Hail damage repair in Houston starts with finding the hits
Hail damage repair in Houston is mostly detective work before it is roofing work. The question is not whether hail fell on your street, but whether it broke your shingles, on which slopes, and how many.
Spring storms bring hail across the metro most years. A roof that took a hard hit often looks normal from the yard, because the damage is a bruise or a patch of missing granules a couple of inches across. Up close, those marks tell a roofer whether the shingle's mat was cracked, whether the damage is spread across the roof, and whether a repair or a new roof is the honest answer.
Houston Expert Roofers does none of the inspecting or repairing. Its free number picks up around the clock, asks what you have seen, and hands you over to an independent, locally owned roofing company that does the inspection and the work.
What hail does to a roof
The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), an insurance industry research group, publishes a short guide to telling hail damage from ordinary wear. These are the signs it and shingle makers describe, and what each one means.
| Sign | What it looks like | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Random impact marks | Round dark spots scattered across a slope with no pattern | IBHS lists a random pattern as a mark of hail. Wear and blistering tend to look more uniform. |
| Bruising | A soft spot that gives when pressed, often under a dark mark | The mat underneath may be fractured even though the surface looks intact. |
| Granule loss at the hit | A patch of bare asphalt where the stones were knocked off | The granules shield asphalt from the sun. Without them, that spot ages fast in Houston heat. |
| Cracks and exposed mat | Splits radiating from a hit, or the mat showing through | A broken shingle. A shingle maker's technical bulletin notes this can also appear later as the roof ages. |
| Damaged ridge caps | Cracked or crushed caps along the peak | IBHS calls ridge caps especially vulnerable because they sit on top and take direct hits. |
| Dents in soft metal | Dimpled gutters, vents, flashing and air conditioner fins | Supporting evidence that hail of a certain size fell at your house. IBHS suggests checking it. |
IBHS also warns that loose granules alone do not prove hail. Edge wear, normal aging, manufacturing defects and heavy rain all shed granules. That is why a careful roofer looks for the combination: random hits, bruises and dented metal from the same storm date.
Small hail counts too
In 2025 IBHS published research in the journal Frontiers in Materials on hailstones under an inch across. Its testers found that concentrations of this smaller hail can significantly reduce a shingle's resistance to later large hail and speed up the natural aging of asphalt shingles, and Insurance Journal reported on the study and the debate it started over roof claims. A Houston roof that has sat through several small hail events is not necessarily undamaged.
What you can check from the ground
None of this needs a ladder. Stay off the roof: wet shingles are slick and a hail-damaged roof gives no warning.
Walk the outside
- Dents along the gutters and downspouts
- Dimpled metal roof vents you can see from the yard
- Bent fins on the outdoor air conditioner unit
- Spatter marks on fences, decks and siding
Look at the ground
- Heaps of granules at downspout outlets
- Pieces of shingle or ridge cap in the beds
- Shredded leaves and dented cars on the street
- Photos of hailstones next to a coin, with the date
Write it down
- The date and time the hail fell
- Photos of every dent, taken from the ground
- Any new ceiling stains inside
- Neighbors who are getting roofs inspected
Dented metal does not prove the shingles broke, and clean gutters do not prove they did not. It tells you whether a close inspection is worth booking. Keep your notes with the storm claim checklist.
How a roofer inspects for hail
- Confirm the storm. Match the date you remember with weather records for your area. National Weather Service storm data lists hail reports by place and size.
- Check the soft metal first. Vents, flashing and gutters show what size hail fell and from which direction.
- Mark test squares. A common industry method, described in home inspector training, is to mark a 10 by 10 foot square (100 square feet) on each slope, away from tree cover, and count the hits that broke shingles inside it.
- Feel for bruises. A hit that looks like a dark spot may be soft underneath. The roofer presses and photographs each one with a marker beside it.
- Check the attic and the edges. Ridge caps, hips and the attic side of the deck, for anything that let water in.
- Hand you the record. Photos by slope, the hit counts, the storm date and a written opinion on repair or replacement. You keep it whether or not you file.
Test squares have limits. A 2026 Claims Journal article points out that a square is a sample, and that placing it where damage looks worst or access is easiest can skew the count. Ask where the squares went and why, and be present if an adjuster inspects.
Repair or replace after hail
Hail driven by wind often hits the slopes that faced the storm much harder than the others, which is why a roofer counts hits slope by slope. That shapes the answer.
When a repair can make sense
A few broken shingles on one slope, a cracked ridge cap or a dented vent on a roof that is otherwise in good shape. The roofer replaces what broke and should show you how close the new shingles come to the old color and style. A repair is not the answer if the shingle line is discontinued and the patch would stand out.
