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roof hail damage?

3K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  1985gt 
#1 ·
I have had 3 contractors tell me I have hail damage. One has said it needs replaced, the others say it just has some damage and may or may not need replaced.

The adjuster has told me there is zero hail damage. There are small dents here and there where the gravel is missing. The insurance company is Liberty Mutual. One roofer has agreed to meet the adjuster there and try to convince them that it is hail damage. Is it worth pursuing? The adjuster has been polite and has said she is happy to meet us there and "make sure I am satisfied with their decision". Sounds to me like she is not going to be convinced. Can I request a professional 3rd party inspection at their cost? Or possibly a new adjuster, maybe an independent adjuster.

Maybe it really isn't hail damage. But she has said "normal wear and tear" and I don't see how round spots can suddenly appear with the gravel missing after I watched larger than quarter size hail hit my roof. Furthermore she said she found some "hits" on the gutter but not the roof. So they have at least acknowledged there was hail damage on the gutter while still saying the round dents on the roof are "normal wear and tear".

The roof is 4 years old, Tamko 30 year, bids were from $15k-$22k to replace.
 

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#8 ·
I have zero experience with hail damage, but logic says there will be more hail damage on the lower slope section then on a 45 deg angle. Some of the pictures look like hail damage, the valley looks like a scuff from when they did the roof.

I think the insurance companies are trying to slow down the free fall of what has become the "insurance restoration business" They may be trying to stop claims by using a stall tactic.

I've never researched it but I've wondered what hail damage actually does to the shingles. How does it affect the longevity of the shingles.

For me on a metal roof, unless it has compromised the paint it has zero effect on the roofs ability to be water tight. It just can be ugly.
 
#10 ·
Insurance companies do not want to spend money. That's why people hire Public Adjusters when they have a major claim, like a house fire. You will get more money with them involved, most of the time.
This situation not as severe.
With exterior damage, the insurance companies will only pay out to replace the damaged roofing. If it doesn't match the surrounding shingles, your out of luck.
My Father in laws garage flat roof caught fire and it damaged the roof shingles above at the end of the roof. Insurance Co.(State Farm) would only replace a band of 3 feet of shingles at the edge of the roof.
Hail damage might be different as it's wide spread over the whole roof.
He ended up replacing the roof on his dime.
I've dealt with Liberty Mutual on a few insurance claims and they are a tight company when it comes to handing out money.
How many shingles are damaged?
 
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#15 ·
I urge you guys to read the study I linked. It indicates what appears to be minor damage is just that and years later it does NOT get worse. These guys have monitored shingles they damaged for 20 years. They damaged new shingles, they damaged 11 year old shingles, its a pretty exhaustive ongoing study.
 
#3 ·
Hail that size will damage the roof to be certain. As long as you can document that you did have hail that size as well as some documented damage on the roof, you should be able to file a legitimate claim with the insurance. I think the typical requirement is 10 strikes withing a 100 square foot area but I will wait until the guys that really know the insurance stuff chime in.
 
#4 ·
Oh there is no question there was hail. I have dated pictures with location tag. She didn't question that. Just said it was normal wear and tear. I've filed the claim but wonder if I should just ignore the dents and agree with her that it is fine to leave it, or persue getting a new adjuster or file a complaint, etc.. I don't think the roof will leak soon, but I think in 5-10 years the damage will be more obvious and will be ugly. And we spent a lot of money on our house and this roof for sure. It is 65 square and 12:12 pitch so it is not cheap to get it done. And we have never filed a claim in 20 years of having home owners insurance, 5 years with this company. And they keep raising our rates despite any of that.. Its just frustrating.
 
#5 ·
The pictures of the valley do you look like normal wear and tear where the granules are coming off. You can order the hail report for the area that way you've got not just the pictures that you supplied the actual weather documentation to go with it.

Might be a good idea to get a certified report from a roof inspector is well.
 
#6 ·
The photos don't really show too much of anything. Maybe it's the angle, but I don't see it. Hail damage is pinpoint, not vague granule loss. There will be depressions where the hail hit and maybe torn areas around the impact.
Photos don't show any of this.
Can you shoot side. low angle photos?
 
#9 ·
There aren't really any torn areas. These pics were all taken by the adjuster, so probably not really going to highlight damages since its not really in their interest. There are pinpoint circular areas that look like impact to me. Mostly on the lower sloped overhang area, not as much on the high pitched area.

