What storms do to a roof here
The Ohio Valley gets a mix of straight line wind, hail, and the occasional severe thunderstorm cluster, and each leaves a different signature.
Wind lifts and creases shingles. A shingle can look fine from the driveway and still be broken at the seal strip, which means the next storm takes it off entirely. Wind damage concentrates on the windward slope and along ridges and edges.
Hail bruises the mat under the granules. Fresh hail hits look like dark circles where granules have been knocked away. They do not leak immediately. They shorten the life of the roof, and the leak shows up a year or two later.
Debris from a neighboring tree can puncture through shingle and decking in one spot, which is a contained problem if it is found early and a serious one if it sits through a wet season.
Gutters are worth a look after any hail event as well. Dents in aluminum gutters and downspouts are one of the clearer indicators that hail was large enough to have hit the roof too.
What to do after a storm
Document it now. Photograph everything you can see from the ground, and write down the date of the storm. Memory is not evidence, and damage gets harder to date the longer it sits.
Do not get on the roof yourself. Storm damaged roofing is slippery and structurally unpredictable. There is no information up there worth a fall.
Get it inspected. Documenting the damage gives you a clear record of what it was and when, whether or not you end up filing anything with your insurer.
Deal with an open roof first. If shingles are gone and the deck is exposed, covering it comes before anything else.
Emergency tarping
If the roof is open, we can tarp it to keep water out while the rest of the process happens. Tarping is a temporary measure that buys you time. It is not a repair, and we will not describe it as one.
Documentation and your insurance company
Wind and hail damage is often covered under a standard homeowners policy in Kentucky and Indiana, though your deductible and the age of your policy both matter, and only your insurer can tell you what your specific policy covers.
Here is what we do and do not do.
What we do. We get on the roof, photograph the damage thoroughly, and give you the full scope in writing: every affected area, listed and priced. That is the document you take to your insurance company. It is yours, and it is the same document whether you file a claim or pay out of pocket.
What we do not do. We do not tell you that you have a claim, we do not promise your claim will be approved, and we do not tell you what your insurer will pay. Those are decisions for you and your insurance company. An approval cannot be known before an adjuster has seen the roof, so we will not tell you otherwise.
We would encourage you to read your own policy, or call your agent and ask directly what your wind and hail coverage looks like and what your deductible is. Knowing that before you start makes every conversation afterwards simpler.
Our storm response process
- Call us and describe what happened. The date of the storm and what you can see from the ground is enough to start.
- We inspect, free. Roof, gutters, siding, and flashing. Storms rarely damage only one surface, so we look at all of them while we are there.
- You get photographs and a written scope. Every affected area listed, with prices. Nothing gets discovered later that we could have told you up front.
- Emergency tarping if the roof is open. Before anything else, if the deck is exposed.
- We schedule and complete the repairs. Cleaned up after, and inspected at the end.
Why call us after a storm
We are locally owned, based in Louisville, and licensed and insured, and we are here through the season and after it. The crew that quotes your job is the crew that does the work.
We also tell homeowners when there is nothing wrong. A free inspection that ends in “you are fine for another five years” is a good outcome for both of us.
Storm damage service area
We respond across the Louisville metro and Southern Indiana: Jefferson, Oldham, Bullitt, Shelby, Spencer, Nelson, Hardin, Meade, Henry, and Trimble counties in Kentucky, and Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Scott, and Washington counties in Indiana. That covers Louisville, St. Matthews, Jeffersontown, Prospect, Shepherdsville, Mount Washington, Shelbyville, Bardstown, Elizabethtown, La Grange, and across the river, Jeffersonville, Clarksville, New Albany, Sellersburg, Charlestown, Georgetown, Floyds Knobs, Corydon, Scottsburg, and Salem.
Get a free storm damage inspection
Call (502) 676-8410 or send the form. We will get on the roof, show you the photographs, and put the scope in writing. No obligation, and nothing to pay for the inspection.
