May 25, 2007 10:32 am US/Central
How You Can Spot Storm Damage
by Jason DeRusha
(WCCO)
-
-
Insurance companies check about a 10-by-10 section of roof and count the hail hits.
Photo from Will Nelson
Twin Cities families are picking up what severe storms tore down and some of the damage to their homes may not be so obvious.
Mitch Brotherton's house seems so peaceful now -- 14 wind chimes without a dent.
However, Wednesday's storm turned falling hail into a barrage of bullets, exploding against the side of his house.
"You could start hearing the pinging off the gutters. Next thing I knew you couldn't even see the road," said Brotherton.
Chris Hallberg, from Cedar Valley Exteriors, fixes hail damage and he sees plenty of it on Brotherton's roof.
"See the fiberglass? That's actually the back of the shingle," said Hallberg.
It's easy to see how messed up Brotherton's siding is, but if you check out the roof from the ground -- good luck finding the hail damage.
"If you look carefully, you can see where the granules have separated from the asphalt shingles," said Hallberg. "With that gone now, the sun is going to go to work on that deep black asphalt and it's gonna dry out and once it dries out, it's going to crack -- its generally gonna fail."
As a homeowner, there are clues that hail was here.
If you're cutting down trees and leaves coat your yard, odds are hail helped make that happen.
Check your fascia, hail can strip the stain off the wood.
You also want to look at your metal vents -- you can often see damage there.
So, when it comes to the hail damage, how do insurance agencies decide if they're going to replace a roof?
Companies check about a 10-by-10 section of roof, and count the hail hits. There are different policies, but it usually takes between 4 to 10 hits to get a new roof.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
