A Guide to Spotting Roof Damage – Part 2: Spotting Roof Damage – How Does the Weather Damage Your Roof?

People spend a lot of time and cash preparing their roofs for when the bad weather hits, and expend even more effort on maintenance once the weather event has passed. How exactly do the elements cause damage and how badly can it be? Let’s take a closer look at three of the most threatening kinds of weather damage.

Strong winds knocking the components off the main roof structure

Signs to look out for – Components such as shingles or flashing scattered around your home premises

How? – Roofs are designed to resist strong winds to a certain extent (depending on the weight of the material and wind rating). However, extra strong winds (usually during stormy weather) can lift up parts of the roof. Sometimes, the wind somehow finds a way underneath the top roof surface (usually through gaps in the eaves or fascia), pushing the roofing material outwards and upwards from below.

Impact caused by hail or large debris

Signs to look out for – Dents, holes, or shallow pits on your roof’s surface

How? – Roofs are mostly designed to shield the home from snow, rain, and sunlight; it’s not meant to regularly withstand strong impact from a broken tree branch or large hailstones. Although some materials do offer some impact resistance, some signs of damage are still expected to be evident. Thinner roofing options such as metal, asphalt roll, or shingle roofing are more vulnerable to this.

Snow buildup on top of the roof

Signs to look out for – Sagging or collapsed portions of the roof

How? - Snow doesn’t cause instantaneous damage like wind and hail do – instead taking a more prolonged approach to causing damage. Snow buildup can take anywhere from several hours to a few days, during which time its weight exerts a lot of pressure on the roof. All that weight places a significant strain on the support structure, such as the rafters and the joists, which can lead to a total roof collapse.

Restoring roofs is often costly, but it’s a lot easier if you’ve got yourself adequately covered by insurance. Check out part 3 of this series for tips on filing for an insurance claim.