How to Know if Your Roof has Hail Damage in San Antonio

After a hailstorm, potential hail damage to your roof is absolutely possible. When hail hits your home, it has the ability to damage your property and roof in a very short time. While a hailstorm is something no one looks forward to, it’s important to know if your roof has hail damage after a storm.

Just recently in San Antonio, we experienced a hailstorm that caused hail damage to a number of homeowners on San Antonio’s Northside and Helotes area.

To understand how much damage a roof may sustain from a hailstorm, it’s helpful to first know what makes damage more or less impactful.

4 Factors that Can Cause Hail Damage to Your Roof

There are really just a few factors, when combined, can cause significant damage to any roof. These include the following.

Size and amount of hail

It goes without saying, larger hailstones are generally more destructive than smaller hailstones. That is to say, golf ball and baseball sized hail is going to have a much greater impact on your roof than say, pea sized hail.

In addition, how long a hailstorm lasts also plays a factor in the hail damage a roof might endure. If it hails for just a few minutes, the impact to your roof may not be nearly as bad as if a hailstorm lasts 20 or more minutes.

Building materials of home structure

The type of roof shingles that are on your home may also have some effect on the damage hail may cause. This is because different building materials tend to absorb the impacts from hail differently.

Hail tends to cause dents in aluminum as well as in asphalt shingles. However on wood shakes, hail could potentially create cracks in the material, which leads to a world of other roofing structure issues.

Depending on how old a roof on a home is, this can also influence the amount of damage possible. A roof that is older in age and experiencing signs of wear and tear is much more likely to have hail damage than a brand new roof.

Wind

With hail, you often have high winds. Depending on how strongly the wind is blowing and in which direction, may send hail falling in different angles.

If hail is hitting one area of the home more than other parts, this is where you’ll likely see the most damage.

Barriers between hail and property

If there is large tree cover around your home, sometimes this can slightly alleviate the impacts of hail. This is because trees and other objects may act as barriers to your roof. The barriers would then absorb some of the impact rather than your entire roof.

Likewise, two story homes between one story homes may also act as a barrier to block some of the hail if it is falling at an angle. The downside is that those homes may take on more damage as a result.

Signs of Roof Damage on Different Roof Types

Roof shingles are affected differently from a hailstorm based on the type of shingle being used. Because of this, the damage is going to even look different based on the shingle type.

To know whether your roof has hail damage, here are the signs you can look for based on your roof shingle type:

Asphalt Shingles Hail Damage

• Small dark spots the size of hail
• Exposed roof felt or missing granules
• Roof may feel soft in certain spots
• Obvious visible damage

If you notice any of these signs on your roof after a hailstorm, then your roof may have hail damage.

Wood Shingles Hail Damage

• Any splits in shingles that are brownish orange in color
• Visible damage
• Splits in shingles that have sharp edges and/or corners
• Noticeable dents on splits

While there are a number of different signs to look for in a roof that has hail damage, these are some of the more common ones.

If you find that your roof has any of these signs, it’s best to have a professional roofing company in San Antonio provide recommendations on next steps.

Think Your Roof May Have Hail Damage After a San Antonio Hailstorm?

With the recent hailstorm in San Antonio, it’s important to ensure your roof did not sustain serious damage. Time is of the essence to get it checked and fixed because a hail damaged roof can lead to other serious roofing issues such as leaks and other structural problems.

If you think your roof may have hail damage or you are unsure, we encourage you to contact us. We offer free roofing estimates and remain here for you.