How Do You Tell If Your Roof Has Hail Damage

Shingles with a granular texture such as those made from asphalt or composite materials may show granular loss that exposes the underlying felt random dents with no perceptible pattern and soft spots on the surface.

How do you tell if your roof has hail damage.

Dents in the metal or cracks in plastic vents often means your roof was hit with heavy hail. Depending on the size of the hail and severity of the damage it may or may not be obvious that your roof has hail damage. Impact marks or dents along the splits. Most roofing companies offer free inspections.

If you suspect that your roof has sustained damage from a hail storm the first thing you need to do is inspect the roof for dents dings split shingles and any leaks and cover any damaged areas with a tarp or similar waterproof material to show the insurance company that you made initial efforts to mitigate the damage. This above picture shows a heavily dented gutter but be on lookout for small impacts as well. You can tell your asphalt shingle roof has hail damage if you see black spots such as in the photos above. The visual signs of hail damage vary depending on the materials of the roof.

When a hail storm does come through a neighborhood folks flood roofing companies with phone calls and emails so do be patient with them. If you have an asphalt shingle roof look for large amounts of granules in your gutters and missing granules in the shingles across your roof. If you see quarter sized hail or larger in your yard call a professional roofer immediately to get on their schedule for an inspection. There are many other types of damage to shingles that can be mistaken for hail damage.

Perhaps that most obvious way on how to tell if roof has hail damage is to note abnormalities in the appearance of the shingle s surface. This is not always the case but many times if a roof has significant hail damage up top the gutters will have some impact damage. A split in the shingle that has little to no deterioration at the edges. Also take note of any cracks divots or bruising you see.

Roof vents are often made of lightweight metal. When hail hits a roof shingle surface granules get displaced. Hail damage on your roof will cause granules to break loose at the site of each hail stone impact. Dark spots or bruises.

If you notice shingle granules in your gutters you may have hail damage on your roof.