3 Things To Know About Storm Damage To Your Roof

14 May 2015 by Marvin Carroll

When a storm sweeps through and damages your roof, you will need to contact your home insurance company as soon as possible. They will assess the damage and will determine if they will pay for the repairs and how much they will pay. If you want to make sure you are getting the necessary amount for the damages, you may also want to call a roofing company to inspect the roof for you. After a storm damages your roof, here are three things you need to know.

You should hire your own roofing company

Insurance companies typically send insurance adjusters to examine roofs after storm damage occurs. These adjusters are not skilled roofing contractors like those from A-1 Professional Roofing, and they often do not know exactly how to properly assess storm damage.

A roofing contractor, on the other hand, has the experience needed to know exactly what to look for with storm damage. When you have two people look at the roof, it will help you know if you are getting the right amount of compensation from the insurance company.

How insurance companies value damage

Getting two opinions is helpful, but it is also important to understand how your insurance company values damage to roofs, and there are several different ways. Some insurance companies will reimburse you for the actual costs to fix or replace the roof, but others will take depreciation into account when they calculate claim amounts.

If the company takes the depreciation into account, and if your roof is really old, you may not be able to get insurance money to repair the roof. If this happens, you may want to discuss the options that are available for fixing the problems for a low price.

You might be able to repair instead of replace

If the storm damage is not severe, you might easily be able to get by with repairing the bad spots on the roof. This could involve replacing shingles that are missing and nailing down any that are curling up.

This option would be a lot cheaper than replacing the entire roof, but it might not be an option. If the storm really did a number on your roof, you may have to get the entire thing replaced if you expect it to keep your house dry.

Having home insurance is a necessity, which usually helps with costs of repairing a roof after storm damage. If you have experienced storm damage to your home, you may also want to call a roofing company to learn more about your options and about the damage the storm caused. 

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