No matter where you reside – storm season makes its cycle through every year, yet no two years are the same. Whether you’re dealing with violent winds, powerful thunderstorms, flying debris or an actual tornado or hurricane, often the damage is the same. If you’re vigilant in documenting and noticing the details of the state of your roof, it can save you time and further stress in the long run. It can even prevent considerable damage to your home.
Assess Your Situation
- Check for unexplained debris in your yard
- Check for fallen debris, loose shingles
- Look out for fallen limbs
How to Detect Damage
Although roofs are incredibly strong and durable, they remain vulnerable if areas of the roof have been torn or exposed after a violent storm. Particularly, damage from hail can be hard to spot. Check for curled up or dented and buckled shingles, while also looking at signs in your gutters with loose asphalt, and even gutters that are dented. If you see this, there’s a good change hail has been wearing at your home. In the category of wind damage or water damage, you could expect any of the following:
- Missing shingles
- Rot or mold
- Surface bubbles or wrinkles,
- Loose asphalt in the gutters or rust
- Water buildup in the gutters
- Spots on your interior ceiling
- Bubbling interior paint or wallpaper
- Crumbling brick or damaged siding
Document
Take detailed notes as well as photos of all of the damage – this includes the inside of your home if applicable. Make sure you safe-proof any potential damages that will impact your home in the immediate future. This will be extremely important in the event that you do need to have some correction work done.
Things to note
It’s important to know the history of your roof – previous replacements or fixes, etc. This can tell you a lot about how to handle situations of damage. There are some signs that should not be ignored even if you encounter a storm that is not extremely sever, such as shedding shingles, or cracking flashing. A tree falling on your roof is something that more times than not, can and will cause some need for repair.
Consider scheduling an assessment with a professional. Damage isn’t always obvious to the untrained eye, so allow someone you trust to give you peace of mind when considering something as important as your home.
