In Fredericksburg.

Hail has fallen 4 times this month.

If you guys are having roofers help you out anywhere in the state, don't get in a hurry. This weather pattern is not in your favor. Don't get pushed into quick replacement if you don't have to.

Make your claim. Pick shingles Set up contracts. Line up your ducks. Then WAIT.

The image attached is a cross street less than a block away from the new roof I watched some company finish.

It's totaled…again…guaranteed.

You telling every hail storm with hail over..... what, ping pong ball size hail, will "total" a roof?

Just got a new roof last year, fingers crossed it lasts a while but next time I am going to bite the bullet and put on metal.

aggie_wes said:

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You telling every hail storm with hail over..... what, ping pong ball size hail, will "total" a roof?

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Ping pong...yes. It will at that size. I inspect for my notes and so I can show a customer their roof and the damage. I don't BS people. If I tell them it's totaled, then I have a means of backing that up. It's a hassle and expense that I am about to suggest a homeowner embark on. If you have a Class IV shingle, it will withstand that a bit better. Quarter size hail to ping pong is probably totaled, but you need to have that verified. When you get to those smaller sizes all the variable like roof type, roof age, hail shape, hail hardness, hail duration all come in. A 14 year old roof with marble sized hail for 15 minutes is likely a total loss. 1" hail that is 'slushy' is not going to damage a roof like a 1" or so hard stone with little spikes sticking out of it. That's why I can't just roll up to a house and tell someone I saw damage from the road. That's bull.


NOAA image...

That's why when those dudes come to your house and say "I saw the damage from the road" you can rest assured they are full of it.

Here is are a selection of images from yesterday's inspections. This is ping pong sized hail damage on a roof that is less than 5 years old. Duration was 5-10 minutes from homeowner account. There are 15-20 hits in a 10x10 area.






A little further north of town...This is a quarter sized damage with a duration of 25 minutes or so. Roof age is 5-10 years.



This roof was put on two years ago. Hail size is just under ping pong sized.



All of these are total losses.

The first picture is one from a homeowner that said they know they have no damage.

Metal standing seam is the way to go if you are in the hill country and can spring for it. It won't be damaged by a lot of this hail. Now, if you are north of town last night where they got 3.5" hail, then you are going to have dents all over your metal roof. But, it might not be totaled and it likely won't cause you and grief outside of appearance.

The first image is across the street from the roof that was completed yesterday. I am going to go back by today. If I can muster the courage to talk to the homeowner, I'll see if I can get a picture. It's an iffy thing to ask for, but I am genuinely curious. It's rare to have a chance to see a roof less than 6 hours old get impacted by that size hail. I can't believe that company encouraged that.

Thank you for the informative post. I'm pretty ignorant to most of this stuff. We've been in our house 9 years (was a new-build) and have had 2-3 storms of that type over the years but it didn't occur to me that the roof would be a total replacement.

I'm in Parker County, so not your area, but is there any reason to either wait or not wait to get so eone to look at the roof and replacement? I have no idea how this works with insurance but coming up on 10 years old, if I could get a new roof covered I would probably do it.

In regards to dings on metal, check with your insco and see if they cover cosmetic damage. I've talked to a handful of people in the last two months that have been pissed off that they won't be getting a new roof, even though it looks like orange peel.

aggie_wes said:

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Thank you for the informative post. I'm pretty ignorant to most of this stuff. We've been in our house 9 years (was a new-build) and have had 2-3 storms of that type over the years but it didn't occur to me that the roof would be a total replacement.

I'm in Parker County, so not your area, but is there any reason to either wait or not wait to get so eone to look at the roof and replacement? I have no idea how this works with insurance but coming up on 10 years old, if I could get a new roof covered I would probably do it.

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It depends. Here is a map of your county ish, with hail over the last year of 1.25" or bigger. If you are near these or you know you had hail, then yes, it's worth it. Just make sure they are legit. It doesn't hurt to get some eyes on it.

Rexter said:

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In regards to dings on metal, check with your insco and see if they cover cosmetic damage. I've talked to a handful of people in the last two months that have been pissed off that they won't be getting a new roof, even though it looks like orange peel.

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I have metal and have an endorsement where I get a discount for it. In exchance, I agreed that I'm Ok with dents. Kinda sucks, but everything is a tradeoff.

