Louisiana Hail Damage Roofs

If you live in the Denham Springs or Greenwell Springs area of Louisiana there is a good possibility that your roof may have been damaged by the September 29th hail storm.

You may remember the storm, it blew through around 3:00p.m, about the time everyone was picking up the kids from school.Many of you may have even looked up at your house and did not see any roof damage. The fact is you can not see hail damage from the ground unless it is very severe. The truth is most home inspectors do not know what hail damage looks like and have no formal training in how to spot it.

Hail damage can be so small and hard to see particularly on a black roof or when the roof is wet from dew it must be physically inspected by a trained professional to know if there is actually hail damage. Insurance companies spend considerable amounts of money and send adjusters to special training so they can properly identify hail damage to a home.

One of the first things you will see with hail damage is the shingle granules at your down spouts and lying where the water drains off your roof. Over time the damage gets worse and will certainly shorten the life of your roof. Eventually without repair your roof will leak.

Even if your roof has only minimal damage you have a valid insurance claim and should file it with your insurance agent. The damage caused by a hail storm may take years to be noticed or make your roof leak. This is why it is so critical to have a qualified professional inspect your roof and help you with your insurance claim.

Having two decades of real estate experience and rehabbing over 400 houses and being personally involved in the selling of each house I can tell you hail damage to your roof can be advantageous or a nightmare depending on how you approach it. A roof much like a swimming pool does not have a good ROI or return on investment when you are thinking of selling your home. If you were in the swath path of this storm now is your time to get a new roof and have your insurance company pay for it. 

If you have your house on the market now or if you are planning on putting your house on the market in the near future and have hail damage or if your roof is nearing the end of its normal life span your buyer is going to use this to get your selling price down as much as they can and will certainly ask for the cost of a new roof to be taken off. Are you beginning to see why it is so important to get a new roof if and when you have hail damage?

I have had clients that were trying to sell their house when we did our inspection of their roof and we walked them through the insurance process to help them get a free roof less their deductible. It ended up being a great deal for the homeowner as well as the home buyer.