Storm hit?24/7 emergency tarp & free inspection — Mon–Sat · 7a–8p(919) 892-0034
Home / Glossary
GLOSSARY · 30 TERMS
Plain-English definitions of the roofing and insurance terms NC homeowners run into on a storm claim — from RCV and ACV to drip edge, ice-and-water shield, and FORTIFIED Roof. The same things we explain at the kitchen table, written down once. Use the categories below to jump around — or click any term for the deep-dive page.
INSURANCE
Words your insurance company uses on the dec page and the loss summary.
ACV stands for Actual Cash Value.
An adjuster is the person your insurance company sends to inspect storm damage and write the estimate that becomes your settlement.
Code upgrade coverage — also called ordinance-and-law coverage — pays for construction work required by current building codes when an older home is repaired after a loss.
The date of loss is the calendar date of the storm event that damaged your roof.
The declarations page (“dec page”) is the one- or two-page summary at the front of your homeowner insurance policy that lists your coverage limits, deductibles, and the loss-settlement basis (RCV vs ACV).
A deductible is the dollar amount you pay out of pocket before your insurance company pays anything on a claim.
Depreciation is the dollar amount your insurance company subtracts from the replacement cost of your roof to account for age and wear.
A matching statute is a law or regulatory rule requiring an insurance carrier to pay for a cosmetically uniform repair when partial storm damage to a roof or exterior surface cannot be repaired to match the undamaged area.
A percentage deductible is calculated as a percent of your home's dwelling-coverage limit, not a flat dollar amount.
A public adjuster is a state-licensed professional who works for the homeowner — not the insurance company — to negotiate a claim settlement.
RCV stands for Replacement Cost Value.
A scope of work is the line-item list of every material, labor task, and code-required upgrade needed to put the roof back to its pre-loss condition.
A supplement is a written request to your insurance carrier to add line items, materials, or labor that the original adjuster’s estimate missed or under-scoped.
MATERIALS
The pieces of an asphalt roof, from the deck up to the ridge.
Algae streaks are the dark gray-to-black staining that appears in diagonal or vertical bands on asphalt shingle roofs.
An architectural shingle (also called dimensional or laminated) is a heavier asphalt shingle made of two layered tabs bonded together, giving it a thicker shadow line that mimics wood shake.
An asphalt shingle is a roofing tile made from a fiberglass or organic mat coated in asphalt and embedded with ceramic-coated granules.
Chimney flashing is the sheet-metal system that waterproofs the joint between a chimney and the surrounding roof.
Decking is the wood structural sheet that the underlayment and shingles are nailed to.
Drip edge is a metal flashing installed at the edges of the roof — the eaves and rakes — to direct water away from the fascia and into the gutters.
The fascia is the vertical board that runs along the edge of the roof, behind the gutter.
Granule loss is the shedding of the ceramic-coated mineral granules embedded in the surface of an asphalt shingle.
Ice and water shield is a self-adhering rubberized membrane installed at vulnerable parts of the roof — eaves, valleys, around chimneys, skylights, and pipe penetrations.
Modified bitumen (mod-bit) is a commercial roofing membrane made from asphalt reinforced with a rubber or plastic modifier — either APP (atactic polypropylene) or SBS (styrene-butadiene-styrene).
A pipe boot is the rubber- or lead-flashing collar that seals around plumbing vent pipes where they pass through the roof.
Ridge cap shingles are the specialty shingles that finish the peak (ridge) of a roof and the angled hips.
A ridge vent is a continuous ventilation strip installed along the peak of the roof that exhausts hot attic air along the full ridge length.
Roof pitch is the steepness of a roof surface, expressed as the number of inches it rises for every 12 horizontal inches — written as "X-in-12." Pitch affects drainage, what roofing materials can be used, what safety gear crews must have, and therefore what the job costs.
The soffit is the underside of the roof overhang — the horizontal panel between the outside wall of the house and the edge of the roof.
A soft spot in a roof deck is an area of decking — the wood sheathing under the shingles — that has absorbed moisture and begun to delaminate, compress, or rot.
A starter strip is a pre-cut shingle product — or a course of cut-down field shingles — installed along the eaves and rakes before the first full shingle course.
TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin) is a single-ply roofing membrane widely used on commercial and low-slope flat roofs.
Underlayment is the water-resistant layer installed between the roof decking and the shingles.
A wind uplift rating describes how much upward wind pressure a roofing assembly can resist before fasteners pull through, shingles lift, or the deck separates from the framing.
PROCESS
How the work actually happens — and what is on the warranty.
Flashing failure is the breakdown of the sheet-metal or rubberized seals at roof penetrations, edges, and transitions — the points where the roof meets a wall, chimney, vent, skylight, or valley.
FORTIFIED Roof is a voluntary construction standard developed by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) that builds a roof to resist hurricanes, hail, and high winds.
A manufacturer warranty is the shingle maker’s promise that the materials will not fail prematurely.
An overlay is a roof installation method where new shingles are installed directly on top of an existing layer of old shingles, instead of tearing the old roof off first.
A tear-off is a full roof replacement: every shingle, every layer of underlayment, and any damaged decking comes off down to the wood, and a brand-new roof system goes on from scratch.
A workmanship warranty is the contractor’s promise that if anything fails because of how the roof was installed — wrong nailing, missed flashings, leaks at penetrations — they will come back and fix it at no charge.
CERTIFICATIONS
Real third-party badges, what they mean, and what they do not.
CertainTeed ShingleMaster (and the higher SELECT ShingleMaster tier) is CertainTeed’s contractor certification program.
A cool roof rating measures a roofing product's ability to reflect solar energy and release absorbed heat.
GAF Master Elite is the top contractor certification from GAF, the largest shingle manufacturer in North America.
The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) is a nonprofit research and standards organization funded by the property-insurance industry.
The National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) is the largest US trade association for roofing professionals.
Owens Corning Platinum Preferred Contractor is the top tier of Owens Corning’s contractor program.
FREE DOWNLOAD
All 25 essential terms in a compact two-page printable PDF — cover page, two-column layout, ready for the kitchen table or the adjuster meeting.
FREE INSPECTION
Send us your declarations page and the loss summary. We will read it back to you in plain English. No charge, no contract.