The 4 Main Causes of Roof Storm Damage

What Causes Roof Storm Damage?

Did your house get hit by the last big storm?

Having a large storm come through and cause damage to your roof is a homeowner’s worst nightmare. Your roof is the biggest investment in your home and is essential to providing protection from rain, snow, and wind and keeping your home insulated through the changing seasons.

If you experience damage to your roof, it’s important to act fast and call a professional storm damage repair team. The longer you wait, the more damage can compound and become worse than when it happened. But what are the main causes of roof storm damage?

There are four main suspects of storm damage to your roof: wind, water, hail, and debris.

Wind Damage

During thunderstorms, wind gusts can be gale-force (40-60mph) or even hurricane force (75+ mph) which can cause severe damage to your roof’s shingles. A wind that speed can easily tear off shingles or just lift and curl them, both revealing the protective underlayment beneath your shingles. When that underlayment is exposed, your roof is immediately at risk of leaks as water can leak underneath the nearby shingles and seep into your home.

Water Damage

There are a couple of ways extensive rainfall can cause pooling and water damage after the storm settles down. First, if your roof does not have proper drainage or has previously weakened spots, that heavy rainfall will simply sit on your roof and cause sunken spots or leak through any damaged shingles very easily. Also, if you have clogged gutters, that rainwater cannot run off the roof properly and will pool at your gutters which can lead to it seeping into those weak spots at the edge of your roof.

Hail Damage

Hail large enough to damage your roof is not uncommon. Even small hail paired with strong gale winds can be enough to throw that hail into your shingles hard enough to dent them and slough off those vital granules that are the first protective layer of your shingles. Hail can also crack and peel up the edges of your shingles.

Damage From Debris

During severe thunderstorms, all kinds of debris like sticks and branches can snap off and blow onto your roof. If you’re especially unlucky, you could have an overhanging tree branch or tree fall on your roof, causing catastrophic damage. But even the small branches, twigs, and other trash debris that flies around and lands on your roof can cause damage. Imagine a gale-force wind carrying with it large branches headed straight for your roof.