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HAIL DAMAGE

Identifying Hail Damage to Your Roof

Are you aware that during a hail storm more than just your vehicles are potentially vulnerable to damage and future repairs? When hail hits, it can damage the roof or covering of your home as well as other personal property. Although hailstorms can be destructive, the amount of damage can vary greatly. Following are some factors that affect the type and degree of damage that may be impacted by a hailstorm, as well as a guide on how to identify hail damage to different types of shingles and roofing materials.

Wind – During a hailstorm, wind direction and wind speed can vary. Changes in wind conditions can affect the location and severity of hail impacts.
Size and density – The size of the hailstones can affect the degree of damage, if any, to your property. A hailstone can be as small as a pea, or as large as a softball. Most hailstones do not have smooth edges, which can impact the type of damage they cause.
Building materials – Building materials absorb hail impacts differently. For example, hail can cause dings in aluminum siding, gutters or asphalt shingles, whereas it can crack vinyl siding or wood shakes. Alternatively, softball-sized hailstones can be dense enough and strong enough to puncture a roof. Additionally, the age and condition of a roof could affect the degree of damage.
Barriers – The position of neighboring structures and natural barriers, like tree cover, landscaping, fences or adjacent homes can reduce the ability of hail to cause damage.

What Does Hail Damage to Your Roof Look Like?

Shingles can react differently when struck by hail. As an example, hail damage to asphalt and composition shingles can look very different than hail damage to wood shingles. It is important to know the different effects of the damage to properly identify whether or not you have roof damage from hail.

Asphalt and Composition Shingles Hail Damage

Hail hits that are black in color.
Loss of granules, which may expose the roof felt.
Asphalt and/or mat that appears shiny.
Hail hits that are soft to the touch, like the bruise on an apple.
Random damage with no discernable pattern.

Wood Shingles Hail Damage

Random damage with no discernable pattern.
A split in the shingle that is brown/orange in color.
A split in the shingle that has sharp corners and edges.
A split in the shingle that has little to no deterioration at the edges.
Impact marks or dents along the splits.

There are many other types of damage to shingles that can be mistaken for hail damage. For example, exposure to inclement weather and sunlight makes shingles brittle and gives them an aged appearance. This type of damage is normal wear and tear of shingles, which is sometimes misidentified as hail damage. Other types of normal wear and tear may include blistering, cracking, granule loss, flaking and algae. Manufacturing defects and mechanical imperfections in shingles can also be mistaken for hail damage.

If you believe your home has sustained damage from hail, call your agent or insurance representative to discuss possible next steps.

HAIL DAMAGE CHARACTERISTICS

Let’s take a look at the different factors which determine how severe hail damage can be.

Hail damage has certain characteristics which vary with both the different properties of hail, and with the properties of the various roofing materials that hail hits. First, let’s examine the different properties of hail.

The severity and appearance of the damage caused by hailstones depends on a number of variables. The size, density, free-fall velocity, the shape of the hail, its directionality, and angle of impact can all affect the damage you see during an inspection.

IMPACT ENERGY

Three of these properties -- size, density, and free-fall velocity -- affect what’s referred to as the “impact energy” of hail. Impact energy is the amount of energy transferred to the roof-covering material when the hailstone strikes. Impact energy is the most important factor influencing the severity of damage caused by a hailstone. A hailstone carrying a lot of impact energy will do more damage than one carrying less impact energy.

Size

Size is an important factor because larger hailstones are heavier and fall faster than smaller hailstones, and so they carry more impact energy.

Courtesy of NCAR (the National Center for Atmospheric Research)

The largest hailstone ever recorded in North America fell in Aurora, Nebraska in 2006.

Hail size is described by comparing it to a common object. Here are some commonly used descriptions:

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; and
grapefruit = 4 inches.

It is common for the size of hailstones to vary within a single storm. Hailstones at the leading and trailing edges of storms may be of a size different from those in the main body of the storm, so it’s not unusual to see damage to a property with characteristics of different sizes of hailstones.

When discussing the importance of impact energy and the characteristics of hailstones, size is the easiest to estimate. You can’t tell the density or free-fall velocity of a hailstone by looking at the damage it leaves behind. But as you become more experienced at inspecting hail damage, you’ll become more skillful at judging the size of the hailstone by looking at the damage to a variety of materials.

