How can you tell if your roof qualifies for replacement thru insurance?
Short answer. A roof qualifies when a covered event, usually hail or wind, caused enough damage that the roof cannot be repaired properly, and the claim is filed within your policy's time limits. Age and normal wear alone do not qualify, and the covered damage has to be worth meaningfully more than your deductible.
Signs that point to a real claim
- Bruises or fractures in the shingle mat from hail, often with round spots of granule loss, spread across several slopes.
- Creased, torn or missing shingles after a wind event.
- Dents on soft metals such as roof vents, flashing, gutters, downspouts, the mailbox or AC condenser fins. These back up the hail size.
- A recent, dated storm near your address.
Signs that point to wear
- Even granule loss everywhere, curling, pattern cracking or blistering.
- Algae streaks, moss or lichen.
- Leaks around old pipe boots or flashing with no storm event.
Our page on wear and tear vs hail damage shows how adjusters tell them apart.
Repairable or not
Adjusters often count hail hits in a 10 by 10 foot test square on each slope. A commonly cited guideline is about eight hits per square for replacement, though there is no universal standard, and brittle shingles that cannot be lifted for repair can tip the decision. See test squares.
The numbers check
Compare a rough replacement cost with your deductible in dollars. A 2 percent wind and hail deductible on a $350,000 dwelling limit is $7,000, and a modest claim may net very little after it. Also check whether your roof is on an actual cash value or payment schedule endorsement, which shrinks the payout further.