While most hail storms produce tiny frozen pellets that bounce harmlessly off your house’s
roof, some hail storms produce large, heavy chunks of ice that can cause some serious damage. Hail damage repair should be undertaken as soon as you notice it to prevent bigger problems from occurring.

Determining Hail Damage

If you think your roof has been damaged by hail, your first step should be to call your homeowner’s insurance agent. Hail damage repair is typically covered by your insurance. Whether or not insurance covers the total cost of the repair depends on the amount of damage. Think of it as a car accident: your car might not get totaled (i.e.: you may not get a completely new roof), but insurance will still pay for the repairs.

Typical hail damage you may see includes:

• Shattered roof vents
• Dented roof vents
• Dimpled roof shingles
• Cracked roof shingles
• Bruised roof shingles
• Cracked or dented gutters

Determining Hail Damage Repair

Ultimately your insurance adjuster will tell you whether or not the roof will require replacing, or whether they will only give you the cost of repair. Shattered roof vents and cracked roof shingles that can potentially let water into your home are generally covered in full. This typically leads to at least a partial reroofing of the home. In some cases the age of the shingles and whether there is a second layer of shingles beneath the damaged layer will play a part in determining whether the roof should be replaced.

If your shingles are dimpled or dented, the problem might not seem as immediate, because this may not cause an immediate leak. It does affect the longevity of your roof, however, because the protective granules on top of the shingle will be disturbed. This may lead to exposure to UV rays, which will speed up the deterioration of that shingle. If your insurance adjuster will not pay for the cost of replacing the roof, you do have other options.

Roof Coatings

Roof coatings are one option for hail damage repair. These semi-liquid coatings are applied to the entire roof, filling in the dimples and small cracks, and strengthening the roof.

Shingle Replacement

If roof coatings are not available in your area, or are determined not to be effective to your type of damage, it may still be possible to repair the roof without replacing it. The damaged shingles can be replaced, provided some of the surrounding shingles can be manipulated without cracking or breaking. As long as no more than approximately 10 percent of the surrounding shingles crack when replacing damaged shingles, small sections of the roof can be repaired, and the cost is usually covered by insurance. This is helpful in situations where the insurance adjuster will not declare the roof a total loss.

Act Quickly

Even seemingly minor hail damage can speed up the aging of your roof, leading to leaks and repairs down the road. Don’t wait for this to happen; call your insurance agent and an experienced roofer to come out and give you an estimate to see what hail damage repair options might be available to you.