Wind damage to a roof: signs, temporary repairs and claims

Check safely

Do not go onto the roof. Wet, damaged roofs are dangerous, and walking on them does more harm. Stay well away from downed wires and anything touching them, and call your electricity distributor.

From the ground, with binoculars or a phone camera on zoom, look at every slope. Then check inside.

Signs outside

• Missing shingles, leaving darker rectangles of underlay or bare wood
• Lifted or flapping shingles that have not come off
• Creased shingles. A horizontal line across a tab shows it was folded back by wind. The shingle is weakened even though it has dropped back into place.
• Shingles or pieces in the yard, yours or a neighbour’s
• Damaged ridge caps along the peak, which take the most wind
• Bent, lifted or missing flashing at chimneys, walls, valleys and vents
• Missing or displaced vents, turbine tops and chimney caps
• Loose or hanging eavestroughs, soffit and fascia. Wind gets under soffit panels and strips them out.
• Siding pulled loose or cracked
• Impact damage from branches and debris

Wind damage is usually worst at edges, corners, ridges and on the slope facing the wind.

Signs inside

• New stains on ceilings and upper walls
• Drips, or wet insulation in the attic
• Daylight visible through the roof boards
• Dampness around the chimney, vents and skylights

A roof can lose shingles and not leak until the next rain, because the underlay holds for a while. Do not take a dry ceiling as proof that the roof is sound.

What to do first

1. Photograph everything from the ground and inside, before anything is moved.
2. Limit damage inside. Put buckets under drips, move belongings, and protect floors.
3. Arrange a temporary cover. A tarp fixed properly over the damaged area keeps rain out until repairs can be made. See emergency roof tarping.
4. Collect fallen shingles. They help show what happened.
5. Call your insurer or broker.
6. Keep receipts for emergency work.

Policies require you to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage, and they generally pay for those steps as part of the claim.

After a large storm

Roofers are overwhelmed after a regional windstorm, and people go door to door offering fast repairs. Be careful:

• Do not sign anything on the doorstep
• Check that the company has a real local address, liability insurance and WSIB coverage
• Get a written estimate describing the work and materials
• Do not pay in full in advance
• Be wary of anyone offering to waive your deductible or asking you to sign over your claim

Repair or replace?

• A few missing or creased shingles on an otherwise sound roof are repaired by replacing them.
• Widespread damage, or many creased shingles across a slope, may justify replacing that slope or the roof.
• An old, brittle roof is hard to repair, because lifting neighbouring shingles to fit new ones breaks them.
• Matching is a practical problem. New shingles rarely match weathered ones, and discontinued products cannot be matched at all. Raise this with your adjuster.

Shingles rely on a strip of sealant that bonds each one to the course below. Once wind has broken that seal, the shingle is more likely to lift next time, even if it looks fine. A roofer checks this by hand.

Water that got in

Rain entering through a damaged roof soaks attic insulation, ceiling drywall and wall cavities. Wet insulation loses its value and holds moisture against the wood. Ceilings stain, sag and can collapse. This needs drying as well as roof repair:

• Wet insulation is removed
• Saturated ceiling drywall is taken down
• Framing and remaining materials are dried with dehumidifiers and air movers
• Moisture readings confirm it is dry before the ceiling is closed up

Left alone, a damp attic and ceiling grow mold within days in warm weather.

Insurance

Windstorm is a standard insured peril in Canadian home policies, so sudden wind damage to the roof and the resulting interior water damage are commonly covered, subject to the deductible. Points to know:

• Damage from wear, age or poor maintenance is not covered. An adjuster distinguishes storm damage from an old roof that was already failing.
• Some policies settle older roofs on a depreciated basis, not at full replacement cost. Check your wording.
• Some policies have a separate, higher deductible for wind or hail.
• Fences, sheds and detached garages are usually covered under a separate part of the policy.
• Trees are generally covered only to the extent of removing them from an insured structure they damaged.
• Report promptly, and do not make permanent repairs before the adjuster has agreed the scope, unless told to go ahead.

Reducing the risk

• Have the roof inspected every few years and after major storms
• Replace missing and damaged shingles promptly
• Keep trees trimmed back from the house
• Secure or store outdoor furniture, trampolines and bins when high winds are forecast
• When re-roofing, ask about shingles with a higher wind rating and about the nailing pattern

More: storm damage restoration.