Wind and Hail Inspection: Inspect your Property like a Pro

Hail Damage Anatomy

After a storm you will see many property owners with their ladders extended, walking around their house performing their own hail inspection. Hundreds of them will think that everything is fine since they couldn’t see any obvious damage from the ground, while the roof was actually damaged.

The damage will be obvious if you have experienced a golf ball size or larger hail, but even if the hail was smaller than that – there is a good likelihood that your roof was damaged (it may take 2-4 months to become apparent though). And here’s why:

When hail hits your roof it loosens the granules on your shingles – how much the granules are loosened depends on the size of the hail. The larger sized hail will show granule loss immediately but the smaller sized hail will only loosen the granules. So for smaller sized hail damage the granule loss will be over a graduated period of time depending on how much rain you get.

When it rains, the loosened granules wash off the roof and expose the asphalt in the shingles over a period of time. Since granules protect the asphalt in the shingles, once the granules are gone the asphalt is exposed. Exposed asphalt will make the shingles deteriorate much faster than normal, thus causing roof leaks.

In conclusion, hail damage accelerates the aging process of your shingles taking 5-10 years off the life of your roof. So it’s important to find the damage to your home early on before it causes leaks. Also, if you wait too long, the insurance company will not cover any damage and you will be forced to replace the roof, siding, and/or gutters on your own dime.

In the mean time, do your own hail inspection

Things to look for

If you spot damage in any of those places, there’s a good chance your roof took a few hits, as well. In that case, it’s best to call out a roofing contractor to examine your roof.

ONE – look for dented gutters, gutter screens, or downspouts

TWO – look for damage to siding and windowsills/casings

Look also at any other exposed metal surfaces, like metal fascia on the roof eaves for signs of hail damage impact, even if it looks like a faint ding.

THREE – look for damage to air conditioners or other outdoor items

In addition to offering a quick glance sign of further hail damage on the roof, a damaged air conditioner may qualify for insurance replacement.

As a homeowner, it’s equally important to keep a ledger of everything that was damaged on your property. This could be a shed, patio cover, porch, decking, anything that the insurance may cover.

FOUR – look for damage to decks or painted wood surfaces

Decks, fences and other painted or stained surfaces surrounding the home may have sustained hail damage. If you see chipped paint, splinters, or discoloration, it may be the result of hail impact.

Roof Inspection

Hail Damage To Roof Vents And Shingles

Once you’re up on the roof, there’s going to be a few things to look for. Vents, chimneys, sky lights, other features and shingles are on our inspection list.

Hail damage often accompanies wind damage to roofing systems, so you’ll want to look for both.

Check out all the roof vents and features to look for any damage. Look for dents, dings, chipped surfaces, etc.

For the harder to see impact areas like the chimney covers (below), run your chalk sideways over the surface and it will uncover the hail impact points. For the softer metal vents, the damage will be much more obvious.

The last, but most important thing to check is the shingles. Hail damage to roof shingles are what buys the roof. You’ll never get a solid insurance claim without shingle damage.

What does hail damage look like on shingles?

Hail damage to roof shingles can be very obvious or very difficult to uncover. It takes a trained eye to spot hail damage to roof shingles.

As you can see on the first image below, the surface granules have been knocked off of the shingle very clearly.

The rest of the pictures make it much harder to notice that the shingle has sustained hail damage.

So what, It’s just a few granules…

You may be surprised at the force it takes knock the surface materials off of a shingle. When this is discovered, the integrity of the shingle has been compromised, and a water leak can develop over time. Even the smallest hail impact on a shingle can lead to a roof leak.

Now it’s your job to determine if there’s enough information here to make an insurance claim. Most insurance companies want to see 8+ hits on the roof within a 10ft x 10ft square on at least 3 sides of the roof.

Mark each hit with chalk so you can accurately determine if there is enough damage to have the homeowner make a claim.

Take pictures of the hail hits to show the homeowner whenever you’re done inspecting the roof. You can also show these pictures to the insurance adjuster whenever they come out for their inspection of the roof.

Now, you should have enough information to determine whether or not the home owner will need a roof replacement.

Metal Roof Hail Damage

Shingles can be tricky when it comes to spotting hail damage, but they’re not the only type of roof out there. You have others like wooden shake, clay, slate and metal roofing.

Wood shingles will split right down the middle after being struck by hail. Clay & slate roofing will have cracks and/or gouges, and metal roofing will have impact dents like we saw on the gutters at the beginning.

Metal roofing is one of the easiest to spot for hail damage.

Here are some examples of hail damage on a metal roof.

See all hail damage pictures here.

What size hail causes roof damage?

On average, it takes a 1″ or above diameter hail stone to cause damage to common asphalt shingles. When referring to hail sizes, here are a few common objects to compare:

• Pea  = 1/4-inch in diameter
• Marble = 1/2-inch in diameter
• Dime or penny = 3/4-inch in diameter (hail the size of a penny or larger is considered severe)
• Nickel = 7/8-inch
• Quarter = 1 inch
• Golf Ball = 1½  inches
• Tennis Ball = 2½ inches
• Baseball = 2¾ inches
• Tea cup = 3 inches
• Softball = 4 inches

Several surveys and studies have been completed to show to damage potential of different size hail stones on various types of common roofing materials. Field observations and ice stone impact tests provide some common correlation between stone size and damage potential.

Material	Hailstone Size
3-Tab organic asphalt shingles	1″
3-Tab fiberglass asphalt shingles	1¼”
Cedar shingles	1¼”
Fiber-cement tiles	1¼”
Flat concrete tiles	1¼”
Heavy cedar shakes	1½”
30-year laminated shingles	1½”
Built-up gravel roofing	2″
S-shaped concrete tiles	2″

What does hail damage do to a roof?

The severity of hail damage to a roof depends on several factors, including:

What do I do If I think I have hail damage?

Hard hail impacts or high winds can grip the shingles and cause cracks. This can lead to exposure and tears, leaving your roof with bare spots. Cracked shingles cannot effectively protect your roof from the weather.

Homeowners: It’s very important that you have your contractor come out and inspect the roof with your insurance adjuster. You have to remember the insurance company is looking for reasons NOT to replace your roof. That’s why it’s important to make sure your contractor inspects the roof with the adjuster.

In Summary…

We are experts equipped with the right information and resources, you’ll have a trained eye on your side to spot hail damage. If you are a homeowner or commercial company, we can help you get fair coverage for the losses you’ve sustained.

If you have been experiencing any leaks in the home that could have resulted from the hail damage to roof shingles. Our job is to assist you and get full and fair settlement for all parts of your property.