How Storm Damage Can Affect Your Roof

Storms can cause huge damage to your roof in multiple different ways. Some of the most common sources of damage during a storm include high winds, hail, falling debris, and rain – all of which can cause significant damage to the shingles lining your roof.

Heavy winds and rain could even cause leaks inside the home, which may lead to more extensive issues within the structure!

In the immediate aftermath of any type of storm, you will probably be breathing a huge sigh of relief knowing that the storm is finally over and done with and that your home remains intact.

However, not all roof damage is easy to spot, especially to the untrained eye. Even if there are no obvious visual signs of damage, you must conduct an assessment of your roof to ensure no further structural damage has occurred.

Here are some of the main ways how storm damage can affect your roof.

Prevention Is Better Than Cure!

Check every inch of your roof for damage after a storm to make sure it is all repaired before the next bout of heavy weather hits. You will benefit even more from ensuring your roof is in great condition before the storm arrives.

If strong hurricane-like winds expose the inside of your roof to heavy rain, you might be looking at huge amounts of expensive repair work to get the roof structure back to normal. This is a far more difficult task than simply needing to repair felt or replace a couple of tiles.

Building insurance might cover the cost of this, yet some insurers will refuse to pay out if you have not adequately maintained your roof over time.

Make sure to enlist the help of experts like RoofsOnly.com to keep your roof secure all year round.

The Effects Of Strong Wind

A tornado, hurricane, or simply strong stormy winds can cause excess damage to your roof. There are multiple ways that a roof can be severely damaged by wind.

One of the most prominent causes of damage includes blowing off individual shingles. Even one missing shingle could cause huge leaks that may lead to serious damage if they are left untreated. Fortunately, this issue is usually pretty easy to fix.

However, severely strong winds could also potentially blow off an entire roof if the gust is intense enough. In this instance, however, the roof blowing off cannot be solely linked to the wind. This is because the main damage is caused by the difference in air pressure above and below the roof.

This difference in air pressure causes the roof to quickly lift toward the low-pressure zone outside versus the higher pressure inside the home.

The Effects Of Rain

Rain doesn’t directly cause damage to the material used for the outer roofing, but it does take advantage of all weaknesses to get inside the home and cause internal damage. Here, this rainwater could potentially cause the roofing timbers to rot away.

Even the smallest crack in your roofing can be enough to allow the rainwater through in this way!

A combination of wind and rain during a storm is also extremely likely to cause huge damage to the guttering. Any debris and dirt that is blown in the wind will likely clog up the downpipes and gutters, and heavy rainfall will cause cracks and overflows — something that may put the foundation of your home in jeopardy!

The Impact Of Hail Damage

A lot of roofing materials will sustain damage from hail when it reaches a diameter of about 1 inch. This damage will usually look like small dimples or pock marks on roofing shingles. Hail might also break off bits of tile or shingle around the edges. As expected, larger hail will likely cause far more damage.

Another thing you must consider is the length of time that the hail is falling. A roof will sustain far more damage during a longer, more drawn-out storm than one that lasts for only a couple of hours.

As a result, a hailstorm could cause a roof to require extensive repairs — or even a complete replacement in worst-case scenarios!

Summary

To put it simply, storm damage can affect your roof in so many different ways! From simply knocking off a couple of shingles to completely ripping the roof off, storms can wreak havoc on your home.

Checking and maintaining your roof all year round is an excellent way to reduce the severity of the damage done to your roof during a storm.