Impacted by the large North Dallas (Frisco) Hail storm over the weekend and trying decide if we should replace the roof or not. We replaced our roof in 2017, due to a hail storm, and our same contractor inspected yesterday and said it has enough damage for a full replacement.

This is my question Friends, do we really need another new roof due to the hail damage?

Reasons we might not do it:
1) replaced roof 5 yrs prior (pain in the a$$ dealing w/ Allstate but the did step up in the end)
2) insurance premium increase? (this entire area has been deemed a "documented disaster"); therefore my premiums may go up whether we do the roof or not?
3) just b/c a roofer and Allstate (have not filed) say we qualify for a new roof is it really compromised to a point that it needs replacement?


Coming to this board of huge brains for direction. Thank you in advance.

Not a roofer or construction professional but I've replaced a couple and will likely need to replace mine after Sunday's storms. FWIW my home was built/completed in 2019, so my roof is "new" and has had no meaningful storms until Sunday.

1. Can you trust a roofer to give you an honest assessment? That depends on if your roofer is trustworthy. An honest roofer will tell you if you don't need a replacement. If you aren't sure get more roofers out to do an inspection. It only costs you a bit of time.

2. Your insurance company can tell you if you need a new roof. They might say "no" where your roofer says "yes". In that case, they'll arrange to meet your roofer at your home to debate the roofer's data with their data. If they've already noted your entire area is a 'documented disaster' odds are you need a new roof and they'll agree w/out much if any pushback.

3. Your insco will only give you X amount of time to file a claim from a storm. Let's assume you don't file a claim, no other storms come through causing further hail damage, and a few years down the road you want to sell the home. If an inspection deems it has unrepaired hail damage, you are likely 100% going to be on the hook to replace that roof or make concessions on the sell price, unless the buyer is desparate.

A roof could be finished 5 minutes ago and a hail storm comes through that renders it "needs to be replaced". If you roll the dice replacing a roof that has damage you could end up with a leaking roof on down the road, or in the scenario from #3 above. Damage doesn't mean it'll collapse tomorrow - it just creates failure points where it will fail faster, allowing water over time to find its way into your home, shingles more likely to blow off removing all protection, etc.

This seems like a "how damaged is my roof question" and not a question of "do I want to". If your roof is damaged enough to need replacing, it doesn't matter if it was replaced last week or 20 years ago. If it's damaged it's damaged. If it were me, I'd call my insurance and have them look at it and make a determination. If they have a different take than a roofing contractor I trust, I'd get them both out at the same time and let them hash it out.

FWIW, a friend recently replaced his roof due a spring hail storm. He probably had a 2015-2018 Class IV shingle. After replacing, the new roof discount on his policy saved him ~$2000, or 1/3rd of the deductible so it made that new roof essentially $4k and not $6k, and he'll likely save for the next couple of years on premium as well.

Appreciate the quick feedback super helpful. Thank you.

I think Garrelli 5000 makes the best point. You don't want to get in the situation that you have a damaged roof and no insurance to cover the replacement.

One other thing to note - don't rush out to replace your roof until we're past the typical spring storm weather. in DFW at least we can get them any time, but I'll wait until later in the year if I have to replace mine. Give the storm season time to run its course and hit it again instead of increasing the chances of paying your deductibe twice in a few months time.

Piggy backing onto this, I think you have 2 years in the state of TX to claim damage. So you could always put a pin in this until Spring 2025.

Kinda late to the game, but here is my opinion:



Reasons we might not do it:
1) replaced roof 5 yrs prior (pain in the a$$ dealing w/ Allstate but the did step up in the end)

Your roofer should be making this as easy as possible. I try to limit what my customer has to 'deal with' in terms of the carrier. The adjuster meets me at the residence and often times doesn't even see the homeowner. He makes a determination. The customer sends me the approved scope of work, and then I do what I do, install the roof, collect his payment, my office handles the correspondence and invoicing with the carrier, they hash out details, the carrier sends final amount, the customer sends it in, the job and invoice is paid in full and were done.

2) insurance premium increase? (this entire area has been deemed a "documented disaster"); therefore my premiums may go up whether we do the roof or not?

You are going to see an increase regardless of whether you do your roof. They cannot increase your premium because YOU did your roof. They can and will increase the premium because that area has 3 million roofs that have been hailed on three times this week.

3) just b/c a roofer and Allstate (have not filed) say we qualify for a new roof is it really compromised to a point that it needs replacement?

This is a 'yesbut'.

Yes...but....your roofer, like myself, has a clear and concise idea of hail damage. Your carrier's idea is a lot more fluid. Either way, your roofer is the one you need to defer to in order to determine if the roof is compromised. The carrier is who we defer to in order to determine if the insurance will pay for it. Your roofer looks at roofs all day, every day. My idea of damage is based on what my manufacturer will consider damage. Any impacts on that roof from considerable hail will void any and all manufacturer lifetime warranties that were intact at the time it was installed.

We are MasterElite for GAF, Shinglemaster for Certainteed, and Platinum for Owens Corning. If I install your roof tomorrow, it comes with all the bells and whistles and lifetime warranties allowed under my credentials. If it hails on it Saturday, that all goes out the window. Its no longer warranted against defects from the manufacturer. This may or may not matter to you.

Also, be aware that your roof is not going to just up and start leaking this week unless you had the biggest hail, in which case, it probably still won't.

The last consideration is that your carrier KNOWS this area was impacted by hail. If you don't get a jump on it, then you risk having it denied because they are stingy after a a while, and then to rub salt in the wound, they may require an inspection prior to renewal. If they find hail, they won't renew, and they might not pay for it either.

If it's damaged, it would likely be prudent to go ahead and make a claim. If you like your roofer, make sure he is there when the adjuster comes out. Then you can discuss Class IV shingles. As state previously, they will come with a premium discount through Allstate, I believe it is 20%, but you should verify. When evaluating that decision, figure the cost vs. the discount vs. the amount of baseball sized hail you get and how often. That shingle is impact resistant, not hail proof.

You may want to look at standing seam roofing.

Hope this info is useful.