How to Determine if Your Home Has Hail Damage:

How to Determine if Your Home has Hail Damage:

How do I determine if my siding has hail damage?
Hail usually tends to damage vinyl and aluminum siding more easily than wood and other exterior sidings. If it is large hail, it is visible in almost any condition while smaller hail damage can be seen by looking at it from different angles.

Aluminum Siding:
If it is aluminum siding, it is easiest to find the damage by shining a flashlight or exposing it to sunlight. Damage from hail on aluminum siding is usually the easiest to spot. You can do this by looking at the siding from the side, up and down the elevation.

Vinyl Siding:
Vinyl siding tends to hold up in most hail storms; however, it can be easily damaged with larger hail. Usually damaged vinyl siding will be chipped or cracked, and the older the siding, the more damaged tends to occur.

How do you differentiate between what is hail damage and what is damage caused by lawn mowers, weed-eaters, chair dings, or other common strikes to your siding?

Hail Damage:
Hail damage will have chipped, cracked, or punctured a small hole in vinyl siding in multiple areas across the whole elevation. If it is aluminum siding, the hails hits will be well-rounded and usually not jagged.

Not Hail Damage:
Mowing mishaps are very common from weed-eating or from a mower flinging rocks. Damage from these events are mainly found on the lower portions of the siding.

Where else should I look for hail damage at?
Hail damage is also found on window screens, window and door trims, downspouts, gutters, and any other exterior objects on your house. Damage is easily determined on aluminum downspouts because they tend to receive damage the most easily of all exterior fixtures.

How do you determine if your roof has hail damage?

Metal Roof:
If it is a metal roof, it is easy to see by standing on the ground and looking up at the slope if light is hitting it. It tends to dent it much like aluminum siding. Also on a metal roof, hail damage is very visible along an aluminum ridge vent.

Asphalt Shingle Roof:
If it is an asphalt shingle roof, damage from hail is visible by looking at individual tabs for areas where shingle granule is missing or indented. Hail will drive the granule into the matting of the shingle. This can cause the shingle to deteriorate more quickly or allow water to freeze and crack the shingles in the winter. Extreme hail damage can sometimes crack or go through shingle tabs. The ridge vents and ridge caps can show hail damage more easily because there is less support beneath the shingles.

Call your insurance company today if you think you may have damage from hail, and they can send an adjuster out to help assess your property.

TW Claims Group

 

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