If your home or property is in the path of a hail storm, be sure to do these three things immediately afterwards.
Spring is here and that means so is storm season. Many of those storms will contain hail. If you’ve just experienced a spring storm that dropped potentially property damaging hail stones, it’s important that you know what to do next.
1 – Exterior inspection
Once the storm has passed, go outside and look for hailstones in your yard, take a photo of the hail and put the biggest one you see in your freezer. Next, look around your home for granules that may have been knocked off the shingles by the hail.
Check your gutters for granules as well. Putting your cell phone on a selfie stick is a great idea to extend your reach and allow you to see what is going on with your gutters without having to leave the ground.
While looking for granules, see if the gutters sustained any dents from the hail. Continue your property inspection and note if there is any damage to your siding, your window screens or the fins on your air conditioner unit.
While staying safely on the ground, try see if there is obvious damage to your roof. Here is where you could put that drone that you got for Christmas to use – just fly on up and take a few pictures of different parts of your roof.
2 – Call a professional, licensed roofing contractor
After your inspection, if you think that your roof may have sustained damage call a professional roofing contractor who is licensed by the Roofing Contractors Association of Texas AND is Haag certified to detect storm damage. Many times, damage can be hidden and is not always visible to the untrained eye. At Texas Traditions Roofing, we are RCAT licensed, Haag certified and happy to perform a free storm damage assessment.
3 – Contact your insurance company
Contact your insurance carrier and let them know that you experienced damage following a hail storm. It’s important that you know your rights as the policyholder. With all the storms in the past year, we are hearing more and more from homeowners who are telling us that some insurance companies are no longer sending adjusters to estimate the cost of repairs. Rather, they instruct the homeowner to obtain and submit three bids. Be aware that the lowest bid may not be the best one for a complete roof system for your home and may not deliver the best workmanship.
Do your homework, get references and don’t be afraid to ask the insurance company to work with the contractor that is the best fit for you. Contact us today for a free post-storm damage inspection.