Central Mississippi has recently been inundated with hail storms.

A few years ago, our local Nissan plant sustained extensive damages to their car inventory and subsequently installed “hail cannons.” This technology literally breaks up the hail before it reaches the ground. Given that most of us cannot afford this type of protection, keeping an eye out for hail sightings and having our roofs inspected is our only line of defense.

Have a local home inspector do a roof inspection.

If you’re driving home from work one day and notice that several houses on your street are getting new roofs, there may be a possibility that there is hail damage on your roof. Many insurance companies will limit the number of times you request an adjuster to come inspect your roof. A good practice would be to have a local home inspector do a roof inspection. Many inspection companies, including ours, are using drones to get a clear view of all roofing materials. You can also check the area around your roof to see if there are roofing asphalt granules puddled near the gutter discharge. If you have an adequate ladder, you can look inside your gutters to see if there is asphalt. Piles of asphalt around the home or in the gutters is a good indication of possible hail damage. Another area susceptible to damage is the metal flashings on the roof, window framing and metal AC condenser cabinets. We had a catastrophic storm a few years ago where softball sized hail literally blew through roof decking. Hopefully that was a once in a lifetime storm.

Hail damage on a roof may cause problems with the sale of a home as well.

If there has been a report of hail in a certain area of town and the home under contract has not had a new roof, the buyer’s insurance company may require the roof be verified as not having any hail damage. We have seen multiple incidents where the homeowner submitted a hail damaged roof claim and did not put a new roof on the home. This is considered insurance fraud.

The bottom line is that the insurance adjuster has to make the call on whether the roof needs to be repaired or replaced. Our understanding is that there needs to be more than 30% damage in order to replace a roof. The homeowner would do well to keep any documentation of damages, as this will certainly come up in any home inspection report done for the sale of the property.

As with any issue with your home, the sooner you deal with it, the less likely you are to have subsequent problems due to delayed repairs. We tell our clients that they would be well served to have a home inspection every 5-6 years. This helps them stay attuned to any issues that need attention, especially if they are planning on putting the home up for sale. Sales go easier when issues are dealt with ahead of time.