Look from the yard, not from a wet roof
After a storm, walk the house in daylight once the wind has dropped. Stay on the ground. A wet or bruised roof is not a place to inspect from. Binoculars help. You are looking for shingles that are missing, cracked, or lifted at the edges, for exposed underlayment, and for debris that punched through. Check the ground and the gutters for piles of granules. A few granules in a downspout are ordinary on an older roof. A fresh scatter of grit after hail is a reason to have the roof looked at.
Look at soft metal while you are there. Hail dents gutters, downspouts, flue caps, and the fins on an outdoor air conditioner. Window screens and light covers take marks too. Those dents do not prove every shingle is ruined. They do tell you hail reached the house, which is worth knowing before the next rain moves the evidence around. Photograph the dents and the granule scatter the same day if you can. They are easy to forget once the yard is cleaned.
What hail does to a Houston roof
Architectural asphalt is the roof we see most, on brick houses in Memorial and Bellaire and on newer roofs in Katy, Pearland, and The Woodlands. Hail bruises the mat and knocks the granules off. The shingle can look only spotted until water finds the bruise. Tile can crack. Metal can dent. A membrane on a flatter section can puncture. The marks are often on the slope that faced the storm, and along hips and ridges, not spread like a paint stain.
Flashing is the other place storms show up. Pipe boots, valley metal, and the metal where a roof meets a wall can lift or split even when the field of shingles looks calm. That is a common source of the ceiling stain that appears a week later, under a bathroom or a chimney, with no missing shingle in sight. If you can see a lifted edge or a cracked boot from the ground, say so when you call. Do not pull on it.
- Fresh granules in gutters or on the soil after a hailstorm
- Dark spots where the shingle surface looks bruised or speckled
- Cracked tile, or metal panels with new dents
- Dents in gutters, flue caps, and air-conditioner fins
- A ceiling stain that showed up on the rain after the storm
What wind does, besides hail
Wind lifts tabs, creases shingles, and drops limbs. A limb on the roof is an opening even when the rest of the roof looks intact. Wind also drives rain at windows and at siding, so an interior stain is not always a roof problem. We look at the roof and at the wall that faces the weather before we tell you which one let the water in. Houses under mature trees, common in Memorial, Bellaire, and the Heights, collect more of this than an open subdivision.
If the roof is open, the first repair is often a tarp, and only when it is safe to be up there. A tarp is temporary. It keeps the next rain out of the insulation and the ceiling. It is not a finished roof, and it needs a look after the next wind. Emergency tarping, a repair, and a replacement are different jobs. We say which one the roof in front of us needs after we are on it, not from a photo taken at the curb.
When to call
Call the same day if water is coming in, if you can see daylight through the roof, if a limb is on the house, or if a ceiling is sagging. Call before the next rain if granules are freshly knocked loose, if shingles are lifted, or if a ceiling stain appeared after the storm and is still dry for now. A stain that is dry today can be a leak that only runs when the wind drives rain.
You do not need to know whether the roof can be repaired. That is the inspection. Some bruises can be repaired. A roof that is bruised across a slope, or that is already near the end of its life, often needs to come off. Age, the deck underneath, and how the water is getting in all matter. We photograph what we find so you have that record either way. Repairing a roof that can be saved, and replacing one that cannot, are both honest answers. The visit is how we tell them apart.
How the roof claim usually starts
If you are going to ask your insurer about the storm, photograph before anything is repaired. Include each side of the house, the roof slopes you can see from the ground, the soft-metal dents, the gutters, and any interior stains. Note the date of the storm. Then call the company that wrote the policy and ask how they want the loss reported. Write down the claim number. Ask whether the wind or hail deductible is different from the deductible on a plumbing leak. We do not know your form.
An adjuster works for the insurer. If you can, be there for the visit and walk the outside and the stained ceilings with your photos. Ask what was measured. You do not have to agree with a number on the spot. Questions you still have can go back to the insurer in writing. We can be at the house to talk about the roof: what is bruised, what is open, and what a repair or a replacement would include.
We provide inspection photos and a scope for the work you hire us to do. Your insurer decides coverage. We are not a public adjuster, and we do not negotiate the claim or tell you what the policy owes. A repair quote is not a claim. Keep those two papers separate.
If the roof is open, or you are unsure
Call (713) 909-0034, or use the contact form. If water is coming in, say so at the start of the call. We tarp when it is safe, photograph the damage, and then repair or replace the roof the house actually needs. Elite Restorations is family-owned and has served Houston since 1993. The office is at 511 Crestwater Ct, Houston, TX 77082, and the work is scheduled from there.
Questions
Good to know.
Can I climb up and check the shingles myself?
Stay on the ground. Wet shingles, a bruised deck, and a slope you do not walk in ordinary weather are how people get hurt after a storm. Tell us what you can see from the yard. We will look at the roof.
Does a ceiling stain mean the whole roof has to be replaced?
No. A stain can be one flashing detail, one lifted shingle, or a wider problem. The inspection says which. Replacing a roof that can be repaired is the wrong job, and patching a roof that is finished is the wrong job too.
Should I repair the roof before the adjuster visits?
Photograph first. A tarp over an opening limits further damage and should not wait on a meeting if rain is coming. Permanent shingles that cover the evidence usually wait until the adjuster has seen the roof, unless the insurer tells you to proceed or leaving it open would make the loss worse.
Will you tell me if the claim will be paid?
No. We document the roof and do the work you hire. Coverage, the deductible, and the amount paid are decisions for your insurer.