If you live in parts of Collin County — specifically Allen, like me — you’ve probably been thinking about roof damage from hail these past few days. And possibly your car, your fence, and anything else that may have been damaged in last Friday’s sudden hail storm. I was with my family at the Cinépolis Moviehouse & Eatery in McKinney when the storm hit, sounding like a herd of elephants galloping across the roof of the theater. My husband went outside and brought back a few pieces of slightly-larger-than-golf-ball-sized hail to show us. By the time we got home in our freshly dented, windshield-cracked Jeep, there were already a couple of roofer’s trucks and a general contractor wandering the street handing out cards.
So yes, I’m thinking about roof damage, roof insurance, and the several-thousand-dollar deductible I’m going to be shelling out before I can get my shiny new roof. And since I’m thinking about it, this week’s Upon Closer Inspection is all about roofs.
Hail Damage
Might as well start with the topic at hand. in the images above, you can see two different types of damage folks all over Allen and McKinney are probably looking at right now. On the left is a hail strike to vinyl siding, and on the right are several strikes to shingles.
Most insurance policies will cover the replacement of vinyl siding due to storm damage. For the roof damage, replacement vs. repair will be decided based on a combination of factors such as the age of the roof, whether the roof is watertight, and how many hits the roof took. The roofer will take a sample square of 10′ by 10′ and count the number of hail bruise marks. Insurance policies differ on their requirements, but the typical number is between 7-10 marks to justify replacement.
If possible, try to schedule your roofer to come at the same time as your insurance adjuster. This way both parties are in agreement about the damage they see. Pro-Tip: Don’t listen to the guys that try to tack on a bunch of extra “damage” to the bill to attempt to get more money from the insurance company. This is called fraud. Insurance companies have cracked down on it, and you’ll probably get caught. Plus, if a contractor doesn’t mind lying to the insurance company, they might not mind lying to you, so you should probably take your business elsewhere.
Check the Rear View
Just because the description of the home reads, “new roof,” doesn’t necessarily mean the whole roof is new. Apparently, some people feel like curb appeal is more important, or perhaps it was the sticker shock of the full replacement, but either way, the back side of this roof is in bad shape. This type of roof damage is called granule loss, and it can be caused by prolonged hail damage, wind damage, or just normal wear and tear, but this is … not normal.
Roof Replacement: What Not to do
When we’re inspecting a roof, we always start here at the roof line to check for multiple layers of shingles. In most states, including Texas, you’re legally allowed to have only two layers of shingles on your roof. So you can get away with covering over a single layer of shingles one time, rather than replacing the roof (no one would recommend that you do that, but it’s legal). You’d be surprised how many people do it many more times than that. Why is this bad? 1) Multiple layers of shingles weigh a lot, and put more stress on the roof supports than they’re meant to handle: i.e. your roof could cave in. 2) Layers of shingles trap heat which becomes a fire hazard: i.e. your roof, your roof, your roof could catch fire.
DIY Roofing
When you’re doing a DIY home improvement project, like, say, a patio addition, it’s important that you don’t overestimate your skill set. This video shows what can happen when you do, as seen from above. Now that we all have vertigo, what you’re looking at it is the crazy wavy shingle pattern on that front section of roof, which is the cover of the patio addition. What you can’t tell from the video, is that in addition to the M.C. Escher shingle work, they also didn’t account for the slope of the patio, so the roof is tilted to the right.
Roofing is harder than it looks, y’all. I know some of you with roof damage are thinking about getting up there and slapping a new layer of shingles on yourselves, or maybe just fixing the front side. I feel your pain. That deductible is probably my summer fun budget and then some. But if you can swing it, take into account that a new roof adds considerable value to your home, and is work best, and most safely, left to professionals. If you need a recommendation for a good, professional roofer, ask a home inspector, or a Realtor. They will have worked with a pro that they know and trust.
