First: stay off the roof
We're a roofing company telling you not to get on your roof. That's not liability language, it's experience. A storm-damaged roof has loose granules all over it that behave like ball bearings, and wet decking after hail can be soft in places that look fine.
Nearly everything worth seeing can be seen from the ground with a phone camera and a bit of patience.
The ground-level checklist
Walk the perimeter of the house
Look at the ground first, not up. You're looking for shingle pieces, granule piles at downspout outlets, and torn-off ridge caps in the yard or against the fence. If you're finding shingle fragments in the flower beds, something came off.
Check the gutters and downspouts
A heavy line of granules in the gutter or a small dune of them where the downspout discharges is one of the clearest signs a storm stripped the surface. Some granule loss is normal over years. A pile that wasn't there last week is not.
Look at the soft metal on your property
This is the trick most homeowners don't know. Before you can tell whether your roof took hail, check the things that dent easily and are at eye level:
- Gutters and downspouts — dimples on the top faces
- Window screens and window wraps
- Air conditioner condenser fins
- Mailbox, grill lid, garage door panels
- Any vent caps or turbines visible from the ground
If none of those show a mark, your roof probably didn't take meaningful hail either. If several do, get it looked at.
Photograph everything, with the date
Take more photos than feel necessary, from multiple angles, and don't crop them. Include a wide shot that shows the house so there's context. If you have a tape measure or a coin, put it in frame next to a dent for scale. Your phone stamps the date, and that matters later.
Check inside too
Go into the attic during daylight with the lights off and look for daylight coming through. Then check ceilings — especially in corners, around chimneys, and in closets people don't open often. A stain that appears days after a storm is telling you something.
What we do on a free inspection
We get on the roof so you don't. We document what we actually find with photos, we tell you whether it's a repair or a replacement, and if there's no meaningful damage we tell you that and leave. We'll meet your adjuster on site if there's a claim worth filing.
What we will not do is inflate a claim. That's fraud, it's your name on the policy, and it's not a business we're interested in being in. If a contractor at your door is promising to "get your deductible covered" or guaranteeing an approval before anyone has looked at the roof, that's your signal to close the door.
A note on storm chasers
After every big Missouri hail event, out-of-state crews show up and knock doors for a few weeks. Some are fine. Many will be unreachable in two years when a workmanship issue surfaces.
Ask any contractor at your door three questions: where's your local office, who holds the workmanship warranty, and can I see a job you did in this county last year. The answers sort it out quickly.
Free Estimate
No pressure, no obligation. We’ll tell you if you don’t need the work.