What storm damage to a roof actually is
Storm damage is not one thing. A single spring storm in this region can deliver three distinct kinds of damage to the same roof, and they need to be assessed separately because they behave differently.
Impact damage from hail fractures the fibreglass mat inside an asphalt shingle and knocks the granule layer loose. The fracture destroys the shingle's ability to flex through daily heat cycling, and the granule loss exposes the asphalt beneath to ultraviolet light, which ages it quickly. Neither effect necessarily lets water in immediately.
Wind damage works mechanically. Straight-line gusts get under the leading edge of a shingle course, break the factory sealant strip that bonds each course to the one below, and crease the shingle along a fold line. A creased shingle lies flat again once the wind stops and is close to invisible from the ground, but the crease is a permanent weak point and the broken seal means the course is no longer wind-resistant.
Debris and water damage covers the rest: limb strike, puncture, abrasion from branches dragged across the surface, and the volume damage from water backing up in overwhelmed valleys and gutters.
The reason all this gets dismissed is that a hail-damaged roof usually looks fine from the driveway and usually does not leak the same week. The damage is to the roof's remaining service life rather than to its immediate watertightness.
How storm damage is assessed
A proper assessment is a survey, not a glance, and it should produce a record rather than a verdict.
Test squares
Rather than eyeballing the whole roof, assessors mark out a measured square on each slope and count the impacts inside it. Doing this on every elevation matters because hail is directional: a storm that came in from the north-west can leave the north and west slopes damaged and the south and east slopes untouched. Counting per slope is what turns an impression into evidence.
Distinguishing functional from cosmetic
Each impact gets examined for whether it fractured the mat or merely disturbed the surface. Mat fracture is often detectable by touch — the spot gives slightly, like a bruise in fruit — and may show granule loss with a shiny asphalt centre. Scuffs, chips to the granule surface and marks from previous foot traffic are not the same thing, and an honest assessor will tell you which you have.
The soft metal check
Soft metal around the roof records the storm more reliably than the shingles do. Vent caps, roof jacks, gutters, downspouts, fascia wrap, and air-conditioning condenser fins all dent visibly. If the soft metal is peppered and the shingles look untouched, the shingles deserve a much closer look.
Wind inspection
Separate from the hail count. The assessor lifts shingles by hand along the leading edges and ridges, checking which sealant strips have released and which shingles are creased. Ridge caps and hip courses take the worst of it. This is also where previously repaired areas show up, because a patch rarely bonds as well as the original.
Documentation
Dated, located photographs of each slope, the test squares, the soft metal and any interior damage. This is the part that has value later, whether or not a claim follows, and it pairs naturally with a full roof inspection so the whole roof condition is on record rather than just the storm damage.
Do not walk a roof you think has hail damage. Fractured shingles break further under foot, and you can turn a repairable slope into a replaceable one by inspecting it yourself. Foot traffic also leaves marks that are difficult to distinguish from storm damage afterwards, which muddies the assessment.
Eight signs of hail or wind damage
- Granules in the gutters and at downspout outlets
A heavy deposit after a storm means the surface layer came off in quantity.
- Dents in vent caps, flashing or gutters
Soft metal records the storm accurately. If it is dented, the shingles were hit too.
- Dark circular spots on the shingle surface
Granule loss exposing the asphalt beneath. Often clustered rather than even.
- A soft spot when a mark is pressed
The signature of a fractured mat, as opposed to a surface scuff.
- Shingles that lift by hand along an edge
The sealant strip released in the wind. The course is no longer bonded.
- A visible fold line across a shingle
A wind crease. It lies flat again but the shingle is permanently weakened there.
- Missing ridge caps or hip shingles
The most exposed courses on the roof and usually the first to go.
- Dents on the air-conditioning condenser
Nothing to do with the roof, but one of the most reliable records that hail of size fell on your property.
Why spring is the problem here
South Central Texas has a defined severe-weather season, and roofs in this region are shaped by it.
Spring storm season. The months either side of April bring the strongest convective storms of the year to this part of the state, and with them the hail. These are the storms that carry damaging wind ahead of the rain, which is why hail damage and wind damage usually arrive together rather than separately.
Summer pre-conditioning. By the time a spring storm arrives, every roof in the city has been through at least one long, hot, high-ultraviolet summer. Heat drives the volatile oils out of asphalt and the shingles lose flexibility, so they are measurably more brittle than the same product would be in a cooler climate. The same hailstone does more damage here than it would further north.
Rainfall intensity. Storms in this region tend to deliver a great deal of water in a short time rather than steady rain over hours. That volume overwhelms valleys and gutters, backs water up above shingle edges and finds any detail that was marginal, which is why a storm can produce a leak without producing any visible damage at all.
Where the storms track. Severe cells commonly move across the metro on a line, which is why damage is patchy by neighbourhood rather than uniform across the city. The north-east corridor through Schertz and Cibolo sees this regularly, and it is normal for one subdivision to be hit hard while the next is untouched. It is also why a roof that was fine after last year's storm is not necessarily fine after this one.
What to check and photograph after a storm
From the ground and from inside only. The point is to build a record, not to assess the roof.
- Walk the perimeter and photograph the gutters — granule deposits, dents, sections pulled loose.