None of those tracks or blue circles over my house, last bad hail storm we had was probably 3 or 4 years ago.

Cromagnum said:

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I'm not a roofer but don't see how those are total losses. The damage is barely visible.

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So the issue with it is that its bruised the matting and it has removed grains. That exposes the fiberglass which degrades rapidly in the sun. That, in turn, leads to leaks and a decreased function of the roof. With so much of it in a small area, it's a total loss in the eyes of the carrier. They would rather replace a claim with a roof now rather than a claim with a roof, drywall, paint, insulation, etc, etc, later. Generally, a carrier will total a slope if a 10x10 area has 7+ hail impacts. They are going to want those on 2-3 slopes, which usually is not an issue with hail like this.

Here is a little more info from a manufacturer.

https://www.owenscorning.com/en-us/roofing/blog/roof-hail-damage

aggie_wes said:

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None of those tracks or blue circles over my house, last bad hail storm we had was probably 3 or 4 years ago.

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If you aren't in the spots above, then you are probably OK. If you don't have leaks then I wouldn't worry about it just yet. Wait until you have stones in your yard. You generally have one year from the damage date to make a claim, and I encourage making it ASAP when you know its damaged. An adjuster will use a hail swath to help 'tell the story' of hail damage, so if you don't have one within a mile of you for the last year, it's going to be a tough sell in most cases. Still possible, but not likely.

We have a Dallas office and Jake handles most of the inspections and project management there. Jake from Infinity, not Jake from State Farm.

Can you show this for Jonestown, TX? We have had a few hail storms in the last 2 years I've been here.

Another dumb question, does insurance typically pro-rate what they will pay out in a roof based on its age?

In the Texas Panhandle, we frequently get hail storms. We usually wait until we are through the typical "hail season" before replacing. Several years ago roofs were replaced 3 years in a row.

As a matter of fact the first night we slept in our new home last year we had a hail storm come through and total the roof on the new house, my shop, our farm office, farm shop, farm barn and my in-laws house.

We kept the roofer busy for several weeks on all of that work.

I would not be surprised if we have another hail storm given the recent weather patterns.

About to build a new house and have actually been considering a slate roof.

Anyone have first hand experience with them and if they're as tough as advertised, especially with hail?

aggie_wes said:

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Another dumb question, does insurance typically pro-rate what they will pay out in a roof based on its age?

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Depends on your policy.

ACV - actual cash value…cost minus deductible minus depreciation

RCV - replacement cost value gets you a new roof minus your deductible

17 year insurance adjuster. Jason speaks the truth. 1-1.25" hail will total a roof. Most of the time you can't see it, but the damage warrants replacement.

Furlock Bones said:

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Can you show this for Jonestown, TX? We have had a few hail storms in the last 2 years I've been here.

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So, I'm going to display two products for you. One shows 1" hail. The other shows .5" over the region but not directly there. These two products illustrate a couple of points;

1.) The need for a trained set of eyes on your roof. If you don't have a 1" hail stone sitting in your yard, it's anyone's guess.

2.) Why roofers show up to your neighborhood after a storm with efficiency. Personally, I use these maps as rough guides and then use my local weather share facebook pages for pinpoint accuracy. When the neighbor posts on their public facebook page about "The golf ball sized hail that is pounding their yard" and then puts a bunch of photos up and says "at the corner of Jones and Smith"....well..there you go.

The last product is a random pin drop with associated impact dates and estimated sizes. Let me know if this helps.

aggie_wes said:

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Another dumb question, does insurance typically pro-rate what they will pay out in a roof based on its age?

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Not a dumb question. A common one. The answer may or may not matter.

Rexter already answered it, but to expand...

Yes, they prorate your ACV (actual cash value) check, or the first one they send you, based on the life of your roof and estimated age. If you have a "30 year roof" and its 15 years old, and they think it estimates out at 20,000 as a replacement cost, then they send you a check for 10,000 MINUS your deductible. The rest (depreciation) they will send when your contractor send them a final invoice.

If you have an ACV policy, this really matters because you are getting no additional checks.

So, yes, they pro-rate the up front value, but if you have an RCV policy it doesn't matter for me, because I don't take money up front. No down payments. If your contractor needs half down up front, then it will matter and you need to keep that in mind.

Buck Compton said:

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About to build a new house and have actually been considering a slate roof.

