Hail Hit Your Roof? Get a Photo-Documented Inspection Before You File.

Hail hits do not leave obvious holes. They leave soft dimples (the shingle feels bruised, like a bruised apple), exposed asphalt mat where granules have been knocked off, and cracked or broken shingles on older roofs. On a 2,000 sq ft roof with 25 squares of shingles, a moderate hail event can leave 50 to 200 individual hits - almost all of which are invisible from the ground. Soft metals (vents, flashing, chimney caps, gutter tops) take the same hits and show them as dents, which gives us a baseline for what the hail was doing when it hit your roof.

We walk every slope - front, back, both sides, every penetration. We photograph the slope as a whole, then close-ups of every soft metal hit, every bruised shingle, every cracked shingle, and every flashing, vent, and chimney area. We check the attic for moisture readings, signs of past leaks, and insulation condition. We document the date of the storm, the age of the roof (visible from the shingle manufacturer line), and the direction the hail was moving. The result is a PDF that you can hand directly to your insurance carrier.

Filing a claim without documentation puts you at a disadvantage - your adjuster visits once, makes a quick call, and you may end up with a small settlement that does not cover the real scope. Inspecting first means you walk into the claim conversation with the photos, the slope-by-scope, and the line-item estimate already in hand. You know the scope before the carrier does. If the damage is real and broad, you file with confidence. If the damage is minor or under your deductible, we tell you, and you save a claim on your record.

Every asphalt shingle loses granules as it ages. That is normal wear. Hail damage is different - it knocks granules off in concentrated spots, exposing the asphalt mat underneath. Spots exposed by hail are usually circular or oval, scattered randomly across a slope, and often paired with a soft dimple you can feel. If we see widespread granule loss that is uniform across the roof, that is age. If we see concentrated, random, circular spots, that is hail. The difference matters for your claim.

A repair is the right call when damage is localized, the rest of the roof has plenty of service life, and the shingle is still manufactured. A full replacement is the right call when damage is broad across most slopes, the roof is past mid-life, or the shingle has been discontinued. We give you both options in writing with photos and explain why we recommend what we recommend. You decide the scope, we execute the scope.

North Alabama averages 3 to 5 hail events per year, mostly March through June. Pea-to-marble size is most common; golf ball size happens every 2 to 3 years; baseball size is rare but has happened. The path of damage from a single hailstorm can be 5 to 20 miles long and 1 to 3 miles wide, with the worst damage along the core. If your neighbors are getting new roofs after a storm, your roof probably took hits too - even if it does not look like it from the ground.