It started a little after 10 on Tuesday night. A sound like somebody throwing gravel at the windows, then something heavier. Greg went to the front door and came back holding a hailstone the size of a golf ball in his palm like he'd caught a fish. Biscuit was under the bed upstairs and stayed there until Wednesday lunchtime.
The storm lasted maybe fifteen minutes. In the morning our street looked like it had been through a shredder: leaves and small branches everywhere, the Hendersons' patio umbrella in our side yard, and a dent in our front gutter you could see from the sidewalk.
The first morning
Our roof went on in 2004, so it's 22 years old. Just this April we had three roofers out for quotes, between $11,800 and $14,500 for a full replacement. An inspection said it had a year or two left, so we decided to wait and keep saving. Now I wondered if the hail had made that decision for us.
Before I called anybody, I took photos. The dented gutter and downspout, a torn window screen on the north side, dents in the metal vent caps, and the shingle granules piled at the bottom of the downspouts. I photographed the hailstones next to a ruler before they melted. Greg didn't go up on the roof, at my insistence, because I'm not filing two claims this week.
I called our insurer's claim line Wednesday morning and filed the claim. I wrote down the claim number, the name of the person I spoke to and the time. They said an adjuster would be out within a few days, which seemed fast. Apparently they had people stationed in the area for the storm.
By Wednesday afternoon two roofing companies had already knocked on our door, neither of them local. One offered to "handle everything with your insurance" and wanted me to sign a form right there. I said no thank you. Our neighbor Ron told us he'd signed something like that years ago and spent months untangling it.
The adjuster's visit
The adjuster came Thursday afternoon. She was friendly, efficient and wore a harness to go up on the roof. Greg and I watched from the yard like parents at a swim meet.
She marked off a 10-by-10-foot test square on each slope with chalk and counted the hail hits that actually damaged the shingles, meaning bruises or cracks that break the mat, not just loose granules. She explained that's the general way they decide between a repair and a full roof.
The verdict: real damage on the north slope and the front gutter, but not enough hits on the other slopes for a full replacement. She said our roof was showing its age in ways that had nothing to do with hail, and normal wear isn't covered. I'd expected that, but it still hurt a little to hear.
What we got paid
Her estimate arrived by email Friday. Here's how it broke down:
- Replace shingles on part of the north slope, about 4 squares: $1,620
- Replace a section of front gutter and one downspout: $690
- Replace two roof vent caps: $310
- Rescreen one window: $85
- Total: $2,705, minus our $1,000 deductible: $1,705
Our policy covers the roof at replacement cost, which I fought for when we switched last fall. The adjuster said that on some policies a roof this old would be paid at actual cash value, depreciated for its age, and the check would have been noticeably smaller. That's one of those details that seems boring until it's worth hundreds of dollars.
The payment is being processed now. We'll use a local roofer, one of the three who quoted us in April, to do the repairs. He told me that if the full roof gets replaced in the next couple of years, the repaired section won't go to waste because the new gutters and vents would carry over.
What I'd do again
Take photos before anything gets cleaned up. Call the claim line yourself and write down every name and number. Don't sign anything from someone who shows up at your door the morning after a storm. Be on site when the adjuster comes, and ask how they decide between repair and replacement. And if you have an older roof, find out today whether it's covered at replacement cost or actual cash value, before the hail does it for you.
I'm not an insurance professional, and every policy is different. But I'll say the process was fairer and faster than I expected.
The full roof still needs replacing in a year or two. The roof fund just got its next deposit, and the gutter will look nice in the meantime.
