First of all… what an uneventful Super Bowl! At least the food was good and now we can get back to talking about our favorite topic ROOFS!
Here’s the scenario- A large storm rolls through the front range hammering trees, cars, an all things exterior on your property. First you notice the ground level things such as fallen down tree leaves, dented or smashed out car windows, window and paint damage and sometimes siding damage. This can be a lot to take in and often times overwhelming. Unless you’re an avid climber or are comfortable on a ladder you may find yourself overlooking the roof. Your roof will often get the worst of the damage but it will be hard to see from the ground.
Identifying Hail Damage
Hail can fall at speeds greater than 110 mph which can severely damage roof membranes, smash sky lights, dent flashing, gutters and even sometimes splinter decking. When the damage is such that you are seeing decking splinter the plan of action is obvious to call your local expert for an assessment. The not so obvious hail damage is what can really creep up on you and cause long term roof and interior damage. Because of this Mountain Reach roofing and Gutters recommends you to schedule a free inspection if your house lies in the hail zone. It is important to jump on this right away as some insurance companies have a statute of limitations as to how long you can wait before filing a damage claim. I will address this in depth below.
Why is it important to fix the Hail damage on your roof ASAP?
Let’s start with the first things you may notice right after a hail storm. Your gutters will most likely fill with hail and granulates that “shed” due to the hail impacts. This goes back to our previous article on Ice-Dams. The build up in the gutter system can cause ice to work its way up under the shingles. The shingles which hail hits are very susceptible to water working its way through the roof membrane where it is compromised and causing interior damage.
Wood or shake roofs will have a similar issue causing splintering leaving pieces of wood to clog your gutter system. This can impact your exterior structure causing flooding and drainage in unwanted areas. You want to be in control of where your drainage is concentrating to ensure your landscaping can manage the dissipation and hail build up.
The real threat of roof hail damage:
Asphalt roofs and Wood shake roofs will become brittle and ineffective when exposed to hail damage and damaging UV rays. This can lead to much more serious damage to your interior. Sever ceiling damage, destroyed carpets, moldy mattresses and decaying drywall are just a few things an unattended roof leak can cause. In some cases you may even see compromised foundations due to hail build up and unmanaged drainage. Don’t let this happen to you! Make sure you call an experienced tradesman such as Mountain Reach Roofing and gutters to help come up with a repair plan.
Statue of limitations:
Make sure you act asap to contact a licensed roof inspector to assess hail damage and execute repairs right away in order to avoid the issues we outlined above. Most insurance companies have a statue of limitation on roof hail damage claims. This simply means if you wait to initiate a claim you may end up not being able to recover costs for your repairs and be forced to come out of pocket to pay for the damage. Once your roof professional has determined you have hail damage your insurance company will send out an inspector. The inspector will determine what they will pay for. It is very helpful to have one of Mountain Reach’s inspectors meet with the insurance adjuster to show the individual the damage that has been found. The insurance adjuster on site see’s a lot of roofs and can become overwhelmed when a large hail storm hits missing pertinent details which can easily be pointed out to by Mountain Reach. Once the insurance adjuster has assessed the hail damage you will receive a first check (ACV) actual cash value of the current condition of the roof based on visual inspection and age of the shingle. Repairs will be initiated and billed once completed. You will then receive a second check (RCV) Replacement Cost value. Most policies require the homeowner to pay a deductible, the first check (ACV) will be the actual cash value minus the deductible. Colorado law requires you as the homeowner to pay the contractor the deductible which in most cases is you’re only out of pocket expense when dealing with a hail damage claim.
National Hail Statistics
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau report, Colorado had the second highest number of hail claims in the US from 2013-2018 (182,591), second only to Texas. “Personal Property Homeowners” was the policy type most affected by hail loss claims from 2013 through 2018 – over 50 percent more often than the next most impacted policy type, “Personal Automobile”, in hail loss claims over that three-year span. If your home falls in the hail zone area chances are you have damage that will warrant an insurance claim.
Contact Mountain Reach Roofing and Gutters today!
To learn more about this process or initiate a free inspection please feel free to reach out to Mountain Reach Roofing and Gutters. 720-443-5386
National Hail and roof claim Statistics Information pulled from: http://www.rmiia.org/catastrophes_and_statistics/Hail.asp