Hard hailstones hitting soft, thin materials, such as aluminum vents, will leave a better indication of their diameter than soft hailstones hitting hard materials.

You don’t really need to determine the actual size of the hailstone. Your mission is to identify functional damage, or the lack of damage. Size is just one more clue.

Larger hailstones tend to be less spherical. They often grow not only by gaining ice layers, but also by colliding and merging with other hailstones.

WHAT TO DO AFTER A HAIL STORM

WHAT TO DO AFTER A HAIL STORM

Note the date and time of the storm. Your insurance claims manager will ask for the date & time of the loss and the storm event can be correlated with reports from the local weather and public safety authorities.

After the storm take pictures of the yard, sidewalk and patios.

Hail stones set next to a tape measure.
The size of a hail stone is directly proportional to the potential for damage to the roof and shingles.
Roof – looking for obvious signs of roof damage such as missing or torn shingles,
Outdoor air conditioning units.
Hail stones can dent and bend the cooling fins, blocking the air flow.

I also looked around inside the attic for any signs of a leak.

HAIL DAMAGE ROOF INSPECTION

The following advice assumes your roof isn’t leaking necessitating emergency repairs, but you are concerned about functional hail damage to the shingles that could cause a leak over time if not repaired.

Before contacting your insurance agent, you should have a reputable roofing contractor inspect your roof for potential hail damage as quickly as possible. The roofing contractor will walk your roof to assess if it has sustained hail damage to reasonably justify an insurance claim.

The roof inspection is free because it’s cost of doing business for the roofing company to be in a position to quote the job if your insurance claim is approved. Be careful in how you choose a roofing contractor to avoid fraud and unauthorized work! I recommend the following selection criteria:

Deal only with a factory-certified roofing contractor in your area.

Roof inspection advice:

Make an appointment for a roof inspection.
Be at home to meet the roofing contractor.
Explain when and what happened during the hail storm, show the roofer your videos and/or photos if available. er
Be absolutely clear that no repairs are to be made at this time, this is only an inspection!
Go outside and watch while the roofer inspects your roof.
You should listen and watch for any signs of hammering or scraping, which could be a fraudulent attempt to mimic hail damage. Using only factory-certified contractors will go a long way to weeding out the unscrupulous roofers.

If the roof inspection found evidence of hail damage, the roofing contractor will be able to give you his or her opinion if filing an insurance claim is warranted and what he believes is the likelihood of a claim being approved.

HOW TO FILE A ROOF HAIL DAMAGE INSURANCE CLAIM

To file an insurance claim for roof hail damage:

Locate your homeowner’s insurance policy.
Make a note of your insurance policy number and deductible. The deductible figure will be important as explained later.
Organize your facts and records; insurance policy number, date/time of loss, hail size (if known), photos, videos, damage items.
Call your homeowner’s insurance claim number and provide the necessary information as requested... Do NOT call your agent , they only write the policy
You will be given a claim number by your insurer.and an adjusters number , the adjuster will set an appointment to inspect the roof and collateral damages.

When an insurance claims examiner is assigned to your case, it helps to send your photos and videos of the hail storm for authenticity to better support your claim. The claim examiner will assign an adjuster to make an official roof inspection and prepare a repair estimate.

CLAIMS ADJUSTER ROOF INSPECTION

The claims adjuster will contact you to make an appointment to inspect the roof.
Offer to share your photos and/or videos of the storm with the adjuster.
You should arrange for the roofing contractor who previously inspected your roof to meet with the insurance adjuster to go on the roof and discuss his findings.
The claim adjuster may bring along a “high team” to inspect steep and/or high roofs with proper safety gear.
The roof inspection includes the taking of numerous photos, looking at dents in the soft metals (gutters, box vents, powered attic ventilators) and the marking off 10 ft by 10 ft “test squares” to count the number of hail stone hits on the shingles. Hail stone hits will be marked with chalk for identification in photos.

The claims adjuster will write a report on his findings, prepare an estimate to make spot repairs or replace the roof (assuming damage was found), then forward the report to your claim examiner. The claim examiner will review the report and make a decision on your claim.