Roof's totaled after 20 minutes of 1" hail

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So last Wednesday, we had a hail storm. Some places got baseball size (breaking every window in cars). All we got was about 1" hail. Some of it looked mean with sharp tentacles on it.

It cut up the screens on the back side of the house pretty bad, but I didn't see anything serious on the roof. Just a little sand in the gutters. We've had the house 1.5 years, and I think the roof was replaced ~8 years ago? Its 30 yr, "Architectural Style" asphalt shingles.

So anyway, I wasn't too worried about the roof since it didn't look like it took any noticeable damage. But my neighbor told me his roof and another neighbor's roof were totaled by their ins. adjusters. Thats all houses within 150 feet of us. His adjuster said after 20 minutes of that, the roof is shot and will leak in 2 years even if it doesn't look bad right now.

In 11.5 years of home ownership we have never filed a homeowner's claim. But I don't want to buy the roof in 2 years either. I just called the insurance company and they'll send someone out to look.

Any roofers out there care to weigh in here?
 
25 years ago we had a bad hail storm here. The day after the storm I inspected the roof and saw no damage. However 3 months later I had to go on the roof for a non related reason and saw small spots all the roof where the grit had washed away. So your roof may look good today but keep a close watch for damage down the road after rain storms as thats when the grit may wash off.
By the way State Farm took care of the damage with no problems even though it was 3 months later.
 
Had the same thing happen here in spring of '06. The entire area received new roofs. Most of the homes were about 5 years old.

Get it replaced. And don't forget to have your shed or detached garage resided if applicable. We totally forgot about the shed that year
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Was in that sort of hail in the E30 a few months ago.

Looks like a demented psycho took to the car with a ball pein hammer.

Amazing how the fight/flight response works when in a car getting hammered, and your conscious mind knows that the car is exactly the safest place to be.
 
Interesting...

We'll see what the adjuster says. If they won't do it I'll watch and see what happens.

(no shed or detached garage
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Thanks for the responses guys.
 
Have the adjuster come take a look - no doubt with hail that big that long.

The failue occurs as a result of impact damage to the shingle. The bond between the granules and the asphalt impregnated part of the shingle is destroyed, and the granules fall off with time. The asphalt is exposed and begins to crack and walah, leaks and shingle failure. The granules are there to protect the ashpalt underlayment from the elements and UV.
 
We had a storm a year ago last April that put up to baseball sized hail, driven at 70+ mph, over a 40 square mile area.

The roof at my house looked fine, until it got hot later that Summer, and really started to look scruffy. I called the insurance company and the adjuster allowed for a new roof.

I was going to put a new roof on anyway, so I went ahead and used their money to get better shingles, put in ridge vents, etc.

One of my commercial buildings looked like it had been beat on with a baseball bat - trashed air conditioners, vents, everything on the roof was beaten to a pulp.
 
I agree that hail is what damages most roofs, not the life of the shingles. Why did this not used to be the case, or was that always the case with shingles?
 
The average lifespan of a roof here in Texas is 5 years. When we purchased our house here in 2005, it already had a roof just 3 years old. Last year, hail storm and another roof installed. Same thing as the others talked about, I didn't think there was trouble until I saw the roofers all over the neighborhood. State Farm came out and the adjuster was from another state because the # of claims from the storm was so high SF had to supplement the local adjusters! Adjuster gave me the estimate and a check was in my hands 1 week later. Great service. They covered my detached workshop too.
 
If there is a lot of roofing going on in your area, be sure to drive your beater until it is over.

There will be lots of nails, brads and other tire puncturing debris that will drop off from the overloaded trailers hauling old roofing debris to the dump.

Best to let someone else's high performance tires sweep this junk from the streets.
 
So do I need to have a roofing company come look before the ins. adjuster? There's probably not time anyway, they're sending someone tomorrow. Sounds like for some of you the adjuster came up with the $ number? Are they likely to underestimate?

Our insurance is Homesite, through Progressive.

BTW, Win - I was happier before you reminded me of flat tires...
 
A few roofing companies my mother-in-law was getting estimates from wanted to jack up the price simply because her insurance was covering it.

I would almost be happier with cash in hand and find the middle bidder..
 
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
The average lifespan of a roof here in Texas is 5 years.


So short? I though roof in general should last 15-20 years at the minimum.
 
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
The average lifespan of a roof here in Texas is 5 years.


Celebrating with six guns much, are we?
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Originally Posted By: benjamming
I don't understand how the roof can be bad right now but take 2 years to show a leak.
I don't either, but trust me, it happens.

A coworker had a similar situation happen a few years ago and the various insurance companies involved basically replaced all of the roofs in her subdivision, no questions asked.
 
The adjuster came this morning. He seemed pretty good... late 20's, takes pride in his work, eager to explain things, etc. Supposedly he's "independent" - not a direct employee of the ins. company.

10 strikes per 100sq feet is the magic #, and he had no problem finding that many. Only a few of them were things I would have identified as "hail strikes". Most of them were barely visible but he said they would look worse over time and cause issues.

He was marking up minor dings on the gutters, downspouts, and back door. Also a lot of scuffs on the fence. And as mentioned before, the screens on the south side side were shredded.

We got more rain last night and expansion joints in the driveway were full of sand this morning. And thats on the side that didn't get the hail so bad....

He said he doesn't make the decision, he just sends in the report. But on cases like this he said he usually doesn't hear anything back from the ins. co...

Sounds like the roof will be approved for full replacement no issues. It would be nice if they just cut me a check for the screens and stuff like that because I'd rather do all that myself (and pocket the extra $ towards the deductible).

I'll not be roofing this one myself though. The highest part is 30' off the ground, with 12-12 pitch. I roofed our last house (12-12 also), and that was not fun!

Thanks for all the feedback guys!
 
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