How to Spot Wind and Hail Damage on A Roof
Although your roof is designed to bear the brunt of the elements, some wind and hail storms can be very intense and can result in damage to your roof.
Identifying damage caused by strong winds and hail is quite simple if you know where to look. One of the most obvious signs of hail damage can be dings in the roofing surface and rain damage can be ripped or lost shingles.
It is important that after a storm you inspect your roof. If you are inexperienced, in this matter, call Sterling Exteriors to check out your home in North Virginia, Maryland, and DC.
Wind Damage on a Roof
Strong winds do not hit your roof in uneven patterns and the edges and corners of your roof are particularly vulnerable to their damaging effect.
If the wind is high enough, it can slip under the shingles on the edge of your roof, curls them up, or blow them away completely. Even though some of your shingles may look unharmed and intact from the ground, the force of the wind can loosen their nails and force them up. When this happens, the water-proof sealant between each shingle breaks and your roof becomes susceptible to leaks.
Another danger of high winds is that it can blow dirt and debris and cause branches and weakened trees to fall on your roof. Depending on the weight and momentum of the falling objects, your roof may get away with simple scratches or suffer a puncture or shatter your shingles. Therefore, if you have any dead or weakened trees close to your home, you should cut them down before a windstorm hits.
How to Spot Wind Damage
There are various ways to spot wind damage:
Curling Shingles: You will find curling shingles near the edges, ridges or corners of the roof or around the chimney. Curled shingles cannot keep water out and they are also harder to spot than missing shingles.
Lost Shingles: High winds can slip beneath your roof’s shingles, lift them up, and rip them away from the roof.
Lifted Shingles: These shingles are almost impossible to detect, but with usage, have come loose from their nails. This breaks the sealant between each layer of shingle, resulting in water leakage. They can be detected by a horizontal line of worn off granules a couple of inches below the shingles above. This is due to the lifted shingles rubbing against the shingle above it.
Gutter Clutter: High winds can blow away the granules from the damaged shingles into your gutter. If your gutter is filled with excessive shingles, it is a sign of roof damage.
Damaged Chimney Flashing: Your chimney flashing can blow away or become cracked due to high winds as it is one of the biggest stress points of your home.
Hail Damage on a Roof
Hailstorms are noisy affairs and usually, you may not miss the coming of a hail. Hail can result in tiny 1/4th inch hailstones to 4 inches hailstones and they can cause damage ranging from small dings to shattered shingles, allowing leakage of water
Hail damage often leaves visible signs, though it may not be easy to see the damage on your roof from the ground. You can determine the possibility of roof damage by checking out other signs of hail damage like dents on your car’s roof and other objects, patterns of small round dings around the edges of the shingles, small craters where the granule has eroded, and large piles of granules in your gutter and downspout.
How to Spot Hail Damage
If you take care to look for some signs, it can help you determine if there is hail damage on the top of your roof. This can help you decide whether your roof needs minor repairs or a full replacement.
Dented Gutters and Downspouts: Keep an eye out for dented gutters, screens and downspouts. If you see these signs, chances are there is some damage to your roof as well.
Chipped or Split Chimney, Vents, And Skylights: Your chimney, vents, and skylights may also become chipped, dented, or cracked. Soft metal vents may show you obvious damage. For chimney covers, you can run some white chalk sideways over the surface to find out if the surface has been chipped. Glass skylight may be shattered by larger-sized hailstones.
Dings on Sidings and Window Sills: Your home’s sidings and window sills may also have suffered some dings or dents. Other exposed surfaces like metal fascia on your roof eaves may have faint dings.
Spatters on AC: Not many people realize this, but checking your outdoor air conditioner units for hail spatters or other damage can also give you a good idea about the extent of hail damage your roof may have suffered. Hail spatters occur when sleet hits your AC and forms discolored stains. This is evidence of hail but hail spatters do not usually result in repairable damage.
Chipped Paint on Deck: The deck and other exterior painted surfaces may have become chipped as a result of hail damage. If only the paint is damaged, it will not impact the durability of the deck material. All you need to do is to repaint your deck.
What to Do If You Have Wind or Hail Damage On Your Roof in North VA, MD, and DC
If your roof has suffered damage due to hail, high winds, and flying debris, you need to get it repaired quickly or risk water leaks into your home. The more you delay it, the worse the damage will be.
Contact Sterling Exteriors today at (703) 260-6331 to check out wind and hail damage to your roof and have it fixed immediately.