How to Spot Hail or Wind Damage on Your Roof
Published by TradeIQ · Updated
After a big storm, your phone fills with roofers offering a free inspection. Before you let anyone up there, it helps to know what hail and wind damage actually look like, so you can tell a real problem from a sales pitch. You can check a lot from the ground. Here is what a roofer and an insurance adjuster look for, and how to spot the signs of hail or wind damage yourself.
Key takeaways
- Check from the ground with binoculars. A wet, steep roof after a storm is the most dangerous place on your property, and the men who die on roofs do this for a living.
- Dented gutters, screens, and AC fins are early, ground-level signs of hail.
- Hail damage is random bruises and granule loss; wind damage is directional and tears tabs.
- Do not assume your policy only pays for functional damage. The standard form never uses the word. That limit comes from an endorsement, so check your declarations page before accepting a denial.
- Know what you are looking at before a storm-chaser offers a "free inspection."
Check from the ground first, and stay safe
A wet, pitched roof after a storm is the most dangerous place on your property, and that is not a figure of speech. The people this trade kills are working roofers, in harnesses, on a Tuesday, doing it for the hundredth time that year. You are none of those things. Use binoculars from the ground, and stay a man with binoculars. Nearly everything below can be seen from there anyway.
Ground-level signs anyone can spot
- Dented gutters, downspouts, or metal fascia
- Torn or dinged window screens
- Bent fins on your AC condenser unit
- Dents on soft-metal roof vents or flashing
- Shingle granules collecting in the gutters or at the bottom of the downspouts
These often show up before you can see damage on the roof itself, and they are easy to check without a ladder.
What hail damage looks like
On asphalt shingles, hail leaves random bruises, soft spots that feel a bit like a bruise on a piece of fruit, and it knocks granules loose to expose the black mat underneath. The key word is random. Hail does not fall in a line, and that randomness is itself a clue, because wind damage is directional.
What wind damage looks like
Wind lifts and creases shingle tabs, tears shingles off in a directional pattern, usually the side facing the storm, and lifts the ridge cap. If a whole run of shingles is missing on one slope, that is wind, not hail.
Functional versus cosmetic damage
The distinction is real. Functional damage breaks the shingle’s waterproofing, a fracture through the mat. Cosmetic damage is granule loss or a dent that leaves the seal intact. What you have probably been told about how your policy treats the two is where this goes wrong.
Your policy probably does not say what you think it says
Everybody repeats that insurance only pays for functional damage. Go read the form. The standard homeowners policy that most carriers build on runs 24 pages and uses neither word, not cosmetic and not functional, not once. What it promises to cover is direct physical loss. The functional-only test comes from a separate endorsement, an add-on the carrier has to attach on purpose. In Texas it is void unless you personally signed it, and it can only be attached if you are taking a discount for an impact-rated roof.
Now the honest half. Adjusters apply that test in the field constantly, including on policies carrying no such exclusion, and most homeowners take the denial because they think it is the rule. It is a practice, not your coverage. So before you accept anything, pull your declarations page, the summary sheet with your name and your policy number on it, and read the endorsements listed there. If no cosmetic exclusion is on it, you have room to push, and pushing is exactly what the people who wrote you a check never expected you to do.
Real damage, or a roofer drumming up work?
Send a TradeIQ roofer your photos and your declarations page. He will tell you whether the pattern reads as hail, as wind, or as an old roof wearing out, and whether a cosmetic exclusion is actually printed on your policy.
Find out whether you are already covered
The standard homeowners form never uses the word cosmetic. That single sentence is worth real money to you and it is worth nothing to anybody else in this transaction, which is precisely why you have not heard it before now. The adjuster is not going to volunteer that his test is not written in your policy. Neither is the roofer who would rather write a quick cash repair than spend six weeks fighting your carrier over a full replacement. Send us the photos and your declarations page, and find out what you are actually owed before you accept anybody’s number.
Good fit: a Written Review reading your storm photos.
Get an unbiased expert reviewFrequently asked questions
- Does insurance pay for hail damage to a roof?
- Usually yes when the hail broke the shingle's waterproofing. Adjusters routinely turn down granule loss and small dents as cosmetic, but do not treat that as the last word, because the standard homeowners form carries no cosmetic exclusion. That limit comes from an optional endorsement, so check your declarations page for one before you accept a denial. Older roofs may also be paid at depreciated value instead of full replacement.
- What does minor hail damage look like on a roof?
- Random soft bruises on the shingles, small spots where granules are knocked away exposing the black mat, and dents on soft metal like vents and gutters. It is scattered, not in a straight line.
- Is it worth filing a claim for hail damage?
- It depends on the damage, your deductible, and your roof’s age. Functional damage across the roof is usually worth a claim. A few cosmetic dents may not be, especially if a claim could raise your premium. A second opinion helps.
- What do insurance adjusters look for on roofs?
- They look for functional damage, a broken shingle seal, in a density that shows real storm impact, plus matching damage on gutters, vents, and screens. They also weigh the roof’s age and whether the wear is storm-caused or just old.
- How can you tell hail damage from wind damage?
- Hail damage is random, with scattered bruises and granule loss across the roof. Wind damage is directional, with lifted or creased tabs and missing shingles on the slope that faced the storm. The pattern tells you which one you are looking at.