Roofing for Greene County, forest and all

Leakesville has been the seat of Greene County since the county was drawn in 1811, and it has stayed small on purpose: a courthouse square, a few hundred households, and the Chickasawhay River running past the edge of town. Almost everything around it is timber. The Chickasawhay Ranger District of the De Soto National Forest covers a large share of the county, which makes Greene one of the least populated and most heavily wooded counties in South Mississippi.

That forest is the roofing story here. Homes sit under mature pine and hardwood, often well back from the road, and the canopy never really lets a roof dry out. Needles pack into valleys and gutters, limbs come down in weather that would not bother an open lot, and the shaded north slopes hold moisture long enough to grow the black streaking most people mistake for dirt. An inspection in Greene County that only looks at shingles has missed most of the job.

The practical mix follows the country. Shingle roofs in and around town, and a great deal of metal everywhere else: houses, shops, barns, hunting camps, and outbuildings whose owners would rather roof once than think about it again. From our Hattiesburg office it is about an hour and fifteen minutes southeast, far enough that we schedule Greene County work rather than pretend we are around the corner, and close enough that it is a normal week for us.