Right away
Stay off the roof
Wet, bruised shingles are slippery and easy to damage further.
Keep people away from sagging ceilings
Switch off power to rooms with water near fittings
Photograph from the ground only
First hour
Stop the water
Move valuables, put a bucket under drips, and call the storm line.
Poke a small hole in a bulging ceiling to drain it into a bucket
Lay towels along wet floors
Note the time the leak started
First few hours
Photograph everything
Date-stamped phone photos are the best evidence a claim will ever have.
Hail next to a coin or ruler, before it melts
Dents in gutters, vents and the AC unit
Every stain and wet patch inside
Within 24 hours
Call your insurer second
Open a claim, write down the claim number, then send it to us.
We tarp open areas within 24 hours
The tarp is part of your claim, not an extra
Do not sign anything on the doorstep
(Emergency tarping)
A tarp that stays put until the roof is fixed
We use reinforced 12-mil tarps, run over the ridge where we can and battened with 2 × 4 strips screwed through into the deck. Sandbags and roofing nails through the tarp blow off or let water in within a week.
On site within 24 hours, day or night, and usually much sooner
Photographed before and after, for your claim
Checked after every storm until the repair or new roof is done
Part of your claim; if you are not claiming, $390–$900 depending on area
Storm call · tarp ticket
Job 2342 · Kestrel Heights
Storm line call
Thu 18 Jun · 21:05
Crew on site
22:40
Tarp secured
23:00
Area covered
12 × 16 ft, over the ridge
Fixing
2 × 4 battens screwed to the deck
Photos
14, sent 23:20
Billed as
Claim line item, $620
Larkspur Court · skylight and back slope
(Claim report)
A report thicker than the adjuster's
From the Kestrel Heights colonial after the June 18 storm: 64 photos, four slopes, one report. Approved in full on the first review.
A slope diagram
Every slope drawn and numbered, with the hit count from its test square.
Hail size evidence
Dents in gutters, vents and the AC unit measured against a scale.
Date of loss
The storm date and time from your call, matched to the damage.
Collateral damage
Screens, siding, fences and cars noted, because adjusters look for them.
Inside the house
Stains, wet insulation and ceiling damage, photographed.
A line-item scope
In the same format adjusters use, so the two can be compared line by line.
Storm damage report
HR-2342 · Larkspur Court, Kestrel Heights
Replace
P-08
11 hail hits in a 10 × 10 ft test square, mat fractured under 6 of them
Replace
P-26
Skylight glazing cracked, water tracking into the landing ceiling
Replace
P-41
Gutters and downspouts dented along every run, dent size matches 1.75 in hail
64 photos · 4 slopes · test square on each
Documented by L. Ortega
(After a storm)
What not to do, the week after
After a big hailstorm, out-of-town crews knock on every door in the valley. Some are fine. These five rules keep you safe from the rest.
Do not sign on the doorstep.
Especially an assignment of benefits or a contingency agreement before the adjuster has been.
Do not pay a deposit for a claim job.
We take nothing until materials are delivered, and neither should anyone else.
Do not let anyone waive your deductible.
It is a condition of your policy. A roofer who offers to absorb it is inflating the claim.
Do not climb up to look.
Hail-bruised shingles break under foot and wet ones are slippery. Use binoculars or your phone.
Do not wait for the leak to stop.
Damage is easiest to prove while it is fresh, and most policies have a time limit.
What it costs you
Storm inspection and claim report
Free
Emergency tarp
Claim line item · $390–$900 if not claiming
Repairs or new roof
Approved claim scope
Your share
Your deductible, plus any upgrade you choose
Deductible waived or hidden
Never
