AFTER THE STORM

Helping your home recover from hail damage

If you drove around town the day after Dallas’ June 13 hailstorm, you might have seen shattered windows, pockmarked roofs and destroyed gardens. For many residents, the storm literally hit close to home, damaging an estimated 35,000 houses according to Mark Hanna, spokesperson for the Insurance Council of Texas. Dallas is still riding in its wake. Whether your home was damaged or whether you are looking to make changes, there are smart ways you can repair and make the most of what was for many people a painful situation.

Hail larger than an inch is a cause for concern, though older roofs are more susceptible to smaller-sized hail. So how do you know if your roof has been damaged?

You don’t have to crawl onto your roof to find out. Instead, take a look at your wood fences, windowpanes, gutters and window screens, which can all show signs of hail. If you are still in doubt, call Bert Roofing with your address and they can tell you how much hail damage your area received. Their sophisticated hail maps can even show the size of the hail that fell in your neighborhood.

If signs point to potential damage, call a roofing company and have them take a look but take care to avoid scammers. If roofing contractors offer to cover your deductible, something is fishy.

“The biggest scam going around is insurance fraud,” says John Edward Bert, CFO of Bert Roofing. “People are supposed to pay the deductible. If you send an invoice for 15 [thousand dollars] and you only pay 13, that’s fraudulent and unfortunately it’s pretty widespread.”

When it comes time to finding the right roof shingle for your house, consider how it might hold up in severe weather. You might also think about the slope of the roof—which can be incompatible with certain materials—the style of the house, the eco-friendliness of the shingles, the durability of the materials and, of course, the cost.

Options include asphalt composition shingles, wood shakes and shingles, impact resistant shingles, energy-efficient cool shingles that reflect sunlight and synthetic slates and shakes, which are less expensive and heavy than actual slate. Slate can be one of the priciest materials, due in part to its durability. Synthetic slates and shakes might be the next-best thing, though. Many of them are impact resistant and “give a home an elegant look like few other products,” as the Bert Roofing Web site says.

Color also matters, and not just for aesthetic reasons. While a roof looks best when it complements the siding and trim colors, it can also change the house’s personality. Lighter colors can make houses seem taller, and darker colors can make steep roofs look less grandiose. Light-colored roofs better reflect the sun’s rays while dark-colored ones absorb it, influencing the home’s heating and cooling systems particularly during the winter and summer.

Before installing a new roof, contact your neighborhood association to make sure you don’t break any rules. Keep in mind that your house’s beauty also depends on the houses around it. Try not to choose colors or styles that clash with your neighbors’ houses and the surrounding environment.

It may take over a month from the time you call a roofing repair company to the time your roof is fixed since demand is high right now. Several weeks of waiting might be a fair trade for years of a solid roof over your head.

“You could go a dozen years” after repairs if you take care of your roof, Bert says.

One way to keep your roof intact is to keep it clean. Many historic homes have add-ons with low sloping roofs, which can easily accumulate debris. Piles of debris can impede water flow and lead to leaks. The same goes for gutters, which can become clogged, causing water to pool.

Other healthy roof maintenance habits include pruning the surrounding trees. This will protect the roof from its branches and from animals that can make the leap from a lowhanging branch to the roof. Hail storms, falling trees, strong wind and other similar events might also warrant a roof evaluation.

Windows and shutters might also be damaged from the storm. A slight window crack may not seem like cause for concern but it could grow and lead to moisture damage or air leakage, which could decrease home and property value and increase heating and cooling bills.

Shutters are a great way to maintain or add to your home value, says Ginger Jordan, office manager at Ken Jordan Shutters. They help with the aforementioned bills, they keep the harsh Dallas sun from damaging furniture and, barring outside shutters in hail storms, they have long lives.

“Some shutters have lasted 30 to 40 years,” Jordan says. “You don’t have to do much with shutters. You have to dust them or [paint them] if you want to change the colors after years, but there’s really not much else.”

Styles and prices range. Smaller louvers—the shutters’ slats—are seen as traditional but larger louvers allow for better views through the window. Plastic shutters are typically inexpensive but Jordan, whose company has installed shutters for windows shaped like circles, arches, octagons and more, says customized shutters bring greater value and flexibility in adapting to the window shape and trim color

“You can get cheaper but our shutters are made with USA wood, we buy locally, everything is made right here, we customize it to the window and we match the window trim’s color exactly,” Jordan says. “It’s rarely the lowest price but we pay a lot of attention to detail.”