Storm Damage Roof Checklist for Madison Homeowners
Dane County's storm season runs from late April into July. The bad ones build over Iowa in the afternoon, track northeast, and cross Verona, Fitchburg, Madison and Sun Prairie in the early evening with hail and straight-line wind. A storm like that can hit an entire subdivision with the same 15-year-old shingle at once, which is why the door-knockers show up the next morning.
This is what to do the morning after, in order.
The morning after
Stay off the roof. Wet shingles on a two-story house are how homeowners end up at UW Hospital after a storm. Everything below can be done from the ground and the attic.
Walk the yard first. Shingles or pieces of shingles in the grass, granules washed into piles at the downspout outlets, torn screens, broken branches. Note which side of the house they're on; that's the slope that faced the wind.
Look at the soft metals. This is the single most useful check for hail. Gutters, downspouts, the aluminum drip edge, vent caps on the roof, the fins on the air conditioner, the mailbox. Hail big enough to damage shingles dents all of them, and the dents are easy to photograph. If your gutters are smooth and your neighbor's AC fins are fine, the hail probably didn't hurt your shingles.
Look at the roof from the ground. Binoculars help. You're looking for missing shingles, shingles folded back, a slope that looks darker or pockmarked, ridge cap pieces gone, and anything hanging.
Check the attic. Daylight through the deck, wet insulation, fresh drips. Bring a flashlight and stay on the joists.
Check the ceilings. Especially under valleys and along outside walls.
Photograph everything
Phone photos, time-stamped, from the ground:
- Every side of the house, wide, showing the roof
- Every dented soft metal, close up, with a coin or tape measure for scale
- Shingles in the yard, where they landed
- Any water inside
- Any hailstones still on the ground, next to a coin, before they melt
These photos are what make your claim clean. The adjuster may not come for two weeks; by then the hail is gone and the yard is mowed.
Hail versus wind: what each does
Hail knocks the granules off a shingle and bruises the mat underneath. From the ground the roof looks fine. Up close each hit is a dark, soft spot, and the mat under it cracks within a couple of winters. Adjusters count hits in a 10-by-10-foot square on each slope; a certain number of hits per square is the threshold for replacing that slope. Hail damage roof repair Madison adjusters approve is based on that count, so the inspection has to be from the roof.
Straight-line wind lifts the leading edge of a shingle and folds it back. The crease breaks the mat even if the shingle lies flat again. Creased shingles are leaks next year, and they're invisible from the ground. They're on the slope that faced the wind, which around here is usually the west or southwest.
Trees are the third thing. Silver maples on the older streets and the dead ash trees the emerald ash borer left standing drop limbs at 60 mph. A limb through the decking is an emergency: tarp today.
The first calls
Call a roofer for an inspection and, if needed, a tarp. Emergency roof repair Madison companies do after a storm is triaged by water coming in. If your deck is exposed, say so; you'll move up the list. A tarp is $300–$700 and is usually reimbursed by the claim as mitigation. Keep the receipt.
Then call your insurer. Give them the date and the photos, get the claim number and the adjuster's name. You don't need a roofer's estimate to open a claim.
Don't file for a few shingles. A $400 repair against a $2,000–$8,000 wind-and-hail deductible is a loss, and the claim stays on your record. Get the repair price first and compare it to your deductible on the declarations page.
What not to sign
The trucks that arrive the day after a Sun Prairie or Verona hailstorm with out-of-state plates are storm chasers. Some are fine. Many are not credentialed in Wisconsin, and their warranty is worth nothing once they've left for the next storm. The things to refuse on the doorstep:
- An assignment of benefits — signs your claim over to the contractor
- A contingency agreement — commits you to hire them if the claim is approved, before you've seen a price
- Any offer to "cover" or waive your deductible. Wisconsin law prohibits contractors from paying, rebating or promising to rebate an insurance deductible. A company offering a free roof is planning to inflate the invoice.
Wisconsin also gives you the right to cancel a storm-repair contract within three business days of learning your insurer has denied any part of the claim. Read our post on questions to ask a Madison roofing contractor before signing anything, and look the company up on the state's DSPS credential search.
The adjuster visit
Have your roofer there. We chalk the test squares, point out creases the adjuster may miss from the ladder, and hand over a line-item scope. If the adjuster's estimate leaves out a slope, you can request a re-inspection with our report. That's normal, not confrontational.
After the claim
If the roof is over 15 years old and hail bruised every slope, the insurer will usually pay for a full replacement minus your deductible, and it's worth asking for Class 4 impact-rated shingles while you're at it. The hail and wind damage page covers the whole process, and the roof inspection page explains what a documented storm inspection includes.
Need roof work in Madison?
Call for a free estimate. Mon–Sat 7am–7pm.