- Photograph the air-conditioning condenser fins — the single most useful piece of ground-level hail evidence on most properties.
- Look at every slope with binoculars — missing shingles, missing ridge caps, dark patches, lifted edges.
- Check window screens, fence tops, mailboxes and plants — torn screens and shredded foliage establish that stones of size fell.
- Look up in the attic with a flashlight — new daylight or fresh water staining on the decking.
- Note the date and time of the storm — and keep anything you have, including a phone video of the hail falling.
- Photograph interior damage before tidying up — wide and close, with the date recorded.
If hail is falling and it is safe to do so from a doorway or window, film it next to something of known size — a coin on the step, a tape measure on the sill. Stone size at your address is one of the few details nobody can reconstruct later, and it is the detail most often disputed.
How a storm assessment runs
- 01
Event and history
Date of the storm, what you observed, whether the roof has been assessed or repaired after previous storms, and the age of the covering.
- 02
Ground-level survey
Soft metal, gutters, downspouts, fascia, screens and mechanical equipment photographed. This frames what to expect on the roof.
- 03
Slope-by-slope inspection
Test squares marked on each elevation, impacts counted and classified, sealant strips and creasing checked, ridges and hips examined.
- 04
Attic and interior
Fresh staining, daylight, moisture readings. New damage is distinguished from old where possible.
- 05
Report
Photographs by slope, counts, the functional-versus-cosmetic call, and what it means for the remaining life of the roof.
- 06
Scope
Repair where damage is localised, or a replacement conversation where it is widespread — with the evidence shown to you either way, and a dry-in first if anything is open.
What affects storm repair work
| Variable | Effect on the job |
|---|---|
| How many slopes are damaged | Directional storms often hit two elevations. Repairing two slopes is a different job from repairing one. |
| Damage density | Scattered impacts can be repaired. Widespread mat fracture across a slope usually cannot be, in any lasting way. |
| Age of the covering | Blending new shingles into a weathered roof is harder the older it is, and discontinued products complicate matching. |
| Soft metal replacement | Vent caps, flashings, gutters and fascia wrap are separate line items from the shingle work. |
| Whether anything is open | Missing shingles mean a dry-in before repair, which is a mobilisation of its own. |
| Documentation required | A full photographic survey, measurements and an adjuster meeting are real work, separate from the repair. |
When storm damage cannot wait
Shingles missing with more weather forecast, a limb resting on or through the roof, ridge caps gone, or water already coming inside. In each of those cases the roof is open and the next storm will do more damage than the first one did. The right move is a dry-in now and the assessment afterwards, which is how emergency roof leak repair and roof tarping are sequenced.
It is less urgent, but still worth doing promptly, when the roof is intact and the damage is to its remaining life rather than its watertightness. That case still has a clock on it: the attribution to a specific storm gets harder with time, and a roof full of fractured shingles going into the next spring is starting from a worse position. If it has already begun leaking, roof leak repair is the next step, and roof leak help across San Antonio gives the overall picture.
Questions about storm and hail damage
How big does hail have to be to damage a roof?
There is no single threshold, because it depends on the stone, the roof and the storm. Hardness, shape and fall speed all matter, as do wind speed and the angle of impact. More importantly, the condition of the roof matters: a shingle that is ten years into a Texas summer cycle has lost flexibility and bruises at impacts that a new roof would shrug off. This is why two neighbours can get the same storm and different outcomes.
What is the difference between a bruise and a dent?
A bruise is the one that counts. The impact fractures the fibreglass mat inside the shingle, so the shingle can no longer flex without splitting along that fracture. It often feels soft when pressed, like a dent in an apple, and it may show no surface mark at all. A dent or a scuff that only disturbs the granule surface without damaging the mat is cosmetic. A roofer can tell them apart by touch; you generally cannot from the ground.
Can hail damage a roof without causing a leak?
That is the normal case, and it is what makes hail so easy to ignore. The mat fracture does not necessarily open a path for water on day one. What it does is remove the shingle's ability to survive the next few years of expansion and contraction, and the granule loss leaves the asphalt exposed to a very strong sun. The leak arrives later, which is why people connect it to the wrong storm.
Should I file an insurance claim?
Have the roof assessed first so you know what is actually up there, then decide with that information in hand. We are a referral service and not qualified to advise on your policy, and nobody can tell you how an insurer will treat a claim. What a contractor can do is show you the damage, explain whether it is functional or cosmetic, and document the condition. Those are facts; the claim decision is yours and your insurer's.
Someone knocked on my door after the storm offering a free inspection. Is that normal?
Door-knocking is common after a storm in Texas and it is not automatically a problem, but it is worth being careful. Reasonable practice is to ask for a licence and a certificate of insurance, get the scope in writing, never sign anything that assigns your claim or commits you to work contingent on an insurance outcome, and avoid paying a large sum up front. Ask to be shown the damage on the roof or in photographs rather than simply told it exists.
How soon after a storm should the roof be looked at?
Sooner is better for two reasons that have nothing to do with urgency of repair. The condition is easier to attribute to a specific weather event while it is recent, and an undamaged-looking roof with fractured shingles will not survive the next storm as well as it survived this one. Spring here tends to deliver storms in sequence rather than one at a time.
Related services and areas
Storm work usually runs into these, depending on whether the roof is leaking yet.