Storm, hail, and insurance claims

What hail actually does

On asphalt shingles, functional damage is bruising you can feel, fractured mats, and granule loss down to the asphalt — not a shiny spot that disappears when the roof dries. On metal, a dent is not always a leak. Paint and warranty are a different question from whether water is entering. On concrete tile, look for cracks and corner breaks, then look at the underlayment, because the tile is the armor and the membrane is the roof.

Wind is often mixed in. A storm that hails also lifts tabs, spins vent caps, and dumps debris into valleys. We separate those so an estimate does not call everything hail.

What a temporary cover does

When snow is already on the roof, or another cell is coming, an open deck or a torn section gets a plastic sheet or a blue tarp held down with sandbags. Sometimes that is one damaged area. Sometimes the cover goes over the whole house. The phone is answered 24/7 for that call: (385) 333-9637. Office hours for estimates are still 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, seven days.

A tarp is a temporary dry-in. It is not a finished repair, and it is not an approved claim. We photograph the damage when it is safe to do so before the cover goes on, because a tarp changes what an adjuster can see. We do not promise how soon a crew will arrive.

What we do on a claim, and what we do not

We inspect, photograph, and mark a roof so an adjuster can see what we see. We will meet the adjuster when you want us there. We explain the scope we would build if the roof is replaced or repaired. You remain the insured. The carrier decides coverage. We do not tell you a claim is “basically approved,” and we do not suggest starting a tear-off that you can only afford if the check arrives.

We also do not offer to waive a deductible or to hide that number inside a bigger invoice. That pitch is common after a storm and it is a problem, not a favor. If your deductible is large, the honest math might be that a repair is yours to pay or that the roof is a maintenance item, not a claim.

• A written description of damage by slope, not a single “whole roof” sentence
• Photos before a tarp or a repair changes the evidence
• Attendance at the adjuster meeting when you ask for it
• A construction scope that can be compared with the carrier’s scope
• No guarantee of payment, coverage, or matching

Matching and code

Discontinued shingles and faded slopes make a repair obvious. Some policies address matching and some do not. That is a policy question for your agent and the adjuster, not a promise from a roofer. Building-code items — ice-and-water, drip edge, decking that no longer meets the nailing you need — belong in the construction scope as construction, and you should see which of them the carrier is treating as covered.

We will not invent code requirements to inflate a claim. We will name the ones the city actually enforces on a replacement.

After the storm, before you sign

Door-to-door crews multiply after a Wasatch hail event. Ask who pulls the permit in your city, who is on the contract, and whether they will still be here in eight weeks. A local scope you can reread is worth more than a same-day contingency form.