Roof repair, leak tracing and full shingle replacement for houses across the Electric City, from the old mill streets to the subdivisions off Clemson Boulevard.
Anderson sits in the middle of the twelve Upstate towns Bulldog Roofing Upstate serves. We offer roof repair, leak repair, storm damage repair, replacement and free inspections across the city and the county around it: the streets downtown, the neighborhoods along Clemson Boulevard, and the houses spread out toward Interstate 85 and Lake Hartwell. If something is wrong with your roof, send us a few details on the contact page and we will call you back to set up a free inspection.
Hydroelectric power reached Anderson in 1895, which gave it the name Electric City, and cotton mills followed. Orr Mill was organized in 1899, Gluck Mill and its village went up in 1903 and 1904, and Brogon Mill, later renamed Appleton, came soon after. Each mill built rows of small frame houses for its workers, and where those houses still stand, their roofs have usually been redone more than once in the century since.
Newer houses keep going up between town and the interstate, and toward the lake, and their roofs are a different job from a hundred-year-old mill cottage. The city holds eight districts on the National Register of Historic Places, including the McDuffie Street, Whitner Street, North Anderson and Westside districts. So the roofs here range from a low cottage roof with layers of old repairs to a two-story house with a steep, cut-up roofline. The same is true up the road in Pendleton and out toward Clemson.
On an older Anderson house, the trouble is often one spot rather than the whole roof: a cracked pipe boot, a chimney with tired flashing, or shingles that let go in a gust. We fix the spot and check the rest while we are up there, so you know whether more is coming.
When the shingles are brittle, the granules are washing off and the decking flexes underfoot, patching stops making sense. A replacement here starts with a full tear-off, which is the time to check the decking, and the agreed scope says what gets replaced before new underlayment, drip edge and architectural shingles go on.
A ceiling stain in a hallway can start eight feet away at a vent or a valley, because water runs along the decking before it drops. We trace it back to where it actually gets in, which matters on mill houses that have had their roofs patched several times.
If you just bought in Anderson, or you are not sure how old the roof is, a free inspection is a sensible first step. We start on the roof, then check inside and in the attic where there is a stain or a way in, and you hear what we found before any price comes up.
Storm damage repair is available in Anderson as well, so all six of our roofing services cover the city.
The cottages in the old mill villages were built simply, to a few standard plans, with simple gable roofs and modest overhangs. Over a century, many have picked up additions, porch enclosures and roof tie-ins that were never flashed the way they should have been. Those joints, where a newer roof meets an older one, are where water tends to find its way in.
Several older houses also carry more than one layer of shingles. A second layer adds weight and hides whatever is going on with the decking underneath. A tear-off is the time to check each run of boards, and if the decking is soft, you hear about it before any new shingles go down.
In the historic districts closer to downtown, the houses are bigger and the rooflines more complicated: dormers, chimneys, valleys and porches all tying in. Every one of those transitions is a place where flashing does the real work. A chimney with cracked mortar or flashing pulling loose is one of the most common sources of leaks on houses of this age.
Anderson gets around 50 inches of rain a year on average and very little snow, and July afternoons often top 90 degrees. Summer thunderstorms bring wind and sometimes hail, and a hot attic with poor airflow cooks shingles from underneath. Good attic ventilation, with intake at the eaves and exhaust at the ridge, helps a shingle roof last.
Toward Lake Hartwell the lots get more wooded. Tall trees shade the roof, which keeps moss and algae going on the north side, and they drop limbs when the wind picks up. A limb does not need to break through to do damage: one that drags across the shingles can crack them and leave a leak that only shows up weeks later.
Before a roof gets replaced, it is worth checking whether your address is inside city limits or out in the county, because that decides which office handles the permit. If you are unsure whether your roof needs a fix or a full replacement, our free roof inspection page walks through what we check.
Yes. We serve the whole city and the surrounding parts of Anderson County, from the streets around the old Orr, Gluck and Appleton mill sites to the wooded lots toward Lake Hartwell. Call and give us the address and we will set up a time to come look.
They need a careful look at a few spots. Many carry more than one layer of shingles over board decking, and later additions often tie into the original roof with flashing that was never quite right. A tear-off is the time to check each run of boards, and those tie-ins are where leaks tend to start.
We start on the roof with the shingles, the flashing around chimneys and walls, the pipe boots and vents, the valleys and the edges. Then we check inside and in the attic where there is a stain or a way in. You hear what we saw, and there is nothing to sign.
It depends on your address. Inside Anderson city limits the city handles building permits, and outside them it is Anderson County. Check with the right office for your street before a replacement starts.
It can be worth a call before you pick shingles. Anderson has eight districts on the National Register, and if you plan to change how the roof looks, ask the city whether any design review applies to your street. A like-for-like shingle roof is the simplest case.
It comes down to the size and steepness of the roof, how many layers have to come off, how much decking needs replacing, and how many chimneys, valleys and vents need flashing. A cut-up roof on a historic house takes more time than a simple gable on a ranch. We look first and talk numbers after.
