How Can You Tell if You Have Hail Damage On Siding ?
As a homeowner, assessing hail damages to your home after a storm can be a very daunting task if you don’t know what you are doing. This is why we always try to share our experience and help out by blogging! If you were wondering “how can you tell if you have hail damage to siding,” you’ve come to the right place!
We are experts in siding, storm damage repair and replacement, siding hail damage assessments, and hail damaged siding insurance claims, and we can tell you exactly what to look for or check on your siding for any signs of hail damage or other potentially dangerous storm damages!
Video Example of Hail
Facts About Hail: What is Hail?
What is hail? Well, there is a simple and scientific explanation of a natural occurrence in nature for that! Hail is precipitation (rain) particles that collect together and then freeze together forming large pieces of ice while inside thunderstorm updrafts.
The updrafts in a thunderstorm suck raindrops upwards into very cold areas of the atmosphere, and when the temperatures get cold enough to freeze the raindrops, they are frozen into hailstones.
Then, as the small ice pieces are carried around by the updraft, more rain particles hit the pieces of hail that are formed, causing larger pieces of hail by creating air bubbles and more ice to collect on top of what’s already frozen. This makes the hailstones heavier and larger almost instantaneously by freezing the surrounding water particles to the outside of the already existing hailstones.
Why is Hail So Dangerous?
One of the reasons hail can be so damaging to the exterior of your home or business, cars, sheds, etc., is because they can get very large before falling from the sky. In an article by Liberty Mutual, they state that one of the reasons why hailstones are so dangerous is because of their size. Hailstones have been measured weighing up to 1.9 pounds or up to 4.5 inches in diameter.
Another reason hailstones are so dangerous to anything they strike outside is because of their speed. Hail falls in paths, known as swaths of streaks, covering distances of up to 100 miles long and 10 miles wide, and they fall from very long distances to the ground. Hail can fall from up to 20,000 feet, and, depending on the size, can reach speeds of up to 120 miles per hour! Wow! No wonder right?
Easy Instructions on: How Can You Tell if You Have Hail Damage On Siding?
Many Minnesota residents are already well aware of the fact that hail storms in the Twin Cities area can be sudden, violent, and even devastating to their home or business. Hail reports like this one on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website, where hailstones as large as 4 inches in diameter have been reported are very scary to homeowners who have just replaced their roofs, or just dished out money on a beautiful new siding job.
This blog is intended to answer a very common question among home and business owners who are in bad areas for hail damage: “How can you tell if you have hail damage on siding?” Keep reading and we will inform and educate you on what to look for, when to look for it, and how to spot even the slightest siding damages from hail on some of the main siding types.
How Can You Tell if You Have Hail Damage On Siding? - Step By Step Instructions
Hailstones can leave a number of signs that they have caused damage to your siding. Depending on your home siding type, hailstones can leave dents, cracks, holes, or oxidation marks that are telltale signs of damages caused by the impact. If you see visible damage from a hail storm on your home’s siding, roof, or any other parts of your property and you have homeowners insurance, it’s best to take pictures immediately to show the insurance company and have them saved to Google Drive or Dropbox, so that you don’t accidentally erase them.
Notifying your insurer immediately will get you immediate attention, and be solid proof in case you have a siding type like aluminum and the oxidation marks rub off before they come out to estimate.
Keep reading, and we will tell you how to spot damages on all of the major home siding types so that you can correctly assess your damages like the pros:
General Inspection Tips for Hail Damage Inspection
- Inspect In Morning or Evening Light
- Inspect All the Way Around Your Home
- Take Photos if Any Signs Are Present
- Don't Wipe or Touch Damages Until Adjuster Comes!
How to Identify Hail Damage to Vinyl Siding
While vinyl siding can generally take on severer weather and boast it’s durability and resistance to extreme elements, it does have it’s weaknesses. Vinyl siding, while it is made to resist high winds and UV rays, it can be damaged by large hailstones falling at certain angles. For the most part, there are two main types of signs that you may have taken on hail damage to your vinyl siding.
