Wind damage hides under shingles that look fine
Wind damage to a roof is often a broken bond you cannot see. Asphalt shingles are nailed down and then glued to the course below by a strip of sealant that softens in the sun. Once wind pries that bond loose, the shingle is held only by its nails.
The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) says seal strength is the biggest factor in how self-sealing shingles perform in high wind. That is why a roof can lose very few shingles in a storm and still be badly weakened: dozens of tabs can be unsealed and lying flat, waiting for the next gust to fold them back or for sideways rain to run beneath them.
Houston Expert Roofers does not inspect or repair roofs. Its free number picks up around the clock and connects you with an independent, locally owned roofing company that does.
The three kinds of wind damage roofers find
Broken seals
The tab looks normal but lifts freely by hand, often with a clean strip of sealant that no longer grips anything. It is the most common and the easiest to miss. A careful roofer lifts tabs gently on each slope and photographs the ones that come up without resistance.
Creased tabs
A tab that was bent up and back by a gust keeps a horizontal fold line across it, and the mat may be cracked along the crease. A creased shingle will not lie tight again and needs replacing, along with a look at the nails that held it.
Missing shingles and caps
The visible kind. Bare underlayment or exposed nail heads where tabs tore off, ridge caps in the yard, a strip missing along an edge. Bare spots let rain straight into the underlayment, so these need covering before the next storm.
Where a roofer looks first
Wind does not load a roof evenly. Roofers usually start at the exposed edges and work inward, because that is where damage tends to begin and spread.
| Part of the roof | What the roofer checks |
|---|---|
| Eaves and rakes | The lower edge and the sloped side edges, where wind can catch the lip of the first course. The starter strip and drip edge should be fastened and sealed. |
| Corners | Where an eave meets a rake. Lifting here often spreads into the field of the roof. |
| Ridge and hips | The caps along the peak and the outside corners of a hip roof. Caps that sit crooked or open at the ends have lost their grip. |
| The slopes that faced the storm | Gusts from one direction break seals on the slopes that took them. |
| Around earlier repairs | A patch with new shingles that never sealed to their neighbors, or tabs lifted and dropped by a past storm, gives the next gust a handle. |
Ask the roofer to mark each damaged spot on a simple roof sketch or in labeled photos. That is the record your adjuster will want, and it keeps a repair focused on what the wind actually did.
Checking for wind damage without going up
Stay off the roof. Unsealed shingles slide, and a wet roof gives no grip. Everything below can be done from the yard, the street and the attic doorway.
- Sight along the ridge from the street. Caps should form a straight, even line. A raised end or a gap shows against the sky.
- Look at the edges in low sun. Early morning or late afternoon light throws a shadow under a lifted tab that midday light hides.
- Walk the yard and the beds. Pieces of shingle, cap or drip edge mean something came off. Photograph them where they landed.
- Look into the attic from the hatch. Without stepping onto the joists, look for daylight along the edges or fresh water stains on the underside of the deck.
- Note the date and time. Write down when the strong wind came through. Keep any weather alert you received on your phone.
Binoculars help. A phone camera zoomed from across the street is often clearer still, and the photo is dated.
Stay off the roof. Wet, storm-damaged roofs are slick and the decking may be weak, so leave the ladder in the garage. Keep well away from downed power lines and report them to CenterPoint Energy or 911. Indoors, move belongings away from the leak, put a bucket or towels under the drip and keep people out of any room where the ceiling sags. Photograph the damage from the ground and inside the house, then call your insurer and a roofer.
Why wind damage is easy to underrate in Houston
People here tend to measure storms by whether they had a name. The roofs say otherwise. Forecasters at the Houston/Galveston weather service office described the derecho of May 16, 2024 as a swath of winds over 100 mph through the metro, and its survey teams found that much of the damage came from straight-line thunderstorm winds rather than a tornado or hurricane. Less than two months later Hurricane Beryl came ashore southwest of Houston on July 8, 2024 as a Category 1 storm with 80 mph sustained winds, according to the National Hurricane Center.
A seal that broke in either storm does not glue itself back. If your roof has not been looked at closely since 2024, the first sign may be a stain after a sideways rain, or a row of tabs that finally folds back in an ordinary afternoon squall.
Documenting wind damage for a claim
Wind is harder to prove than hail because a broken seal leaves no mark. Insurers distinguish storm damage from wear, so the file needs to tie fresh damage to a storm date. Ask the roofer for:
- Photos of tabs being lifted by hand, showing the clean sealant strip, slope by slope.
- Photos of creases and tears with a marker or tape for scale.
- A count by slope of the damaged shingles, and the direction each slope faces.
- The storm date it believes caused the damage, and what it is based on.
Then you file with your insurer and decide when work starts. The storm claim checklist is a printable list for the paperwork, and the roof insurance claims guide explains deductibles and payment.
Coastal windstorm rules. In the Texas Department of Insurance's designated catastrophe area (Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston and the other first-tier coastal counties, plus, in Harris County, Morgan's Point and the parts of La Porte, Pasadena, Seabrook and Shoreacres inside city limits and east of State Highway 146), most roof work must meet the windstorm building code and be inspected while it is under way (TDI exempts repairs to less than 100 square feet of roof covering that do not touch the decking). When it passes, TDI issues a certificate of compliance (form WPI-8), which the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association uses to decide whether it can insure the home. Ask the roofer, in writing, who schedules the inspection and when you will get the WPI-8.
Repair or replace after wind
Usually a repair
- A few missing or creased shingles on one or two slopes
- Lifted ridge caps on a roof that is otherwise sound
- Unsealed tabs in one area that can be resealed or replaced
- Matching shingles are available or close enough to accept
Worth pricing a new roof
- Broken seals across several slopes
- Old, brittle shingles that crack when a tab is lifted
- Repeated lifting after earlier repairs
- No matching shingle, and a patch that would stand out
If a roof is replaced after wind, ask the roofer which shingle wind rating it is quoting, how many nails go in each shingle, and how the edges and starter course will be fastened. Those details decide how the next storm goes.
Questions to ask about a wind repair
- How many shingles on each slope lifted freely by hand, and can I see the photos?
- Are any shingles creased or torn, and will you replace those rather than reseal them?
- Is the decking sound along the edges where shingles came off?
- Can you match my shingles, and what will you do if you cannot?
- Will you send your certificate of liability insurance and pull any permit my city requires?
- 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.
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.
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
- Hail Damage Roof Repair
- Roof Repair in Houston
- Emergency Roof Repair and Tarping
- Roof Inspection in Houston
- Roof Insurance Claims in Texas