How to Spot Hail Damage on Your Roof After a Phoenix Storm

Hail in the Valley: what to know first

Most Phoenix-area hail falls during monsoon thunderstorms between mid-June and the end of September, with an occasional spring or fall storm. These storms are small and fast. One street can get a few minutes of heavy hail while a neighborhood a mile away gets only rain, so it's common for homeowners to miss that their roof took a hit.

Size is what matters. The National Weather Service treats hail of 1 inch (quarter size) or larger as severe, and that's roughly where roof damage starts to become likely. Pea-size hail bouncing off a roof is noisy but rarely damages a sound roof.

If you're not sure whether hail reached your street, the NWS publishes local storm reports, which include hail size reports from spotters and the public. Your own evidence is often better: dents in soft metals, shredded plants, and stones measured in the yard right after the storm.

What size hail damages which roof

Haag Engineering, whose research is widely used by roofers and adjusters, publishes the smallest hail sizes that typically damage common roofing. Their thresholds assume dense hail, a straight-on hit and a roof in reasonably good shape:

• Three-tab asphalt shingles: about 1 inch
• Laminated (architectural) asphalt shingles: about 1 1/4 inches
• Clay tile: about 1 1/2 inches
• Concrete tile: about 1 3/4 inches

Real roofs vary. Old shingles that have baked for 20 Phoenix summers are more brittle than new ones. Tile that's already cracked from foot traffic or settling breaks more easily. And wind-driven hail hits the windward slopes harder than the others. So treat these numbers as a guide, not a guarantee: if you saw quarter-size hail or larger, it's worth having the roof looked at.

Check from the ground first

You don't need to climb on the roof to find good evidence. Walk around the house in daylight after the storm and look at the soft metals and other things that show hail hits clearly. Roofers and adjusters call these collateral damage.

• Gutters and downspouts: round dents, especially on the tops of gutters.
• AC condenser fins: rows of small dents on the top and the side that faced the storm.
• Roof vents, flashing and metal patio covers: dents and dings visible from the yard.
• Window screens: small tears or dimples.
• Painted surfaces and stucco: fresh spatter marks where hail knocked off dirt or oxidation.
• Cars, mailboxes, grills and outdoor furniture: dents or chips.
• Plants: torn leaves and stripped palm fronds.

Note which sides of the house took the most hits. That tells you the storm's direction and which roof slopes to look at hardest. Photograph each item with something for scale, like a coin or a tape measure.

Stay off the roof yourself. Wet tile and shingle are slick, tile cracks under foot, and you can create damage that looks like hail.

Hail damage on asphalt shingles

On shingles, hail damage is often easier to feel than see. What a roofer looks for:

• Bruises: dark, round marks where granules were knocked off. On newer shingles they may feel soft, like a bruise on an apple.
• Exposed mat: hits that broke through the granules into the asphalt or the fiberglass mat underneath.
• Cracks and fractures in the shingle, especially on older, brittle shingles.
• Torn or split edges on shingle tabs.
• A sudden pile of granules at downspout outlets after the storm.

It's important to separate hail from ordinary aging. Phoenix shingles lose granules and blister over time from heat and UV. Hail hits are random, round-ish and concentrated on the slopes that faced the storm. Blisters and wear are spread across sun-exposed slopes. Mechanical scuffs, nail pops and foot traffic marks also get mistaken for hail.

A common method is to mark a 10-by-10 foot test square on each slope and count the hits inside it, then photograph the square with the count chalked on. It gives you and the adjuster a consistent way to compare slopes.

Hail damage on tile roofs

Concrete and clay tile are tougher than shingle, but they break differently.

• Cracked or broken tiles, often with a fresh, clean break that's lighter in color than the weathered surface.
• Chips and divots at the impact point, more common on concrete tile.
• Broken corners and edges on ridge and hip pieces, which stick up and take more direct hits.
• Dented valley metal, flashing and roof vents.

Fresh breaks look different from old ones. A crack that's been there for years is dirty, faded or has dust packed in it. A hail break is clean and sharp. Cracks from foot traffic tend to run across the middle of a tile where someone stepped, not at random spots.

The bigger issue with tile is what's under it. A broken tile exposes the underlayment to sun and water. If the underlayment is old felt, it may already be brittle, and water that gets through one broken tile can travel along the deck to a ceiling some distance away. So after a hail storm, cracked tiles should be replaced promptly even when there's no leak yet.

