How to deal with hail storms and damage to the roofing of houses in Calgary

Hail storm events happen regularly across Canada, but the storms that result in considerable damage to houses and infrastructure happen across Southern Alberta, especially in the Calgary region. Over the past 25 years, there have been 100 million dollars of insurance claims due to severe and several hail storm damage in Alberta.

How do hail storms occur?

A hail storm is a weather phenomenon that requires several conditions to occur. 

Hail storms form at high altitudes within huge thunder clouds when low-temperature water droplets combine to form a layer of ice. Hailstone reaches its maximum size once gravity starts pulling down. It can reach speeds of up to 120 miles per hour and are very destructive.

How to know if a hail storm is coming?

  • If you are concerned regarding hail storms, first check the climate report on TV or radio. 
  • If you are away from both, look at your atmosphere.
    • Thick thunder clouds or Gray clouds.
    • Thunder lightning.
    • And a sudden dip in temperature indicates hail storms.

How do hail storms cause damage, and what are the risk factors?

Hail sizes of one nickel size or more are the ones that cause damage. Since hail speeds can reach 100 miles, it causes extreme damage to automobiles, houses, and landscapes. 

Microbursts with destructive currents and hail can cause troubles with your roof that slowly worsen over time. Damaged asphalt shingles can help water leak into your house. Usually, insurance companies ignore these hail storm damages, resulting in the damage not getting covered.

A HAAG-certified roofing inspector inspecting your roof after hail storms is crucial due to such negligence by insurance companies. The inspector will let you know about all the damages affected to the roofing and provide proof to attach to your claim, which insurance companies cannot avoid.

What are the signs of hail storm roof damage?

Common types of signs are:

1. Dots in a black tone

2. Loss of Granules

3. Bruised Shingles

4. Dents or impact marks

5. Tears at the shingle’s end

6. Split shingles

How to deal with the hail storm roofing damages?

Hail may wreak havoc on your roofing without leaving any damage on the ground. It’s easy to miss the harm. The hailstones don’t have to be particularly large to inflict bruising and wear away the asphalt of your shingles. It removes the protecting granules on the outside. Damaged shingles will be exposed to the sun’s UV radiation if these granule layers are lost. In a short amount of time, this will cause substantial shingle damage. Strong winds can cause hail to be immensely damaging to your roof and home’s exterior. An inspection by one of our hail storm roof damage experts can confirm the amount of the damage and detail the steps taken to repair it.

Does homeowners insurance cover roof leak damage after one year from a hail storm?

A roof leak caused by a covered risk will be taken care of by the Homeowners insurance. Assume your roof has been damaged by sudden fire, hail, or wind, causing a leak, in such circumstances, your homeowner’s insurance may cover the cost of repairing the roof leak (unless your policy has a wind or hail exclusion).

However, most insurance policies do not cover damage caused by neglect or wear and tear after one year of any damage. Instead, it is used in helping to pay for the cost of repairing the damage caused by Hail storms at the time. 

Leaky roofs caused by unresolved or unrepaired hail storm damage problems after a certain period will most likely not cover the cost of repairing the roofing leak or damage by the hail storm. That’s a reason to inspect the roof regularly after Hail storms.