What Does Hail Damage Look Like on a Roof?
Roofs and hail do not mix, especially with most asphalt shingles. In the MidSouth area, we don’t get a lot of hail, but we still get our fair share, so it’s important to know what they look like.
In the roofing world hail means a lot of potential damage to your roof. Even if you don’t have obvious dents showing, you likely still need a hail damage roof inspection to find out how much damage you’re dealing with and how to proceed with any possible roof repairs.
Since it’s such a rare occurrence, we put together signs to look for when evaluating damage and the reasons why it is such a hazard to your roof’s shingles.
Hail Damage vs. Thermal Blisters
In order to properly identify hail damage, it’s first important to know what is NOT hail damage. A lot of roofers new to the game often get thermal blisters confused for hail. Thermal blisters are small, often round, spots where the granules have popped off of the shingles. Thermal blisters are caused by improper ventilation of the roof. The underside of the shingles will get hot and the asphalt will essentially “pop,” much like a blister. This will cause the granules on those spots to fall off of the roof. While thermal blisters look similar to hail, there’s one big difference, hail INDENTS granules in the asphalt where as thermal blisters make granules pop off. Hail will almost always have a few granules that were pushed down into the shingle directly in the middle of the impact. This is due to the force the hail exerts on the shingles when it hits. Thermal blisters will have no granules in the middle.
Other Damage to Look For:
Hail doesn’t just damage shingles. Hail damages a lot of things on a home. When we do a hail inspection, we always look around the entire house to find damage to back up the cause of the hail claim. Roof vents are always a good place to spot hail damage. They will show small hits on them that cause indentations. As long as there aren’t trees above the vents that drop debris, it’s likely that this is caused by hail. Another place to look is on window screens and air conditioning fins. Window screens break often or will show impact marks. Since window screens are vertical, this will often resemble a teardrop shape because of the angle the hail is hitting the screen at. Air conditioning units have fins on the outside of them that also damage easily. Again, these will show up as multiple fins hit in a way in which it looks like a circle or teardrop shape.
Work with Restoration Roofing For Hail Claims
The experienced roofing professionals at Restoration Roofing are experts at understanding how hail impacts your roof and dealing with your insurance to help get the damage covered. If you are concerned about roof damage caused by hail, contact us at 901-854-3402 or click here to set up a free inspection. We offer free inspections that are easy and completed quickly. Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more tips on taking care of your roof.
