What you receive
A hail damage roof inspection gives you a written account of what the hail did to your property on a named date. Each slope is dealt with on its own, with the test square results, the impacts photographed close and to scale, and a wider shot for each one so a reader can place it on the roof. The soft metal and the fittings are in the same document, because they often carry the clearest record of the event. At the end there is a repair scope: what the roof needs, item by item, in enough detail that another contractor could price it.
Hail is the damage type that goes unrecorded most often, for a simple reason. Most of it does not leak on the day. It shortens the life of the covering and the water arrives later, by which time the storm has gone out of everybody’s memory and the marks have begun to weather. A record made while the marks are fresh is worth far more than a description written from memory afterwards.
What we do, and what we do not
We inspect roofs and we write documents. That is our own work, and the report is evidence for your own file. Nothing we write is legal, financial or insurance advice, and whether the damage is covered is decided by your policy and your carrier. Where a claim needs somebody to act for you, we can introduce you to a partner who is a licensed public adjuster or an attorney in your state, and that partner works with you directly.
We do not count a mark as hail because it is in a convenient place. Blisters, scuffs, factory marks and plain age all get mistaken for impacts, and a report full of those does you harm rather than good. We do not walk a slope that is not safe to walk, and where a slope was not reached the report says so instead of rating it from a ladder. We do not remove or lift material to see underneath, and we do not carry out repairs.
When people book one
Usually within a few weeks of a storm, often after a neighbor has been told they have damage. Sometimes long after, when a roofer has mentioned marks while doing something else and the owner wants to know what they are looking at. Occasionally before selling, when a buyer or their inspector has raised it and nobody can say whether the roof was ever hit.
The sooner the better in every case. Fresh impacts are distinct, and a year of weather makes them read as age.
Common questions
What is a test square and why do you mark them out?
A test square is a measured area of a slope, marked on the roof and photographed, in which every impact is counted. A count means nothing without an area to attach it to.
- Marks found somewhere on a roof are an anecdote
- The same marks counted in a square on a named slope can be checked
- Squares go on each slope that can be walked, because hail strikes unevenly
- Storms come in at an angle, so one elevation may be nearly clean
Averaging the two would hide the thing that matters, and a slope with nothing in the square is written up that way. We mark with chalk or a similar temporary marker and photograph each square wide enough to show where it sits. What anyone does with those counts is a matter for your policy and the people reading it.
How do you tell a hail bruise from ordinary granule loss?
By what is under the surface and by how the marks are arranged. A hail impact on asphalt leaves a round mark where the granules have gone and, underneath, a soft spot where the mat has fractured.
- You can often feel that give with a thumb before you see it
- Impacts are sharp edged, randomly placed, with matching dents on soft metal
- Wear takes granules from the whole slope, heaviest where runoff concentrates
- Blisters look like impacts until you see the edges lifted, not pressed in
- Scuffs run in lines, manufacturing marks repeat, age dulls everything
A roof that is old and was also hit has both, and the truthful account says so. Each finding is described as new, old or unclear with the observation behind it, and where the roof does not settle the question the report says that rather than guessing.
Why do your photographs have a ruler or a marker in them?
Because a reader who was not on the roof needs something to judge size against. A close photograph of a bruise could be a mark the size of a coin or the size of a hand.
- A ruler, a chalk circle or a coin fixes the scale
- Every close shot is paired with a wider one that places it
- Test squares are photographed with their whole outline visible
- Soft metal is shot at an angle, since a dent disappears straight on
The date sits on the record. None of this makes the damage look worse, because a well scaled photograph of a small mark shows a small mark. It also means the reader can check us, which is exactly what a document meant for a file should allow.
What if you do not find hail damage on the roof?
Then the report says so, and that is a useful answer rather than a wasted visit. Plenty of roofs come through a hail event with nothing worse than marks on the soft metal.
- Plenty of owners are told at the door that they have damage
- A document recording an intact roof on a named date is worth keeping
- It saves you a deductible spent chasing a claim going nowhere
- It gives you a dated baseline if the roof is hit again
- It also covers you if damage appears after a stranger walks the roof
We report what is up there, and if what we find does not support the claim you hoped to make you will hear it from us plainly, before you read it. Whether a claim is worth making is decided by your policy, your deductible and your carrier, not by us.
Will your hail report get my claim approved?
We cannot say that and we will not imply it. Our own work is the inspection and the document: we describe the roof, we count and place the damage, and the report is evidence for your file.
- Coverage is decided by your policy, your carrier and your state's rules
- Marks nobody photographed, counted or located were, in practice, never there
- Making them legible is our job, and the decision is not
- Ask us and we will introduce you to a partner who acts for you
- That partner is a licensed public adjuster or an attorney in your state
They take the claim up with you directly. Nothing we write is legal, financial or insurance advice. Your state insurance department can confirm any license before you hire anyone, and your own deadlines are in your policy and in your carrier's letter.