After a hailstorm has ended, always look at your vinyl siding thoroughly, inspecting all the way around the house, from top to bottom to make sure that you don’t miss any new damages. What you’re looking for is either cracks in the vinyl siding where you will see that the vinyl siding has been cracked by the impact of the hailstones, or chips in the paint on the vinyl siding by the impact of hailstones.
- So to reiterate, there are two main types of signs that you have taken on hail damage to vinyl siding:
- Cracks: – Areas where the hailstones have impacted your home and actually broken your homes, siding by splitting it.
- Chips: – Areas where hailstones have impacted your home’s vinyl siding and chipped the paint.
How to Identify Hail Damage to Wood and Metal Siding
Depending on the size of the hailstones, hail damage to wood siding and hail damage to metal siding will have one main characteristic. The main type of damage that you’re looking for when inspecting for hail damage to wood siding or hail damage to metal siding once a hail storm has passed dented on the material’s surface.
In areas where you are unable to see any visible damages and you can reach the material easily with your hand, always feel down the length of the siding with your hand to make sure there aren’t any small dents in the metal or wood siding from hailstones, because sometimes the small dents, especially with wood siding hail damages, will be invisible.
- To reiterate, there is a common thread for identifying hail damage to wood and metal siding, and that is dented:
- Dents: Dents in the material surface. Always rub your hand across the surface to ensure that small dents that may be unseen are identified.
How to Identify Hail Damage to Aluminum Siding
Hail damages to aluminum siding can be a little tricky because the siding’s surface material can not only dent like wood and metal siding, but hailstones that fall can also leave oxidation marks in the siding’s surface. In general, the bigger the hailstone, the bigger the dent that is left behind. Also, areas of the aluminum siding can show oxidation marks after a hail storm.
You may be tempted to wash these off or paint over them, but that is not always the safest way to go. Oxidation marks from storm damage could, in many cases, be a sign that your aluminum siding has reached near the end of its lifespan and needs to be replaced. If you would rather get an expert opinion, call us anytime or use any of the buttons on our site to schedule a free no-hassle estimate!
To reiterate, there are two types of signs that you have taken on hail damage to aluminum siding.
- Oxidation Marks: Oxidation marks are usually white in appearance, and are indications that your home could have taken on storm damages from hail damage to aluminum siding or flying debris in high wind storms.
- Dents:: Look for dents on the surface of your home to identify hail damage to aluminum siding. Remember always to rub your hand across the surface to catch the smaller dents that may not be visible.
How to Choose the Right Hail Damage Repair Contractor in Minneapolis
Choosing the right hail damage repair contractor in Minneapolis is essential to getting your siding or roofing repair job done right after a storm. If you want to avoid leaks in the future, make sure that your siding and/or roofing repair job is repaired properly, both functionally and aesthetically, then hiring an experienced storm damage repair contractor is of the utmost importance!
Seller’s Roofing Company – New Brighton has over 12 years of experience and storm damage restoration, hail damage repair, wind damage repair, Insurance storm damage assessments, and much, much more.
Our expert-led crews are on hand and on-call available for free hail damage siding assessments, and our friendly operators are available during regular business hours to answer any questions that you might have concerning the exterior of your home.
If your home or business has taken on unwanted damages from a violent storm or any other severe weather occurrence, and you want a contractor that is experienced and qualified to assess and repair your storm damages from a hail storm, wind storm, tornado, or other violent outbreak, call us at (651)703-2336 to get the best care and lowest prices in the Twin Cities!
How Can You Tell if You Have Hail Damage On Siding?
When your home or business is damaged by a severe weather occurrence in the Minneapolis area, time is of the utmost importance. Especially if you have homeowners insurance… If you don’t have your storm damage assessed in a timely manner, you could end up taking a hit when you get your check for neglect.
Call Seller’s Roofing Company – New Brighton anytime during regular business hours (7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays) to get free storm damage assessments, free hail damage siding assessments, and the highest level of care in the roofing industry!
Our friendly operators are on standby to take your calls and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you have and set up a good time that is convenient for you to meet with one of our experts and assess your storm damages. Click the button below and one of our team members will call you back and schedule your free hail damage siding assessment today!