How to Spot Hail Damage on a Roof

Short answer: Look for the collateral evidence from the ground first: dents in gutters, downspouts, flashing, vents and any soft metal, and granules washed into the gutters. On asphalt, hail damage is a dark bruise where granules have been knocked clear and the mat is exposed. On metal and aluminium it is denting. Do not climb up to check.

Not legal advice, not a coverage determination. United Developers is a licensed roofing and general contractor. We are not a public adjuster, not an insurance agent, and not a law firm, and adjusting or negotiating a claim on a homeowner's behalf is a separately licensed activity that we do not perform. Nothing on this page decides whether your loss is covered. Coverage depends on your specific policy, its endorsements and exclusions, the cause of loss, and your carrier's own determination. Read your policy, talk to your carrier, and consult a licensed professional about your particular situation. What we do is document the physical condition of your roof accurately and scope the repair honestly.

Start from the ground, because it is safer and it is where the best evidence is

Gutters and downspouts — dimples and dents, particularly on the top face of the gutter and the outward face of the downspout.
Flashing, drip edge and any exposed metal trim.
Vents, vent caps, and the metal on any rooftop mechanical unit.
Aluminium siding, fascia and soffit — aluminium dents where vinyl cracks, and a dented panel is a documented loss even when it is still shedding water perfectly.
Air conditioning condenser fins, which are among the most sensitive hail indicators on the property.
Granules in the gutters and at the bottom of downspouts. Some granule loss is normal over a roof's life. A sudden accumulation after a storm is not.
Anything else soft: mailboxes, car panels, garden furniture, deck boards, and the tops of fence posts.

What it looks like on the roof itself

Asphalt shingle

A hail hit on asphalt is a roughly circular dark spot where the granules have been knocked clear and the underlying mat is exposed. It frequently feels soft to the touch, like a bruise on fruit, because the mat has been fractured underneath. The pattern is random rather than in lines, which is one of the things that distinguishes it from mechanical or foot-traffic damage. Damage tends to concentrate on the slopes facing the direction the storm came from.

Metal and standing seam

Denting, most visible in raking light early or late in the day. Note that some policies carry a cosmetic damage exclusion that treats denting on metal as non-functional, which is one of the more important things to check in your own policy before you get excited about a metal roof claim.

Aluminium siding and trim

Dents and creases, usually concentrated on the elevation facing the storm. This is genuinely claimable damage. The complication with aluminium is matching, because a fifty-year-old wall cannot be matched by a new panel, which is why so many aluminium siding claims turn on the matching argument rather than on whether damage occurred.

Flat and low-slope membrane

Harder to see and easier to miss. Look for fracturing of the surfacing, displaced gravel on a built-up roof, punctures in the cap sheet, and soft spots underfoot where the insulation beneath has been crushed. On a coated roof, hail can craze the coating without obviously breaking the membrane, which then fails later. This is the roof type where a homeowner assessment is least reliable and a proper inspection matters most.

What is not hail damage

Blistering, which is a manufacturing or ventilation issue and looks like small raised bubbles. Normal granule loss spread evenly across an ageing roof. Mechanical damage from foot traffic or a ladder, which tends to be linear or clustered where someone was working. Algae streaking, which is cosmetic and biological. Knowing the difference matters, because filing a claim on wear does not help you.

Please do not climb up to check

Roof falls are one of the most common serious home injuries there are, wet or damaged roofs are far less stable than they look, and walking a hail-damaged asphalt roof can create additional damage that muddies the evidence. There is nothing you can see up there that a professional cannot see safely, and our inspection is free.

If you think you have it

Photograph the ground-level evidence with the date, do not clean up or replace anything yet, and get a documented inspection. If there is real damage we will document it in the format adjusters expect. If there is not, we will tell you that, and a dated report showing your roof was sound is a genuinely useful thing to own.

How to Spot Hail Damage on a Roof — common questions

How long after a hailstorm can damage still be claimed?

Your policy sets its own notice requirement, so read it or ask your carrier. Practically, sooner is much better: evidence degrades, subsequent weather muddies the picture, and tying damage to a specific event gets harder with time.

Can hail damage a roof without me being able to see anything?

Yes, routinely. Bruising fractures the mat under the surface and can be more felt than seen, and on membrane roofs the surfacing can be compromised without an obvious hole. That is why the ground-level collateral evidence is so useful — it tells you the hail was large enough to do damage.

Does hail damage always mean a full roof replacement?

No. It depends on the density of the damage, which slopes are affected, and whether the material can be matched. Scattered damage on one slope is a repair conversation. Widespread bruising across multiple slopes is a replacement conversation.

What size hail does it take?

Smaller stones can damage soft metal and aluminium siding while leaving an asphalt roof intact, and larger stones bruise shingle mats. There is no single threshold, because wind speed, the angle of impact, the age and the material all matter. The condition of your soft metal is a better guide than the size anyone remembers the stones being.

Get the damage documented, free

Whatever you decide to do about a claim, the useful first step is knowing what is physically on your roof. Our inspection and dated photo report are free and the report is yours to keep whether or not you hire us — hand it to your carrier, to another contractor, or to nobody at all. We inspect across Montgomery, Prince George's, Howard, Anne Arundel, Frederick and Baltimore counties and Baltimore City in Maryland.