Hail damage on foam, flat and metal roofs

Spray foam (SPF) roofs. Hail can crack or puncture the protective coating and dent the foam. A dent with intact coating is mostly cosmetic, but a punctured coating lets UV attack the foam and water get in. Look for crushed spots, cracked coating and small holes, often concentrated on the side that faced the storm. Damaged spots are usually repaired by cleaning, filling and recoating them.

TPO and other membranes. Hail can bruise or puncture membranes, especially older ones that have lost flexibility, or where the membrane sits over soft insulation. Fractures can be hard to see and are often found by feel or with a closer inspection.

Metal roofs. Hail dents metal panels, and whether a dent matters depends on whether the panel's coating cracked and whether seams or fasteners were damaged. Some insurance policies limit coverage for purely cosmetic dents on metal, so read your policy.

Check inside and in the attic

Hail damage doesn't always leak right away. Water may take days to show up, often during the next storm.

• Look for new ceiling stains, especially on the side of the house the storm came from.
• If you can get into the attic safely, go early in the morning before it heats up. Look for wet spots on the underside of the roof deck, damp insulation and light showing through.
• Check around skylights, sun tunnels and roof vents, which often take direct hits.

If you find a leak, put a bucket under it, move belongings and call a roofer for a temporary fix. Our crews handle emergency leak response 24/7.

Documenting hail damage

Good records help you, your roofer and your insurer see the same thing. Start right after the storm:

• Write down the date and approximate time of the storm and how long the hail lasted.
• Measure a few hailstones against a ruler or coin and photograph them before they melt.
• Take wide photos of each side of the house, then close-ups of damage with something for scale.
• Photograph collateral damage: gutters, AC fins, screens, patio covers, cars.
• Save any NWS warning or local storm report for your area that day.
• Keep receipts for any emergency work, such as tarping.
• Keep older photos of your roof if you have them. They help show what was already there.

When we inspect after a storm, we photograph each slope, test squares, collateral damage and every penetration, and write the estimate in Xactimate line items. That's the same format most adjusters use, so the two scopes can be compared line by line.

How hail insurance claims generally work

Only your insurance company decides whether hail damage is covered and what it pays. No roofer can promise that. Here's how it generally goes:

• Read your policy. Look at your deductible, which may be a separate or percentage deductible for wind and hail, and any limits on cosmetic damage.
• Report the damage promptly. Most policies require prompt notice.
• An adjuster inspects. You can have your roofer present, but the adjuster makes the call.
• Ordinary wear, age and old cracks are generally not covered, which is why separating fresh hail damage from aging matters.
• Manufacturer warranties don't cover hail. IKO's shingle warranty, for example, excludes hail as an act of God, and Fontana's underlayment warranty excludes hailstorms.

Arizona law protects you if you sign a roofing contract tied to a storm claim. Under A.R.S. 32-1158.02, you can cancel within 72 hours after your insurer tells you the claim was denied, and within four business days after signing for any reason. A contractor may not pay, promise or advertise to cover your deductible, and can't start the work until the insurer approves or denies the claim, except to prevent further damage.

Repair, replace, and planning for next time

Light hail damage is a repair: a few tiles swapped, some shingles replaced, a dented vent or flashing changed, a foam roof spot-coated. Our repairs generally run about $300 to $5,000 depending on the extent and access.

Replacement makes more sense when damage covers most of a slope or several slopes, when brittle shingles crack every time they're handled, or when hail exposed underlayment that was already at the end of its life. For tile, that often means a tile underlayment replacement, about $4 to $7 per square foot, rather than a whole new tile roof.

If you're replacing anyway, ask about impact resistance. The UL 2218 Class 4 rating means a sample survived a 2-inch steel ball dropped from 20 feet without cracking. FM 4473 tests rigid products like tile with 2-inch ice balls fired at the surface. Some insurers offer premium credits for Class 4 roofs, so ask your agent whether yours does before you choose a product.

Related

• Roof Inspection
• Roof Repair
• Roof Insurance Claims
• Storm Damage in Phoenix
• Monsoon Roof Damage Guide
• Roofing in Phoenix
• Roofing in Chandler
• Roofing in Gilbert
• Roofing in Mesa
• Roofing in Tempe
• Roofing in Glendale