What wind damage to a roof actually looks like
Missing shingles are the obvious version and the least common. The usual version is creasing: the wind lifts a shingle, breaks the factory seal underneath, and the shingle lies back down looking untouched from the ground while no longer being sealed to the course below.
An unsealed shingle is a shingle waiting for the next storm. This is why wind claims are so often filed after the second event rather than the first, and why an inspection after a windy week is worth doing even when nothing looks wrong.
The other markers are lifted or displaced ridge caps, torn or peeled drip edge and flashing, granules in the gutters in quantity, and damage to soft accessories — vents, boots, gutters, siding and fencing — that corroborates the wind speed.
The three things that decide the payout
Your deductible, and whether wind has its own. Many policies carry a separate wind or hail deductible, often a percentage of the dwelling coverage rather than a flat figure. That can be a materially larger number than the all-peril deductible people remember.
Replacement cost against actual cash value. Some policies pay the full cost to replace the roof; others pay the depreciated value of an older roof surface, with the balance recoverable once the work is done. Two neighbours with the same damage can receive very different first cheques for this reason alone.
Whether the damage reads as wind. Creasing, directional patterns across slopes, and matching damage to accessories all point at an event. Uniform granule loss and brittle, cupping shingles across the whole roof point at age, which policies do not cover.
What tends to be excluded
Age and deterioration, always. Pre-existing damage from a storm you did not report. Work done poorly by a previous contractor. Damage that is cosmetic only, where a cosmetic-damage exclusion applies. And, on some older roofs, anything beyond a scheduled depreciated amount.
None of that is a carrier being unreasonable. It is the difference between insurance and a maintenance plan, and knowing which side your roof sits on is most of the value of an early inspection.
How to file so the claim is clean
Report promptly — policies set a window and it is shorter than people expect. Note the date of the storm. Photograph anything on the ground before you clear it. Do not have repairs made before the adjuster sees the roof, beyond emergency measures to stop water entering, and keep receipts for those.
Have the roof documented first. A dated photo report of every slope means the adjuster is confirming rather than discovering, and it is what keeps flashing, vents, drip edge and gutters from falling off the first scope.
Our part, stated plainly
We inspect free across Maryland and Northern Virginia, usually within twenty four hours, and the photo report is yours to keep either way. We meet your adjuster on the roof and we provide a line-item estimate.
You file and own the claim and your carrier decides coverage. We are a licensed roofing contractor, not a public adjuster, and we do not negotiate or adjust your claim. On an approved claim your deductible is typically your out-of-pocket cost.
Get it looked at, free
We inspect across Maryland — Montgomery, Prince George's, Howard, Anne Arundel, Frederick, Carroll and Baltimore counties. Free inspection, photo report within 24 hours, and the report is yours to keep whether or not you hire us.