Roofing in Catawba County, NC
Just 7.5% of Catawba County's owner-occupied homes date from 2010 or later, against 18.6% from the 2000s alone.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024, table B25036, Catawba County, checked .
Page updated .
Housing
How old the homes are in Catawba County
Catawba County's median owner-occupied home was built in the 1980s; at 90% confidence, the Census Bureau places it between 1984 and 1988.
About two in five of the county's owner-occupied homes, 41.5%, predate 1980, and 17.8% predate 1960.
Hickory's owner-occupied housing is older than the county's as a whole: the Census Bureau's 90% interval for the city's median year built is 1974 to 1982.
About three in ten of Hickory's owner-occupied homes, 31.3%, were built before 1960.
Sources (4)
Permits
Permits for a reroof in Catawba County
The City of Hickory's Permit Center page puts it this way: "Catawba County enforces the State of North Carolina Building Code within Hickory's jurisdiction." The city sends building code questions to Catawba County Building Services, while its own Permit Center coordinates development approvals and zoning.
Catawba County Building Services issues permits and makes on-site inspections across the county, its eight municipal areas included: Brookford, Catawba, Claremont, Conover, Hickory, Long View, Newton and Maiden.
Inspections are scheduled for the following workday, or for the next open workday once that one is booked. Requests go in through the county's ePermits portal or by phone, giving the permit number or street address, the inspection type and the date wanted.
Catawba County's Permit Center is in the Government Center at 25 Government Drive in Newton. It issues permits from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, and its number is 828-465-8399.
North Carolina rule
Under G.S. 160D-1110(c), work on a single-family home that costs $40,000 or less and follows the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code needs no building permit, unless it falls into one of six listed categories. One category is "the addition of roofing, excluding replacement": that work needs a permit at any cost, while a roof replacement is not on the list. Work costing more than $40,000 falls outside the exemption. The statute speaks to building permits only, not to any other approval a property may need.
The $40,000 figure comes from Session Law 2023-108 (House Bill 488), which raised it from $20,000 for permit applications submitted on or after October 1, 2023.
The Office of State Fire Marshal reads the exemption as covering the replacement of roofing plus up to 15% of the total existing roof deck, on projects costing $40,000 or less. The paper states that its guidance is not legal advice.
Sources (3)
Sources (3)
- City of Hickory, Permit Center, checked .
- Catawba County, Building Inspections, checked .
- Catawba County, Permit Services, checked .
Storms
Recorded storm damage in Catawba County
Second on the list below, the EF2 tornado of October 26, 2010 touched down in an industrial park about a mile south-southwest of Claremont and ran about 2.5 miles to the east-northeast. The National Weather Service survey describes significant roof damage to industrial buildings, shingle and siding damage at several homes, and major roof damage to a food processing plant.
On September 27, 2024, Helene reached Catawba County as a tropical storm, and NOAA's record for the county's zone says hundreds of trees came down on homes, vehicles and power lines. NOAA's figure for property damage in that zone is $2 million.
High winds on April 16, 2007, with gusts NOAA estimates at 60 knots, toppled a 30-foot brick wall from the top of a building in Newton and tore sections of metal roofing off a business in Viewmont.
Ice Storm
, $9M in recorded property damage. NOAA event 5326412
Tornado, EF2
, near CLAREMONT, $6.61M in recorded property damage. NOAA event 266017
Tropical Storm
, $2M in recorded property damage. NOAA event 1218169
Tornado, EF1
, near LONGVIEW, $500K in recorded property damage. NOAA event 723701
High Wind, 60 kt
, $500K in recorded property damage. NOAA event 29395
Sources (3)
- NOAA Storm Events Database, event 266017, checked .
- NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1218169, checked .
- NOAA Storm Events Database, event 29395, checked .
Hail
Recorded hail in Catawba County
No hail report in Catawba County since 2000 has topped 2 inches, and NOAA's database records that size four times. Of the county's eleven reports at 1.75 inches or more, five fell on three days in May 2003.
The most recent 2-inch report reached NOAA through social media: hail of that diameter on the north side of Hickory on July 21, 2018.
On May 14, 2006, NOAA's account describes numerous reports of golf-ball- to tangerine-size hail in the county, with tangerine-size hail cracking a windshield.
2.00 in hail
, near HICKORY. NOAA event 775527
2.00 in hail
, near BROOKFORD. NOAA event 397314
2.00 in hail
, near CATAWBA. NOAA event 5508348
2.00 in hail
, near MAIDEN, $1K in recorded property damage. NOAA event 5508040
1.75 in hail
, near HICKORY. NOAA event 646498
NOAA record through June 2026.
Sources (3)
- NOAA Storm Events Database, bulk data files, checked .
- NOAA Storm Events Database, event 775527, checked .
- NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5508040, checked .
