Handling hidden hail damage

By Western Colloid.  

Learn how to help your clients navigate the aftermath of a hailstorm and prepare for the next one. 

Most people know the danger of hail and the havoc it can wreak on a roof, but they often think of it only in terms of chips and denting – visible damage. But this is only part of the story of the damage hail can cause. In this episode of the Understanding Roof Restoration podcast, Karen Edwards sits down with Greg Hlavaty and Hal Leland of Western Colloid to learn more about the complex ways hail can impact a roof and how you as a professional can help your customers deal with that.  

Greg opened by explaining that identifying hail damage is not as cut and dried as you might assume. He explained, “Different types of roofs are tough to find out if there's really damage, especially immediately after the hail event because what happens is it might make little shatter cracks in that roof, depending what type of roof it is, that aren't very visible immediately because it's probably wet and clean and had rain also, along with the hail.” 

Hal added, “Most of the damage you’ll get from hail, is on the underside of the roof. There’s shattering where you can't really see it on the surface.” It’s because it is often hidden that building and homeowners don’t think they have any issues... until a little while later that hidden damage turns into a leak. Hal shared, “Oftentimes, there will be an event later, where the roof's leaking and you have people investigating. They'll take pieces out and check the back. And you’ll find the hail damage clear as day.” 

As a professional, this type of hidden damage is why it's a great idea to reach out to your clients after a hailstorm to talk about getting their roof checked before it turns into a larger leak. It’s also a good time to chat with them about methods of remediating hail damage, like switching to fluid-applied reinforced roofing. 

Read the transcript, Listen to the conversation or Watch the entire episode to learn more about fluid-applied reinforced roofing can help in the face of hail.