Storm vs Wear Damage Decision Tree for Insurance Claims

Why this matters

The single most consequential call a roofing contractor makes on an insurance claim is whether the visible damage is storm-caused (covered by the homeowner's policy) or wear-and-tear (excluded). Calling storm on a wear-driven roof and signing the AOB results in claim denial, a chargeback, and reputational damage with the carrier. Calling wear on a roof that was actually hail-totaled costs the homeowner a full replacement and the contractor a job. State unfair-claims statutes (Texas Insurance Code Chapter 542, Florida Statute 626.9541) hold carriers to fast review timelines; the contractor's documentation has to be tight from day one. This decision tree walks the inspection in the order an adjuster will read it.

Step 1 - Verify a qualifying storm event

Before climbing the roof, pull a third-party storm verification report (HailTrace, LiveStorm, NOAA Storm Events Database, or an adjuster-grade report from Verisk or CoreLogic). The report should list:

• The date(s) of qualifying storms within the policy retroactive window (typical 365 days, but check the carrier's policy language; State Farm and USAA run 365, Allstate 360, some carriers 180)
• Max hail size at the site coordinates
• Peak wind gust at the site coordinates
• Confidence radius (typically 1 to 5 km)

If the report shows hail under 1 inch in diameter or peak wind below 50 mph, the case for storm damage is weak. Carriers will accept hail at 1 inch and above as functionally damaging for most asphalt shingles. Wind damage usually requires 60 mph gusts to lift shingles; some carriers accept 50 mph for older roofs.

Step 2 - Walk the soft metals first

Before touching the field shingles, photograph every soft-metal surface on the roof: vent caps, turbines, A/C condenser fins, downspouts, fascia metal, gutters. Hail leaves circular dents in soft metals with no metal loss. Wind alone does not dent soft metals.

If the soft metals are dent-free, the case for hail damage on the field shingles is harder to make. An adjuster who sees no soft-metal dents will write off shingle bruises as wear or manufacturing defect. If the soft metals are heavily dented, that physical evidence carries the claim through underwriting review.

Step 3 - Field shingle inspection by slope

Test square: chalk a 10-foot by 10-foot test square on each slope (typically north, south, east, west). Count and photograph every hit inside the square. Adjusters use a damage-per-square metric; the typical threshold for a slope replacement is 8 to 12 hits per square depending on carrier and shingle type. Two adjacent slopes meeting the threshold typically trigger a full replacement.

Hail damage to asphalt shingles presents as:

• Circular bruise with granule loss exposing the mat
• Mat fracture detectable by touch (soft spot when pressed)
• Wet, flexible feel under the bruise (broken seal underneath)

Wear damage presents as:

• Generalized granule loss across the entire slope, heaviest on the south face
• Curling at the corners
• Crazing (random cracking across the entire visible surface)
• Bald spots without circular bruise pattern

A roof with both is common on a 15-year-old shingle that took recent hail. Document the hail hits separately, but expect the carrier to depreciate aggressively.

Step 4 - Wind damage check

Wind damage on shingles presents as:

• Creased or folded shingles along the lower edge
• Lifted tabs with broken seal underneath
• Missing shingles with shiner nails visible
• Damage concentrated on the windward edges (typically the south and west faces in most North American storms)

Wind alone with no hail does not produce circular bruises. If you see creases without bruises, the cause is wind. If you see bruises without creases, the cause is hail. If you see both, it was likely a single severe storm.

A common wear pattern that gets misidentified as wind: shingle tabs that are seal-failed from age and lift in routine wind. The seal strip turns brittle at around year 12 to 15 on standard 3-tab shingles, and the entire field becomes liftable in 30 mph wind. This is wear, not storm.

Step 5 - Manufacturing defect check

Before committing to a storm claim, rule out manufacturing defect. Common defects:

• Blistering: small raised circular bubbles, often in lines from the manufacturing run. Not storm-related.
• Thermal shock cracking: random straight-line cracks down the centerline of shingles. Not storm-related.
• Sealant migration: black tar stripes oozing down the slope. Wear-related, not storm.

If the damage pattern looks like a defect, the homeowner has a manufacturer warranty claim, not an insurance claim. Filing it as storm wastes the deductible and burns the insurance event.

Step 6 - The decision

Documentation package the adjuster needs

• 3rd-party storm verification (HailTrace, NOAA, etc.)
• 4-slope soft-metal photos
• Test-square photos with chalk grid, slope-labeled
• Close-up of representative hits with a coin or ruler for scale
• Drone or pole-cam overview of each slope
• Manufacturer label off a shingle wrapper or attic shingle
• EagleView or equivalent measurement report

References

1. Haag Engineering, Field Guide for Asphalt Shingle Roof Damage, current edition (hail and wind damage identification).
2. National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA), Roofing Manual: Steep-Slope Roof Systems, damage assessment chapter.
3. Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), Hail Damage Assessment guidelines.
4. NOAA Storm Events Database at ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents (qualifying storm verification).
5. Texas Insurance Code Chapter 542, Subchapter B: Prompt Payment of Claims (timeline requirements that affect documentation).
6. ASTM D3161 and ASTM D7158 wind resistance test methods (reference for what shingles should withstand).