The Ridgeline Roofing & Solar team was on-site in Noel, Missouri, conducting roof inspections when we came across an aging architectural shingle roof showing multiple signs of wear. While this classic roofing style is a familiar sight across the Midwest, it also revealed a few common—but critical—issues that can lead to long-term problems if left unaddressed.

Key Findings from the Inspection:

🔹 Wind Damage & Zippering
The shingles are showing zippering, a pattern of lifting caused by strong wind exposure, especially on high rafter designs. These weakened tabs are more vulnerable to storms and can begin tearing off over time.

🔹 Soft Decking from Poor Ventilation
We discovered very soft roof decking, a sign of moisture buildup and heat damage. This roof relies on just two whirlybird vents over a large span—far from sufficient for healthy airflow. Without proper intake and exhaust ventilation, trapped heat and humidity can weaken the decking and compromise the entire roofing system.

🔹 Incorrect Valley Transition
This roof features a one-way lace valley, a method that’s technically correct when done properly. While the initial cuts were accurate, the transition point in the valley was missing a critical second lace, which could lead to ice damming and water infiltration in winter. In warmer seasons, it may not leak, but the first snow or freeze could test the system.

🔹 Temporary Fixes Failing
Old tarp patches from previous repairs were still in place—but starting to come undone. These are band-aid solutions at best and indicate past damage that wasn’t professionally repaired.

Our Recommendations:

• Replace wind-damaged shingles
• Reinforce or replace soft decking areas
• Upgrade roof ventilation with proper intake and exhaust (ridge vents, eave vents, etc.)
• Correct valley transition lacing
• Remove tarp patches and install permanent repairs

If you’re in Noel, Joplin, MO or anywhere in the Four States region and suspect your roof has damage or poor ventilation, don’t wait until winter to find out the hard way. We’re here to help with honest inspections, practical solutions, and dependable roofing expertise.

Hear Tim’s Thoughts

Video Transcript: "Hey. It's Tim Yates, Ridgeline Roofing and Solar down here in Knoll, Missouri today doing some roof inspections. Just wanted to talk about this roof here. This is an old, architectural style roof. I'm sure any of you that know anything about roofing have seen this style of shingle a million times.

So this roof has a lot of wind damage. It has a lot of high rafters. It also has a lot of areas that are under ventilated and it's causing the decking to become very soft, very soft when you walk on it. I'm not a whirly bird fan, but you can see that whirly bird there, this whole span, there's two down there. That's definitely not enough ventilation for this roof.

So also this valley, the it started to valley off. This is a one way lace valley. And when you run a one way lace valley, the, part you're you're cutting runs second on your lace. So this is correct. They ran this the first shingle course correctly, ran through it, and then they ran this course up.

And then, of course, there this is a a cut one way Lace Valley, and then they ran it up to here. But in this transition, this shingle here is actually supposed to run through and make another lace before it changes directions. And you see people miss that a lot. And it's not really a huge ordeal if they run it through far enough for rain, but when you get ice and snow up here, I think it becomes a problem. And you can see the zippering, looks like zippering on this roof.

It's starting to have wind damage. And then somebody has came up and put some tarps on it in the past that are coming undone but it is what it is. Appreciate it. Everybody have a good day. We are going back to work."