Steps to help in Hail Damage Insurance Claim

According to the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, hail causes more than $1.6 billion worth of damage in an average year to residential roofs in the United States, making it, year in and year out, one of the most costly natural disasters. Detecting roof hail damage after a hail storm can be a difficult task. Experts say the best things to look at when you are trying to determine the possibility of hail damage are the downspouts, gutters, metal vents, and roofing shingles. If you have not experienced a severe hail storm, it is hard to explain the destruction caused in such a short time. Here are some tips to help handle the experience when it comes to hail-related insurance hail damage claims:

    Some roofing contractors may offer to pay your deductible for you instead of the contract to fix your roof on the payment of the insurance company. This practice might be a good sales pitch for the contractor, but for you, it might be bad news because it may make you complicit in insurance fraud along with the contractor. The Principle of Indemnification followed by insurance policies means that a policyholder cannot profit from payment for the policy - and by having the contractor outright pay for the deductible, you might just be doing that. This action can invalidate the policy - so be careful with how you deal with your contractor.

    Hail damage insurance claim deductibles and referrals are one way to get your contractor to legitimately pay for some of your hail damage deductibles by referring other clients to the contractor instead of that service. Many contractors have an incentive or bonus of up to $100 for any referral that becomes a job. There are other above-board ways that an experienced and conscientious roofing company can help you with a high deductible. In most cases, all you need do is ask, and you will be presented with several options to deal with your deductible.

    Getting an independent Hail Damage Appraisal - The insurance company will send what it calls an adjuster to assess the damage from hail. The adjuster will inspect your house and the roof and come to a total figure that should cover the cost of fixing the damage from hail. Here you should also get an independent appraisal from a roofing contractor. This should ensure against bias from the adjuster and should give a better cover. The contractors usually do the appraisals for free - so along with their payment of deductibles in place of referrals, this is a pretty good service.

Managing your hail damage cover and its deductibles is an important aspect of living with hail storms. With the right information, you can save yourself hundreds of dollars in fees and deductibles, as well as a quality roof replacement due to damage from hail.

4 Steps for detecting Roof Hail Damage effectively

Detecting roof hail damage after a hail storm can be a difficult task. Experts say the best things to look at when you are trying to determine the possibility of hail damage are the downspouts, gutters, metal vents, and roofing shingles. According to the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, hail causes more than $1.6 billion worth of damage in an average year to residential roofs in the United States, making it, year in and year out, one of the most costly natural disasters.

So after a hail storm, walk around your house and follow these 4 determination steps to detect the damages caused by hailstones and weather.

1. Look for Mineral Deposits

Check around the downspouts. When hail impacts roofing shingles, it degrades the shingle and tends to knock off the granules. In most cases, this damage cannot be seen by the untrained eye, but if you have standard asphalt shingles on your house, you'll want to check around the downspouts for excessive granule buildup. If evident, there is a strong chance there has been roof damage from the storm. Just remember that this may simply be due to the age of the roofing material, so further investigation is needed.

2. Gutter and Downspout Dings

Inspect all your downspouts and gutters for dings. Some of the newer metal gutters are thin enough that hail the size of a marble will easily cause dents. Once again, if the damage is evident, then the possibility of roof damage does exist.

3. Inspect for leaks

To an untrained professional, hail damage is not always apparent from the ground. Roof damage does not always cause immediate leaks, and all too often, hail damage is not discovered until after leaking or another serious damage occurs. As damaged shingles degrade, your roof may begin to leak, so inspect your interior ceiling after heavy rain for any apparent water damage. Water staining anywhere on the ceiling is a good sign of roof damage.

4. Inspecting for Hail Damage to Vents and Shingles

Please only do this if you have easy access to your roof and the slopes are not that steep. Once on top, look at the vents, the drip edge, the fascia, and your gutters for signs of damage. Look at the roof shingles for circular dimples or areas where the shingle mineral is missing. Hail might produce a "dent" or a damage point in an asphalt shingle roof surface, resulting in granule loss and reduced remaining roof life.

Now it's time to take action. If you have 10 hits in a 10ft square, or if any of the above steps result in positive indications for hail damage, call for a professional inspection. Most will provide an estimate for free. Ask each if they think it's enough to warrant getting your insurance company out. You may want to call your insurance company anyway as they make the final determination and the worst that can happen is they deny the claim.

