces for wind to catch.
These are the six things that decide whether a roof holds in open-ground wind, and most of them cost very little extra at install.
Six-nail patterns and rake starter add a modest amount to a job and they are not optional in our estimates. Any quote materially below these ranges is worth asking about fastening pattern and starter coverage before you sign it.
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Usually exposure plus fastening. Waunakee lots vary a lot in how sheltered they are — a house on the open north or west edge with young landscaping takes wind that a house two streets in does not. Combine that with a four-nail pattern and no rake starter and you get a roof that sheds shingles in ordinary weather.
The rake is the sloped edge of the roof at the gable end. A starter strip along it gives the first course something sealed to bond to, so wind cannot get underneath and peel the course back. Everyone runs starter along the eave. Far fewer run it up the rakes, and on an exposed Waunakee lot that omission is the most common reason a roof fails early.
Two more fasteners per shingle, and on most architectural products six is what the manufacturer requires for their high-wind warranty to apply. Four goes on faster. On a sheltered lot you may never notice. On open ground north of the lakes you will, eventually.
Yes, and it is issued by the Village of Waunakee rather than a city department — Waunakee is a village, and its process is separate from Madison’s and from Dane County. We pull it as part of the job.
Yes, with a caveat worth understanding. Shingles bond using a heat-activated sealant strip, and in cold weather that strip may not activate until the following summer. On an exposed lot, going through a winter unsealed is a real risk. We hand-seal on cold-weather installs and we will tell you when that is necessary.
Frequently, and it is under-claimed because it does not look like much. A shingle that was lifted and set back down with the seal broken looks intact from the ground and will blow off in the next event. That is storm damage, and it is worth documenting when it happens rather than after the roof opens up.
Get your free, no-obligation inspection today.
