Sperry Roof Repair and Storm Damage
Sperry's worst storm on record came on the last day of November. Severe wind here does not keep to the spring calendar.
Roofs, a Church and a Barn, November 2018
On November 30, 2018, a 65 knot storm crossed Sperry and did damage the survey lists in one breath: it "damaged the roofs of several homes, damaged the roof of a church, damaged a barn, and snapped large tree limbs." Houses, a church and a barn in a single pass is a lot of roof damage for a town of just over a thousand people.
The date is the part to remember. Most people stop thinking about storm damage once the spring season is over, but Sperry's largest hail on record came in the fall as well: 2.00 inches on October 20, 2019. Two of the notable events in Sperry's history landed in October and November, when roofs often go unchecked until spring comes around again.
An October hailstorm in Sperry is also easy to misread. The granules hail knocks off a shingle wash into the gutters at the same time the leaves come down, and it is natural to blame a full gutter on the season. Gutters full of dark grit in the fall after a hail day are a reason to get on the roof, not just to clean them out.
Earlier in 2018, on August 7, a storm of only 52 knots, about 60 miles an hour, "snapped large tree limbs, and blew shingles off the roof of a home." Two shingle-damaging storms in one year, four months apart, in a town whose reporting point logged only 10 significant events between 2016 and 2026. Sperry's record is short, but two of its entries name roofs outright, and that is a high share for a list of ten.
A Railroad Switch and a Civil War Battle
Sperry's post office opened on May 17, 1902, serving a rural community between Hominy and Delaware Creeks. The town incorporated in 1920 with 487 people and had 1,118 at the 2020 Census, a little more than doubling in a century. That slow growth means a Sperry street can hold houses from many different decades side by side, each with its own roof history.
Where the name came from is genuinely disputed. The original site was called Beuhler Switch, and one account credits Charles Beuhler, an early Midland Valley Railroad employee. Another credits a local landowner, Henry Spybuck. A third holds that the Post Office Department simply picked the name on its own. We are not going to choose among them.
The ground is older than the town. The Battle of Chusto-Talasah was fought here on December 9, 1861, during the Civil War.
Along Highway 11 and the Old Rail Trail
Sperry sits on State Highway 11, near the line between Tulsa and Osage Counties, about ten miles north of downtown Tulsa. Tulsa's reporting point logged 82 significant events between 2016 and 2026 against Sperry's 10, so Sperry's quieter record is real, but it is not the same as safe. The town is small enough that its roofing risks are easy to map street by street.
Highway 11
The highway is the town's spine, and the older commercial buildings along a main road through a small town tend to carry flat or low-slope roofs behind a short wall. Those roofs fail by holding water: a clogged drain or a sagging section and the next heavy rain sits on the seams. If you own a building along Highway 11, the drains are the first thing to check.
The Midland Valley trail
The old Midland Valley Railroad corridor is now a walking and biking trail connecting Sperry to Tulsa and Skiatook. Houses that back onto an old rail line often have open ground or a tree line behind them, and both bring their own roof issues: open ground lets wind build, and a tree line drops limbs and leaves.
The WPA armory
The Sperry WPA armory is one of the town's older public buildings. Any older masonry building in Sperry tends to leak where the roof meets the wall, at flashing set into old mortar, and the fix there is at the joint, not a new layer of shingles.
Southeast of Sperry
On May 27, 2021, a 65 knot storm "blew down several trees southeast of Sperry." Combined with the large limbs snapped in both 2018 storms, the record keeps pointing at the same hazard: big trees near houses. Between Hominy and Delaware Creeks, where trees grow close to water, that is worth a look before the next storm.
Neighbors
From our Jenks shop we also serve Skiatook, Collinsville and Owasso.
Free Inspection in Sperry
Sperry's storms have come in November and October as well as summer, so a fall inspection is worth having. It costs nothing, and the photos are yours.