Towns
Town by town in Catawba County
Hickory
Hickory's boundary crosses into Burke and Caldwell counties, but only 111 of its 43,490 residents lived outside Catawba County in 2020.
Hickory spans Catawba County, Burke County and Caldwell County.
Newton
Golf-ball-size hail, 1.75 inches across, was reported at Newton on consecutive days, May 2 and May 3, 2003.
Conover
On June 13, 2013, thunderstorm gusts estimated at 65 knots blew down numerous trees on Conover's north side. NOAA's record says several trees fell on and damaged homes there, destroying a house, and a brick chimney was blown over.
Claremont
Three tornadoes since 2010 began in or near Claremont, by NOAA's records: an EF2 on October 26, 2010 and EF1s on August 7, 2023 and January 9, 2024.
Maiden
Maiden's town limits reach into Lincoln County, but the 2020 Census found no residents living in that part.
Maiden spans Catawba County and Lincoln County.
Sources (6)
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census, table P1, Hickory city and its Catawba County part, checked .
- NOAA Storm Events Database, events 5358209 and 5358322, checked .
- NOAA Storm Events Database, event 462834, checked .
- NOAA Storm Events Database, events 266017, 1136771 and 1159053, checked .
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census, table P1, Maiden town's Lincoln County part, checked .
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census place-by-county file for North Carolina, checked .
Common problems
Common roof problems on homes like these
For asphalt shingles, InterNACHI's chart of estimated life expectancies gives about 20 years for 3-tab and about 30 for architectural, assuming regular maintenance and normal wear and tear.
Catawba County's owner-occupied homes from 1960 through 1989 add up to 38.8%. An original roof on any of those houses would be 37 years old or more in 2026, older than both of InterNACHI's estimates.
NOAA's account of an EF0 tornado on a Lake Norman peninsula on October 26, 2010 describes falling debris damaging the roofs of several homes, and some lesser roof damage from the wind itself.
Thunderstorm reports from around Hickory in September 2014, June 2015, February 2016 and August 2018 each describe a tree falling on a house.
Sources (4)
FAQ
Roofing questions in Catawba County
Does the City of Hickory issue its own building permits?
No. Catawba County Building Services issues building permits and makes inspections inside Hickory, as it does across the county. The city's Permit Center handles zoning and development approvals and sends building code questions to the county at 828-465-8399. The Permit Center's own number is 828-323-7410.
What does Catawba County charge for a re-roof permit?
The county's fee schedule for fiscal year 2026/27 lists a residential re-roof permit at $60 per project. If residential work starts without a permit, the schedule charges double the permit fee. Whether a particular roof replacement needs a permit at all depends on the North Carolina rule set out in the permits section above.
How much of Hickory is in Catawba County?
Nearly all of it. The 2020 Census counted 43,379 of Hickory's 43,490 residents in its Catawba County part. The rest lived in the parts of the city that lie in Burke County, with 79 residents, and Caldwell County, with 32.
What happened in the October 2010 Claremont tornado?
NOAA's record describes an EF2 tornado that touched down in an industrial park about a mile south-southwest of Claremont on the evening of October 26, 2010 and stayed on the ground for about 2.5 miles, up to 100 yards wide. Along its path the National Weather Service survey found significant roof damage and a partly collapsed wall at industrial buildings, damage to shingles and siding at several homes, outbuildings thrown 30 to 40 feet, major roof damage at a food processing plant, and trailers overturned at a truck depot. NOAA lists $6.61 million in property damage.
How large has hail been around Hickory?
Hail up to 2 inches across has been reported there. On July 21, 2018, the public reported two-inch hail on the north side of Hickory, the largest size in Catawba County's NOAA record since 2000. On June 29, 2016, quarter- to golf-ball-size hail fell across the north and northeast sides of the city, according to media and public reports.
How much of Catawba County's owner-occupied housing dates from 2010 or later?
Just 7.5%, by the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 estimate. Of the county's owner-occupied homes, 5.9% were built from 2010 to 2019 and 1.6% in 2020 or later, while the 2000s alone account for 18.6%: roughly three from that decade for each one from the 2010s.
Sources (12)
- City of Hickory, Permit Center, checked .
- Catawba County, Building Inspections, checked .
- Catawba County, FY 2026/27 Fee Schedule, checked .
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census, table P1, Hickory city, checked .
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census, table P1, Hickory city, Catawba County part, checked .
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census, table P1, Hickory city, Burke County part, checked .
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census, table P1, Hickory city, Caldwell County part, checked .
- NOAA Storm Events Database, event 266017, checked .
- NOAA Storm Events Database, event 775527, checked .
- NOAA Storm Events Database, event 646498, checked .
- NOAA Storm Events Database, bulk data files, checked .
- U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024, table B25036, Catawba County, checked .
Nearby
Neighboring counties
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