This picture is what hail damage on a shingle looks like. For the most part, when you are looking from the ground, it is going to be extremally hard for you to see these hail hits. Unless your home was in the pathway of hail 2″ and above.
Hail damage can seem to be harmless and a lot of homeowners ask me “why would the insurance company even bother paying for such a small bit of damage?”. I always love when I get this question. It gives me the green light to nerd out and explain why they pay for such damage.
Hail, for the most part, is not going to cause an immediate roof system failure. Meaning your roof is not going to start leaking the next rain event after a hail storm. However, it does cause permeant damage to the asphalt mat underneath the granulate. This damage can range from bruising to a full crack/hole.
In the picture above you can see that there are granulates mashed down into the black mat underneath. This is caused by the hail impact on the shingle. Eventually, those will work their way out from heat expansion and cold contraction. This will leave a hole in the shingle and therefore compromise the whole roofing system.
Your insurance company knows that left alone this will eventually cause what’s called “thermal cracking”, which is the same phenomenon that happens when your windshield cracks. The heat and cold cause expansion and contraction and the crack grows and grows.
Because of the liability to the interior of the home, this creates, your insurance knows it is much more cost-effective to go ahead and replace the whole roof than risk water damage to the interior.
This picture is what wind damage on a shingle looks like. Wind damage, unlike hail damage, is much easier to see from the ground because it will be larger and affect a larger area of shingles. Wind damage normally is more alarming to the homeowner because many times they can see it.
Sometimes it is even accompanied by complete blow-offs of shingle tabs and that is 100% noticeable from the ground. Wind damage is significant for a lot of the same reasons as hail. It creates an imperfection in the shingle and therefore opens a vulnerability for water intrusion.
In this picture, you can see the dark line that runs across the top of the shingle. This is caused by the tab of this shingle coming unsealed and bending upwards. This creates a crease in the asphalt mat and causes the granulate to fall off of the shingle exposing the mat to direct UV rays.
As we all know from cracks in the asphalt roads we drive on, sunlight eats away at asphalt over time. After enough exposure the will expose the fiberglass weave underneath the asphalt, and the water barrier is now completely gone.
Again, because of the liability to the interior of the home your insurance knows it is much more cost-effective to replace the whole roof than risk water damage on the interior.