Anyone have first hand experience with them and if they're as tough as advertised, especially with hail?

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They are tough. But personally, I find it nearly impossible to beat the value of a standing seam roof. You can get it in almost any color imaginable and it's less than slate. If you like slate, you can explore stone coated steel. It can be had in a multitude of patterns, appearances, and colors. Slate is beautiful, and it will last a long time if done properly with the right product, but it's pricey and heavy.

Jason_InfinityRoofer said:

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Buck Compton said:

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About to build a new house and have actually been considering a slate roof.

Anyone have first hand experience with them and if they're as tough as advertised, especially with hail?

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They are tough. But personally, I find it nearly impossible to beat the value of a standing seam roof. You can get it in almost any color imaginable and it's less than slate. If you like slate, you can explore stone coated steel. It can be had in a multitude of patterns, appearances, and colors. Slate is beautiful, and it will last a long time if done properly with the right product, but it's pricey and heavy.

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Unfortunately standing seam just won't go with the Federal/Georgian look we are going with.

Stone-coated steel may be a way to go vs. slate. Appreciate the tip! I knew they were heavy and expensive, but the ones I've seen have been beautiful.

Thanks for the clarifications. I'm sure I will have to deal with it at some point down the line.

Slate is heavy. Just make sure the roof sub surface/support is designed for that roof weight. Looks nice.

I still like the old wood shingles, that fire hazard helped disappear.

How much more is a standing seam vs. composite? I'm in Parker and if/when I get hit with one of those tracks, I'd prefer a full metal roof.

DeBoss said:

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How much more is a standing seam vs. composite? I'm in Parker and if/when I get hit with one of those tracks, I'd prefer a full metal roof.

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It's about twice as much.

It's worth it if it's your long term home.

We are converting all of the roofs on our place to metal each time we have an event. We did our farm office last year and will do our home next year. Since we have so many roofs on the place we generally pool all roofs for one contractor. That way they have 9 roofs within a few miles to work on. Given that we are 22 miles from the nearest town, we feel like we have to make it worth while for the contractor and have used the same guy for about 10 years. Always does a great job.

Definitely have to like your contractor. If he does good work and you are happy with the price, you aren't going to need to do it ever again most likely. Might as well use someone you like. I run into a fair bit of folks picking roofers on price and they were jerks or didn't come deal with issues, or any number of things as that just leaves A bitter taste every time you look at the roof.

Metal can definitely have issues after install but they are correctable and if he's a good guy, it's a one and done fix.

Rexter said:

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In regards to dings on metal, check with your insco and see if they cover cosmetic damage. I've talked to a handful of people in the last two months that have been pissed off that they won't be getting a new roof, even though it looks like orange peel.

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The vast majority don't, and if they do the is a big deductible for it. Even if they look like ****, they still do their job. I couldn't care less if mine is dented to hell as long as it doesn't leak.

cslifer said:

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Just got a new roof last year, fingers crossed it lasts a while but next time I am going to bite the bullet and put on metal.

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Get metal.

We bought in SA in November 2015 knowing we'd need a new roof soon. Insurance called the day after we closed telling us they couldn't insure the house because of the roof. We were planning on waiting a few months, but we immediately got quotes for the thickest metal we could get because if we were going to pay for a new roof out of pocket we were going to get one we'd never have to worry about. By January our 22ga roof was done.

In April, a massive hail storm came through and dropped baseball and softball sized hail all over the west and north sides of the city. For about 5-15 minutes depending on location. Our roof was fine and we couldn't even tell it'd been hit. Every house within about a 5 mile radius with asphalt shingles had to be reroofed, and some people's cars were so pulverized they were totaled. The decision to go with metal was a good one because we would have been out the difference between metal and Class IV shingles within 3 months with the deductible. In 2019(?) we had another storm come through that dropped quarter to golf ball sized hail around us. A bunch of people in our neighborhood were stuck replacing the roofs they'd just put on 3 years before. Ours still looks great today. We've already saved 2 deductibles in less than 8 years by spending more upfront.

Where we are, we average a new roof every 3 years or so based on hail storms. NOTHING Is a one and done deal.

I still have (and use from time to time) the metal roofing from the last hail storm for some work on the show pig barn

I know not everyone deals with that kind of hail issues but in my 20 years out here I've put roof on things 8 of those 20 years.