Storm damage can be an absolute nightmare. Depending on the severity you may be dealing with something as simple as cleaning your yard of branches, or as complicated as trees falling on your home. Knowing whether or not you actually have damage for less severe storms is hugely important as well. Often times, the signs of damage aren’t immediately obvious. Therefore, here is a handy guide to help you assess the damage, and protect your home.
SIGNS OF STORM DAMAGE
Roof Debris on the Ground
First, take a walk around your property after a storm passes through your neighborhood. Look for shingle tabs, bits of fascia metal, chimney caps, or any other items that could’ve blown off your home from the wind. Homes that still have a 3-tab style roof are particularly susceptible to storm damage, as 3-tab roof systems have a lower wind rating compared to new architectural shingle systems available today. If you have shingles, fascia metal, or any other items on the ground on your home, water damage will soon start inside it. Reach out to a roofing professional to have your home inspected.
Brush from Nearby Trees Scattered Along Your Property
Now, If brush from nearby trees made it onto your property, it likely also hit your home. Impact damage from tree branches can cause serious damage to your shingles, as well as siding. The most common storm damage you will see from debris impact is granule loss, which we will go over later in this guide, but you may also see penetration from the branches themselves. As for the siding, impact damage can be anything from dimples and dents to an aluminum, as well as shattered or cracked vinyl on vinyl siding systems. Therefore, if a storm has passed through your neighborhood, inspect your roof and your siding for storm damage, or have one of our experts do it for you.
Storm Damage Caused By Hail
Hail damage to your home can vary in intensity. And hail stones as low as .8″ can bruise an asphalt shingle. As a result, this causes an indentation that, over time, will form a crack. This makes your shingles susceptible to water penetration. If you find hail stones scattered throughout your property during a storm, or if you hear impacts on your roof during one, chances are you have sustained storm damage to your roof. In many cases, noticing the storm damage is hard to do from far away. You may require an in depth analysis to determine this. For best results, we recommend you have someone who is HAAG Certified take a look at your roof for you.
Excessive Granule Loss
This type of storm damage might be a little more difficult to notice, depending on the size of your home. All asphalt shingles are coated in granules. And these granules protect the asphalt & matting from UV damage. If the granules are knocked off your shingles, UV rays from the sun will damage them. This causes blistering, water retention, and a host of other problems.
Typically, you can see if you’ve lost an excessive amount of granules if your shingle is light in color and you see dark spots scattered throughout. Therefore, if you can do so safely, we recommend you have a look inside your gutters for excessive granule loss. If you can’t inspect your gutters for storm damage safely, call a professional to perform an inspection on your home.
Tree Impacting Your Home
Tree damage is the most obvious sign of storm damage. It’s also certainly the most dangerous one to note. When a tree impacts your home, structural damage may have consequently taken place. It’s of the utmost importance you get a thorough inspection of your homes condition as soon as possible.
WHAT TO DO AFTER A STORM
Inspect Your Attic For Leaks Related to Storm Damage
Your roof might leak for quite a long time before you even notice water damage in your home. Water must travel through your decking, soak up into your insulation (which could be a hotbed for mold), and make it through your ceiling drywall. All of this could happen for weeks before you even notice you have a problem! After every storm, we recommend you take a trip up to your attic to inspect it for leaks. Dark spots form on the plywood decking when water makes its way in. Also, you might notice water spots along the rafters of your home, indicating a steady stream of water traveling down them. If you experience water damage inside your attic, it’s important to fix the problem as quickly as possible to avoid further storm related damage. You can contact a roofing expert to fix your storm damage today.
Call a Licensed, Insured and Reputable Contractor
Albana Roofing has helped over 10,000 customers in its 27 year history. Our company’s fully licensed & insured. Most noteworthy, we’re A-rated among all the common review sites. And we provide the industry leading quality, and family owned care you deserve. Above all, this is exceptionally important when you home’s sustained storm damage. Your roof is the first line of defense protecting your loved ones. Albana Roofing is here to help get your home up and running. You can visit our Contact Us page to fix your storm damage today.
Call Your Insurance Provider And Report Your Storm Damage
Homeowners insurance is designed to help provide coverage from storm damage. The faster you can get the insurance claim started, the faster we can get your damage fixed. In turn, you can get your home back to normal with minimal stress. In many cases, you can fix your storm damage for your entire home for as little as your insurance deductible!
Don’t Delay
Every minute you spend weighing your options is another minute more water damage can come of your home. To minimize that damage, we recommend you begin the repair process by calling your local experts on roof replacement today!