When a new roof is worth pricing
Broken shingles on several slopes, bruising spread across the roof, or an older roof whose shingles were already brittle. Patching a heavily hit roof shingle by shingle tends to leave the next leak waiting. If insurance may be involved, ask the insurer how it decides between repairing a slope and replacing the roof, and how its policy treats shingles that cannot be matched.
Class 4 shingles on a new roof
Shingles are tested for impact under the UL 2218 standard and rated Class 1 to Class 4, with Class 4 the most resistant. Shingle maker GAF explains that a Class 4 product withstands a 2 inch steel ball dropped from 20 feet. The Texas Department of Insurance says insurers may give a credit for impact-resistant roofing, with the amount for each class set company by company and Class 4 getting the largest. After installation the roofer fills out TDI form PC068 for your insurer, and TWIA requires the UL class to be labeled on the product. In 2026 TDI issued a bulletin encouraging insurers to offer supported discounts and tell policyholders about them. Ask your insurer what credit it gives, if any, before you choose.
If you live under a homeowners association, Texas Property Code section 202.011 limits an association's power to block shingles designed mainly to resist wind and hail, as long as they look like the shingles already allowed and are at least as durable.
The deductible is yours to pay. The Texas Department of Insurance says it is illegal for a contractor to offer to waive, rebate or absorb your deductible, and a contract of $1,000 or more paid with insurance money must include a notice saying so. A roofer also may not act as your public adjuster on a property it works on. Treat any offer to "cover the deductible" as a reason to call someone else.
Hail in greater Houston: documented events
National Weather Service Storm Data for the Houston and Galveston office records hail across the metro. A few entries show the range.
| Date | Where | What Storm Data records |
|---|---|---|
| April 2003 | League City | A 1.75 inch hail report, about golf ball size, in Galveston County. |
| May 4, 2006 | Near Hooks Airport and Jersey Village | A 3 inch hail report south of the airport and a 1.75 inch report south of Jersey Village. |
| October 22, 2008 | North Houston | Golf ball size hail near Beltway 8 and the Hardy Toll Road ahead of a cold front. |
| April 2023 | Katy area and Pecan Grove | Ping pong ball size hail (1.5 inches) near Falcon Landing Boulevard and quarter size hail near Pecan Grove and west of Katy. |
If hail fell near you, write the date down and keep it with your policy. Insurers ask when the damage happened, and a known storm date helps your roofer and your adjuster agree on it.
Questions to ask a roofer about hail damage
About the inspection
- Which storm date do you think caused this, and how did you check it?
- Where did you put the test squares, and how many hits broke the shingle in each?
- Can I see close photos of the bruises with a marker beside them?
- Is any of this granule loss just age, and how can you tell?
About the work
- Can the damaged shingles be matched, and what if they cannot?
- Is the shingle you are quoting rated Class 4 under UL 2218, and will you fill out TDI form PC068?
- Will you send your certificate of liability insurance and pull any permit needed?
- What does your workmanship warranty cover, in writing?
Any claim is filed by you, with your insurer, not by the roofer. A roofer may document the damage and meet the adjuster at your request, but under Texas Insurance Code section 4102.163 it may not act as your public adjuster on a property it works on.
- Call the numberAn automated assistant answers (832) 662-4107 at any hour and asks which service you need, since the line also takes heating, cooling, pressure washing and water damage calls.
- Describe the roofA leak, missing shingles, hail, a limb on the roof or an old roof you want looked at, plus your part of greater Houston and how urgent it is.
- Get put throughYour call is transferred to an independent, locally owned roofing company, which hears a short summary before it picks up.
- Deal with the roofer directlyIt inspects, quotes and does the work, and you pay it (or your insurer does, as you arrange). If it misses the call, it gets your name, number, city and need to call you back.
Texas has no state roofing license. No state agency licenses roofing contractors in Texas, and a 2025 bill to create one (HB 3344) did not reach a vote of the full House before the session ended. So check what you can: a certificate of liability insurance sent to you, a written contract with the full scope, a permit where your city requires one, local addresses you can drive past, and the shingle maker's warranty registration. Some cities also ask roofers to register. The line does not check any of this for you. How to check a roofer before you hire.
About this line: Houston Expert Roofers is a free phone line, not a roofing contractor. It answers your call and connects you with an independent local roofing company, which inspects, quotes and does the work, and which you pay directly. Companies may pay a referral fee. The line never charges you. Read how the line works.
Related services
- Storm Damage Roof Repair
- Wind Damage Roof Repair
- Roof Inspection in Houston
- Roof Replacement in Houston
- Roof Insurance Claims in Texas
- Roof Replacement Cost in Houston