What Does Hail Damage Look Like, Part Two
Minneapolis Hail Storms Leaves Clear Evidence Behind
3/4” to 1” hail really whacked this poor roof on Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis. The material was 22 years old and was somewhat brittle prior to the hail storm. This enhanced the affect of every hail stone impact by allowing deeper penetration. Even if this roof were 5 years old at the time of this event it would have hail damage. The reason being that it is less brittle at 5 years old than 22 years old. The damage seen on older cedar shake roofs, such as this one, are in direct proportion to the degree of existing embrittlement. For example, it was relatively easy to roll my thumb off the bottom edge of these shakes and produce 1/2” to 1” of crumbled cedar dust. Our clients had this roof insured through Chubb, which I have found to be the most generous and fair insurance companies to deal with in storm damage cases.
This is the same cedar shake roof on Lake of the Isles, Minneapolis. It’s common to see different hail damage from one roof slope to the next. There are two reasons for this. The first reason is that hail storms normally throw hail from a dominant direction and the force of the hail impact is increased as the strike angle becomes more perpendicular (as opposed to glancing strikes). All of the south facing slopes can be trashed while the north facing areas are barely affected, for example. The second reason is that the orientation of a roof will affect how the wood ages significantly. Northern slopes tend to maintain hardness and integrity longer than south-facing slopes. Other factors such as tree coverage, roof pitch (steepness) and maintenance history factor in as well.
