How to Inspect Your Own Roof For Hail Damage

Houses require a lot of maintenance to keep them in good shape. Your roof is often one of the least thought about parts of your home when it comes to regular maintenance. It is one of the few areas of your home that is under constant wear from environmental elements.

Your roof protects your home from strong winds, rain, and extreme sun exposure. Over time, these elements cause damage to it and will weaken your roofs structure. To keep your roof in good shape, it is important to find a good local roofer who can maintain it and do proper repairs as needed.

Inside Out Home Improvement has qualified roofers who can help you keep your investment in good shape. One of the most common causes of roof damage is hail storms.

Initially, hail damage may not be a problem. However, the undetectable damage becomes highly noticeable with age and when it is further damaged. Your roof should be inspected soon after a hail storm to check for impacts, bruises, cracks and splits that will cause leaks and damage to the structure of your home.

Here’s Some Steps To Inspect Your Own Roof for Hail Damage

Collateral Damage

Collateral damage is something other than your roof/shingles such as your gutters, gutter screens, windows, window screens, wood fence, garage door, air conditioning unit, soft metal flashing, siding and trim. Examine the ground level collateral damage.

Start with your wood fence the hail marks will be easy to find they are the marks/spots that look like someone beat the hail out of your fence with a ball peen hammer.

Now look at your windows and window screens look for tears in the screen and dent on the aluminum frame you might even find cracked or broken window panes. Look over your garage door for dents caused by something other then you hitting it with your car.

Depending on the size of the hail and the direction it blew in from you may not find any dents on your garage door. Stand back and examine your siding and trim you’re looking for cracks, punctures, dents, and splatter marks, it will depend on the size of the hail on what you find.

Take a look at you’re A/C unit, inspect the fins on the sides look for circular areas that are mashed flat, it’s either a hail hit or a rock that was thrown by your mower depending on the size and shape of the hit.

Check Your Down Spouts, Gutters and Gutter Screens

Aluminum down spouts and gutters are easily damaged by hail. Visually assess their condition. Starting from the ground, check the gutters for dents (innies and outies) if the hail hit the outside of your gutters there will be an indention facing the inside of your gutter and if the hail hit the inside of the gutter there will be a dent facing outwards, hence innies and outies.

If your gutters are full granules there’s a good chance that the hail damaged your shingles and the rain washed the granules into your gutters.

Just because your down spouts and gutters are unharmed it doesn’t mean your roof isn’t damaged because your gutters may be fabricated from heavy galvanized steel which can with stand hail better then some shingles.

Aluminum gutters are a much softer metal and are easily damaged, copper is a softer metal then steel and can be damaged by hail. If you have PVC / vinyl gutters or leaf-guard, when damaged by hail they will show cracks, chips and splits.

Examine Your Roof

Warning: this part isn’t for everyone you’ll need to be very careful because this can be very risky if you’re not a trained professional. (I would say “Don’t try this at home”, but how else are you going to get on your roof?)

Now if you’re feeling adventurous grab your ladder and climb on your roof. Inspect the soft metals such as vents, plumbing pipe flashing, stacks and roof jacks for dents. Hail will dent these components before it will damage most shingles plus it will give you an idea of the size of the hail that hit your home.

Inspect the Shingles

If you’re not trained to inspect roofs, it may be difficult for you to identify hail damage. You should look for circular dents/impacts in your shingles or areas with dents/impacts where granules are missing. You’re looking for an impact on the shingle not normal wear and tear on your roof.

Hail will damage the membrane and decrease the lifespan of your roof. If you find numerous hail hits in a 10’x 10′ area, there’s a good chance you should replace your roof.

Contact Inside Out Home Improvement for your free roof evaluation to determine whether you need to file an insurance claim and if it is determined that you need to file a claim we have the professionals who can help you.

As one of our services offered we will meet with your insurance adjuster to help identify all of the damage to your property. By having us working for you and with your insurance company we all can do a better job of getting everything resolved to better serve you.

We have professional roofers who will provide quality roof repair and roof maintenance services. If you believe your roof has hail damage, do not hesitate to call us we have experienced roofers and a licensed claims adjuster on staff to help you with your claim. Inspecting your own roof can be very risky if you are not a qualified professional.

There is a risk associated with climbing a ladder and inspecting your roof. Also, if you’re not qualified to inspect roofs, you may not notice the damage. Not detecting damage can result in much bigger problems in the long run. Our experienced detail-oriented professionals guarantee that our services will keep your roof in good condition for many years to come.