A Good Way to Vet Your Roofer
In the roofing business, one obvious way to tell if your roofer knows what they’re doing is their ability to correctly identify hail damage. There’s a lot of out of pocket roofers out there, who will show you a picture of marks on your roof, tell you it’s hail damage, and completely waste your time. You need a roofer who can identify real hail damage, so as a homeowner it doesn’t hurt to know what it looks like for yourself.
Understanding Hail Damage: What to Look For
Identifying hail damage on your roof can be tricky if you don't know what to look for. Genuine hail damage typically appears as indentations or pockmarks on the shingles. These dents are relatively circular and may vary in size. The impact of the hail often removes the granules on the shingles, exposing the black fiberglass underneath. Genuine hail damage drives the rocks on your shingles into the fiberglass.
Hail damage is often confused with “bruising” or “blistering” on shingles.
Bruising is non-storm-related damage to shingles. It’s typically sporadic and limited to a small number of marks, unlike most hail damage, and awkwardly shaped. Bruising usually occurs from foot traffic (human or animal), and it can also happen during the roof installation and repair processes.
Blistering on roof shingles refers to the formation of raised areas or bubbles on the surface of the shingles. This occurs when moisture trapped beneath the shingles heats up, causing the adhesive to break down and the surface to separate from the underlying material.
Both blistering and bruising are categorized as normal wear and tear on a roof. No insurance companies will consider them to be damage, and they never approve claims for wear and tear.
Below are some photo examples to help you tell the difference.
Here we can see clear hail damage to the roof box vent. Soft metals like box vents are the best place to start looking for hail damage.
Here is an example of obvious hail damage on shingles. Notice there are multiple hits with a circular indentation.
Here we have an example of normal wear and tear, which is common to find on the edge of shingles.
Here is a bruised shingle. Notice the shape is not consistent with hail.
Here is the most common wear and tear we see on shingles. This is simply granule loss that occurs from water runoff over time.
This last one is unfortunately a kind of damage I’ve seen several times, but it’s not storm damage. Yes, I pulled a bullet out of this roof.
The Risks of Misidentifying Roof Damage
Misidentifying roof damage can lead to significant risks. Filing an insurance claim for non-hail or wind related damage can result in denial and put you in a difficult spot with your insurance company going forward.
When unqualified salespeople claim to find hail damage where none exists, you end up wasting your time.. Always ensure that your roof damage assessment is performed by a reputable and experienced professional.
To schedule a roof inspection with a trained professional, contact Evergreen today.