Do You Have Hail Damage?
Has Your Home Suffered a Hail or Wind Storm?
Hail and wind can be disastrous for your home. Depending on the severity of a hail or wind storm, the damage may be immediately evident, but that’s not always the case. Many times the damage caused by a storm may go completely unnoticed until much time has passed. Even though damage to a roof, siding, gutters, etc. may not be apparent from the ground, that does not mean it is not serious damage that if not corrected in a timely manner could be very costly to the homeowner.
If you are a homeowner with a mortgage you most likely have insurance on that property. This insurance is supposed to cover the damage caused to your property in the event of these storms. However, when a storm occurs the insurance carrier that provides the policy does not come to assess the damage unless the homeowner files a claim for loss. How would you as a homeowner know if you have suffered a loss?
If your roof is not leaking, would you go looking for damage to your roof? If you did not see missing shingles or holes in your roof, would you know that a storm caused damage? What is your impression of a qualifying storm loss that your insurance company should pay for? Would you want your insurance carrier to replace your roof if you had purchased a shingle that should last 50 years, but due to damage from a hail storm it will only last 15?
If you have a 50-year roofing product, you probably paid more money for it than you would have for a 25-year product. If it doesn’t last the full 50 years, haven’t you suffered a financial loss?
Let’s say for a moment that during a hail storm you were at the grocery store or at work. By the time you got home to check on the condition of your house, the hail was all melted and there were no visible signs of damage to your house. You go inside and are relieved to find everything in its’ place and no signs of any kind of water damage are present in the home. Based on all of the evidence you have no reason to believe that the storm caused you any financial harm.
However, what you don’t realize is that the hail did hit your house. The hail might not have been large enough to cause any immediate damage, but as time goes on, changes occur to your roof that are directly related to this event.
The first change occurs when the granules that protect the asphalt layer of your shingle begin to wash away during future storms. These granules are very heavy, and as they separate from the shingle they wash into your gutter system and accumulate.
As time goes on, the granules add more and more weight to your gutter system and put strain on the fasteners holding the gutter to the fascia of your home. As the gutter fasteners pull away or the weight of the gutter distorts the fascia, the slope and drainage of the gutter changes, and water begins to pool and fails to drain from the gutters. This water begins to deteriorate the sealant on the seams of the gutter and over time the gutters begin to leak at the seams. Instead of water being carried away from the eaves and exterior of the home, it begins to backflow into the soffit and down the exterior wall of the house.
These changes are not immediately evident. These components of your home are often much higher than eye level, behind exterior coverings, and occur behind finish coatings. It may take years before the damage related to a storm becomes apparent, and by then the storm will be long forgotten, and your insurance company will blame lack of proper maintenance or improper workmanship.
Further, the shingles that lost their granules by being knocked loose by hail stones will have spent years being degraded by UV radiation from the sun. The granules are an integral part of the shingle to prevent sunlight from accelerating the degradation of the asphalt layer: the waterproofing layer. Once the asphalt degrades, it become brittle, begins to crack, and allows water intrusion into the home. This process takes a long time and is well beyond the time limit to file a claim due to hail damage.
So how would you know if your roof has suffered hail damage if you can’t see it from the ground? Easy! Call a professional that knows what to look for, and do it before it’s too late to file a claim or you forget that the possibility of hail damage to your roof exists. The best suggestion we can give is to take advantage of our annual gutter cleaning, roof maintenance and inspection special for $199. We will inspect your roof for damage and make minor repairs to give you peace of mind, and advise you on how to potentially save thousands!
I cannot stress enough the importance of having your roof and gutters inspected annually. This allows the opportunity to discover and address storm-related damage before the time limit of your carrier has expired. It will also protect you from being liable for expensive repairs that were preventable through routine and inexpensive maintenance.
Please call Roof It Right, LLC today at 502-622-2226 for a trustworthy and reliable assessment and correction of your home’s exterior safeguards.
