MD VA Roofing

Hail damage

Hail rarely puts a hole in a roof. It bruises the shingle, breaks the mat underneath, and knocks the granules loose — and none of that leaks today.

Garage 1 Ridge caps — wind lifts here first 2 The field — granules, hail, age 3 Valleys carry runoff from two slopes at once 4 Flashing — chimney, and where the garage roof meets the wall 5 Vent boot 6 Eaves — ice dams push water back uphill A roof almost never fails in the middle. It fails where it meets something else.
Where this sits on the roof.

Why it is invisible from the ground

A hail strike leaves a soft dark spot where granules have been displaced and the asphalt beneath is exposed. From a driveway it is nothing. From four feet away on the roof it is obvious once you know what you are looking at. Those exposed spots then weather far faster than the rest of the roof, and the shingle fails years earlier than it should have.

Softer materials tell you first

Aluminium gutters, downspouts, vents, and the metal caps on plumbing stacks dent visibly when the roof has been struck hard enough to matter. Checking those from the ground is a reasonable first screen — if the soft metal is unmarked, the roof probably is too.

About the knock on the door

A significant hail event in this region is reliably followed by crews going door to door. Some are legitimate local outfits; some arrived with the storm and will be gone by spring. The question worth asking is not whether they found damage but where they were working a year ago and where they will be when a warranty claim comes up.

The other ways roofs fail

Areas covered