Sawmill Village Fortified Roofing Project
Project Details
Sawmill Village is a new affordable housing community in Burnsville, NC. When it needed roofs that could hold up to severe Carolina weather, Elite Roof and Solar was selected from five roofing contractors to do the work. We installed complete GAF roofing systems on 26 homes, all built to the insurance industry’s FORTIFIED standard, and finished the project in July 2026.
The community was developed to serve low-income seniors, residents with disabilities, and families in Yancey County. After Hurricane Helene, storm-ready roofing has become a priority across western North Carolina, and a FORTIFIED roof gives these homeowners stronger protection for years to come.
FORTIFIED is a beyond-code standard from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), and meeting it takes careful installation, not just good materials. Our crews built three core requirements into every roof at Sawmill Village. First, we fastened the roof decks with ring-shank nails in a tighter pattern, which can nearly double a roof’s resistance to wind uplift. Next, we sealed the deck seams to add a secondary water barrier that IBHS testing shows can cut water intrusion by more than 95 percent if the shingles are ever damaged. Finally, we reinforced the roof edges, the area most likely to fail in high wind. A FORTIFIED Evaluator inspected and documented every stage before the next layer went on.
Each roof was installed with GAF products made for the standard, including StormGuard and WeatherWatch leak barriers and Timberline shingles rated among the highest on the IBHS impact scale. Elite Roof and Solar is a GAF Master Elite and President’s Club 3-Star contractor, a level fewer than 2 percent of roofers in the country reach.
Want a FORTIFIED roof for your own home? Elite Roof and Solar installs FORTIFIED roofing across the Carolinas. Call (855) 980-ROOF (7663) or request a free estimate.
Roof Type: FORTIFIED Roofs, New Construction, Residential
Material: GAF Timberline HDZ Shingles – Charcoal
Location: Burnsville, NC (Asheville)
