Unnecessary roof replacements are out of control, and they’re driving homeowners insurance rates sky-high in Minnesota. Everyone needs to take a chill pill when it comes to roof replacements.
From a home inspection perspective, here’s how it affects me:
- We inspect a home, we say the roof is in good shape.
- New buyers move in.
- Roofing salesperson knocks on door, tells the new buyers they probably have hail damage, offers a free inspection.
- They inspect the roof and tell the buyers they have hail damage.
- The buyers angrily call us back and say “why didn’t you tell me I had hail damage?!”
What is hail damage?
For the common scenario I cited above, there’s only one question to ask: does the roof have hail damage? That’s where we get into the grey area. I’ve seen roofers and hail claim adjusters bicker over precisely what is and isn’t hail damage. I don’t claim to be an expert in assessing hail damage. For that, I turn to a study done by Haag Engineering, which I’ve heard referenced by industry experts countless times for the past couple of decades. Here’s a link: Haag Engineering Hail Damage Study. And here’s another helpful document from Haag: Protocol for Assessment of Hail-Damaged Roofing.
Here are a few key points from the first report:
- It takes 1.5″ ice stones to damage thicker, laminated-type shingles half the time.
- When you lose granules on shingles from a hail storm, you do not shorten the life of a roof. You read that correctly.
- You need an actual bruise (or hole or tear) to call something hail damage. “Shingle bruises are an indentation with fracture in the mat that feels soft like that of an apple bruise. The bruise is usually obvious as granules are also dislodged from the impact area.“
That last point needs repeating. You need real bruises to call it hail damage.
My recent experience
I had some door-knockers stop by my house a week or two ago, offering a free roof inspection. I invited them to inspect my roof, and sure enough, they found all kinds of hail damage. They showed me the photos. They tried to get me to call my insurance company to file a claim. They insisted it was serious.
And everything they showed me looked PERFECTLY FINE. I would never report on any of this stuff during a home inspection.
I got up on the roof after they left to check it out for myself. No bruises, no holes, no tears. No nothing. But they would have eagerly had me file an insurance claim so my 6-year-old roof could be replaced.
I told them I wasn’t ready to file a claim, as all of this looked to be insignificant. They tried to educate me about how the loss of granules and these impact marks will severely shorten the length of my roof. After I told them I’m a home inspector and I have some basic knowledge of shingles, they left very quickly. I later asked them to send me their “evidence” photos, but they never replied to my emails and phone calls.
Summary
A big reason for skyrocketing insurance rates is unnecessary roof covering replacements. In my humble opinion, hail damage claims are wildly out of control. Thousands and thousands of perfectly good roofs get replaced because of storm chasers. For a longer discussion of the insurance details, check out my recent podcast on this topic: Homeowners insurance prices are skyrocketing.
Rita Sjoberg
September 10, 2024, 8:34 am
I never let storm chasers inspect my roof. After a hail storm I asked Craftsman to check.. They assured me my roof was fine. I also had them check my mom’s roof. Hers was severely damaged. She lives just 3 miles from me but the storm did a number on her fairly new roof. My 25 year old roof is protected by a giant maple tree so was fine. USAA paid for her new roof. Me, I am saving to replace my old roof in a five years. Insurance is not a roof replacement savings plan.
Reuben Saltzman
September 10, 2024, 1:09 pm
“Insurance is not a roof replacement savings plan.”
YES. Well put, Rita.
Gerd
September 10, 2024, 11:34 am
We get 3 kinds of door regular knockers, all about 4 times per year: roof replacement, “insect repellent” sprayers and tree work (“we are in your neighborhood and can make you a special deal”). Some of them pushy enough where you almost feel you need to call the police.
Reuben Saltzman
September 10, 2024, 1:10 pm
I get the same ones coming around my neighborhood.
Chad Timm
September 10, 2024, 1:58 pm
Copycat mentality. When you see every house on your block getting a new roof you want in. I wanted in but my insurance only approved damage for a few shingles. Now I’m literally the only house I can see through my windows that doesn’t have a new roof AND with rising insurance premiums.
Reuben Saltzman
September 10, 2024, 2:25 pm
I feel you. My wife and I lived in a home for seven years where we were the only ones on the street with 3-tab shingles. Everyone else on the block had new shingles because of hail.
Side note: those three-tab shingles lasted for 25 years, despite everyone else on the block having “hail damage”.
Tim Sparkles
September 10, 2024, 4:30 pm
@Gerd: I had a “we’re in your neighborhood” call from a tree service earlier this summer. I had the guy come out for the free inspection but opted not to have any work done. 3 weeks later I got another “we’re in your neighborhood” call from the same service!
K Clayton
September 10, 2024, 5:25 pm
We had some of those guys come around last month. Now, IANAE (I am not an expert), but I’ve lived in this house since the last time it was replaced (which was an insurance claim due to a valid hail storm), and we haven’t had a severe hail storm in that time. And when we had the roof redone last time we upgraded to the best architectural shingles we could get. I think they were 30 year shingles. They took a lot of pictures, pointed out dents in the gutter guards, and circled spots on the roof. None of those seemed to be serious to me, but I asked them to send me a quote and the photos they took. They didn’t do that. We had a roofing and gutter company out to take another look, and they never mentioned any hail damage at all. Those guys are like sharks.
Kris Pearson
September 16, 2024, 11:54 am
Reuben, I read your post on hail damage and recently personally experienced the same. I have a detached townhome in an HOA for which First Service Residential is the property management company. The assessed us 23k each earlier this year and replace the roof for the 3rd time in 12 years last month. Prior to that replacement the last roof was replaced in 2020. Several of us had our own roofing contractors out to inspect our homes and they all reported no damage. Despite numerous correspondences to FSR and the Board, we could not stop the replacement.
Do you have any other ideas, input or connections on how individual homeowners whether in a HOA or not can help stop this from continuing to happen? I believe it will require legislative oversight. We did contact local elected officials and an investigative reporter with little or no response. Thanks and I love your articles!
Reuben Saltzman
September 16, 2024, 3:38 pm
Wow, Kris. That has to be very frustrating. Unfortunately, I don’t have any tips for you to prevent this from happening, other than what you’ve already been doing.