How do I know if my roof has hail damage?
Start at ground level. Dents in gutters, downspouts, roof vents and the fins of an outdoor AC unit mean hail was large enough to matter, and granules washed out of the downspouts are another sign. Damage to the shingles themselves has to be confirmed on the roof.
Look at the metal first
Aluminium and thin steel dent more easily than a shingle cracks, so they record a hail storm clearly. Walk around the house and look along the gutters, the downspouts, the metal window wraps and the top of the AC unit. Round dents the size of a coin or larger are the ones that matter.
Check the mailbox, a car left outside and the fence caps too. Damage to things around the house is what adjusters call collateral damage, and it helps show the storm hit your property.
Granules in the downspouts
Asphalt shingles are covered in ceramic granules that protect them from the sun. A hail hit knocks them loose, and they wash down the roof into the gutters. A handful of dark grit at the bottom of a downspout after a storm is a sign the shingles lost some of their coating.
New roofs shed a few granules for their first year anyway, so this matters most on a roof that is a few years old.
What a hit looks like on a shingle
On the roof, hail damage shows as round dark marks where the granules have been knocked away, often soft to the touch like a bruise. They are scattered randomly across the slope rather than in lines, and they are heaviest on the slopes that faced the storm.
Blistering, cracking in straight lines and granule loss along the bottom edges are usually age and heat rather than hail. Telling the two apart is the core of a roof inspection, and the reason a claim should start with one.
Stay off the roof
A pitched roof after a storm is slippery and can have loose shingles and weakened decking. Everything worth checking from the ground can be checked from the ground, and the rest is a job for someone with the right shoes and a harness.
Related questions
What size hail damages a roof?
Hail around one inch across, about the size of a quarter, is generally where asphalt shingles start to be damaged. Wind-driven hail does more damage than hail falling straight down.
Can hail damage cause a leak later?
Yes. A bruised shingle can hold for months before the mat underneath cracks and lets water through, which is why damage found early is worth documenting.