I've attached a close up of one of the adjusters pictures, there are quite a few of these areas like this. The adjuster told me they are too circular to be hail damage, hail chunks are jagged and make irregular damage. My reply was that the large pieces of hail that we had were very round & smooth, I took pictures of the hail stones right after it happened.

If its truly not hail damage then I don't mind backing off, but I don't want to be pushed around by the adjuster just because she gets a commission based on the value of claims she denies..
 

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#11 ·
I would say that I counted about 50 spots like this over the low sloped part. So maybe 50 -100 shingles are damaged that I found. I would guess many more that I can't get to are damaged. I agree it is very light damage, probably won't leak. But it will look bad in 5-10 years, I'm sure of that.
 
#13 ·
So about 1-2 squares of shingles on a 65 square house.
You would not be getting a new roof.
Your deductible aside how much out of pocket are you looking at?
You can sue the insurance company. Maybe in small claims court so you won't need a lawyer.
See what happens after the adjuster meets with the roofer.
If you go the Small Claims route you will need paperwork from a number of, "experts" confirming your position to win.
You will need to take time out of your life and deal with the process. You just need to decide how your going to proceed.
I've had State Farm for 48 years. First just for auto, then house and autos.
Never had an issue with payment on a claim. Only one house claim and about 8 auto claims.
 
#14 ·
area123 said:
I would say that I counted about 50 spots like this over the low sloped part. So maybe 50 -100 shingles are damaged that I found. I would guess many more that I can't get to are damaged. I agree it is very light damage, probably won't leak. But it will look bad in 5-10 years, I'm sure of that.
If it shows that many in a small area, the roof might be cooked.

Hail strikes can damage the shingle to the point where it might not show initially but those locations will start to shed the granules. I would still get an inspection.
 
#17 ·
A few of the pictures do look like the tell tale pock marks hail leaves, my roof was totaled 2 years ago from hail, but the obvious marks were located all along the roof, in your case it looks like a few shingles took a good hit but nothing too severe. The general rule of thumb is they mark out a square (usually a 10' x 10' area) located in the hardest hit area of the house and count the number of clear hits, and that number is usually about 8-10, so if you don't have an average of 8+ hits in any 10x10' area on the roof it's unlikely they consider it functionally damaged and will do any replacement. You could hire a public adjuster if you do meet that criteria, but it'll be out of pocket as well as a cut of any settlement, and your insurance company isn't going to be happy working with you after the fact, or you could try arbitration which is generally your other available avenue for disagreements.
 
#18 ·
To settle the dispute with Liberty and you, call Tamko to have them send someone out to look at it.

When I had my siding torn off of one Side of the house, because of wind damage. State Farm only covered Age Depreciation because the siding was over 60 years old, and wrong kind of nails were used. State Farm stated that if I wanted the whole house done, they would come to an agreement to go ahead and adjust when they got the final bill from the company that did the work. Included was moving a window to replace an old window and install a smaller window where the other was in our Kitchen.

We ended up paying out of pocket around $8k. Which really was not an issue, because we have been wanting to replace the old Aluminum Siding for 12 years, but were waiting for a weather event to do its thing.

I ended up going with one of the older family owned businesses in our town that did everything and then some of what the quote stated and also got gutter screens and fascia behind the gutters for free out of the deal.

Your job depends on the pitch, how many squares, how many eves and valleys. That is where you just keep seeing money sucked out of your wallet.

If Tamko proves that yes it is hail damage, along with what I can also see is not really good installation of the shingles to begin with. That may be enough to get Liberty to pay more towards the bid to replace.
 
#19 ·
I can only see a couple of spots in your pictures that look like possible significant damage. Your insurance does not cover "looks bad". It only covers damage that is likely to lead to deterioration of the roof.

Also, they might only pay for replacement of the damaged shingles, not a complete reroofing. With your deductible, you might not get anything.
 
#20 ·
I can only see a couple of spots in your pictures that look like possible significant damage. Your insurance does not cover "looks bad". It only covers damage that is likely to lead to deterioration of the roof.

If insurance doesn't cover "looks bad" why do they replace metal roofing, metal siding, and roofing vents? They all will still function with a few dents in them.
 
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