 

4 important tips for Homeowners for Roof Hail Damage

Hail damage to the roof is quite common than most people think. If you are living in a storm and hail-prone state like Florida, your home might be frequently damaged by it. Damage to your roof's shingles can compromise the effective life of your roof and even lead to large-scale problems if not identified promptly. Taking some proactive steps will help protect your roof against damage and will help you save a considerable amount on the roof repair of your home.

You will not only ensure that your roof lasts longer but also have fewer roof repair expenses as well if you take definitive steps to lessen the effects of the frozen balls on your roof. Investing in hail resistivity roofing materials would be advisable and prevent hail damage to the roof. Here are a few tips which will help you properly identify roof hail damage.

Tip #1: Check for visible damage from inside the home? If you see water stains or slow drips on the inside of your home, then you may a problem which requires immediate action. A new water stain on your ceiling is most definitely a sign that your roof was damaged. If left untreated, the problem will worsen leading to further damage which may require a complete tear-off of your existing roof, not to mention repairs to the interior of your home.

Tip #2: Check for visible dents on your roof's shingles? Just because you don't see any damage to the inside of your home does not mean your roof was not damaged. Don’t neglect the exterior damage, you run the risk of damage to your home in the months to come. Even worse is if you don't file an insurance claim within the time guidelines stipulated in your homeowner's insurance policy, you may lose the benefits that you are entitled to now. Identifying shingle blisters requires a visible inspection of your roof. Sometimes blisters may be hard to see.

Tip #3 Get professional opinions. There's no denying when a hail storm has blown through town. If there is knowledge of a storm, and you contact your insurance company, they will most likely dispatch an adjuster. That adjuster represents your insurance company. His job is to identify the damage, assess the cost to repair or replace your roof and make sure all of the paperwork is to process a claim. Although the insurance company offers their adjusters, Contact independent Public adjusters for best results and opinions on the damages.

Tip #4 Records and Writing. Most insurance companies will only issue a check directly to the roofer. This protects the insurance company from the homeowner pocketing the proceeds and never repairing the damage. By getting your roofing contractor to agree to the type of repairs to be performed and the costs involved, will ensure that your roof gets the required repairs. If your roofer agrees that the insurance check is sufficient to repair your roof hail damage, then they should be willing to do the repairs for that cost, nothing more.

Important points to remember whenever you face Water damage

 

Water damage is one of the most common damages that are faced by every house owners. The damages occurred by the water are very terrific. Mostly people do not know how to deal with these water damages. Water damage will effect in paint peeling, carpet damage and also induces bad odour. Availing help from the professionals for insurance claiming will make you easy to process the documentation. Roofs, Doors, windows and gutters are major materials which are affected by water.

How to Detect Water Damage?

In our daily upgrading world there are many new tools are present to detect and restore water damages. Hygrometers are the measuring equipments which are used to calculate the mold remediation level which was affected by water damage. Some of the sensors are used to detect the damage in corner areas. Infrared sensors are mainly used to check the mold remediation level on the corner areas. For drying the affected place high quality dehumidifiers are involved.

Tips for water damage prevention:

Different professionals are present to fix the damages that are arised by the water. Consequently, prevention is the better option than the fixing the damaged products. This prevention measure will save you more money and will eliminate the option to contact the insurance claim company repeatedly. Whenever you face serious water damage please follow the steps clearly.

·         Water supply has to be turned off before it leaks completely and got contact with the materials.

·         Sandbags have to be used to stop the water before it passes to nearby rooms and damages the things in other rooms.

·         Shut down the power supply to avoid the electricity connected to the water and get electrocute.

·         Transfer your valuable materials and furniture from the affected place as fast as possible.

·         Safely move up to the top floor of your place until the water gets dried out completely

Once the water gets dried out, clean the surfaces to avoid mold and bacteria formation.

Water Damage Experts:

After doing the prevention steps and you are still unable to dry out the water from your home, you have to contact the water damage experts for assistance. With the help of the upgraded tools they will eliminate the water from your place. If you have insured your property you can get claim from them. You can get assistance from insurance adjusters for documentation about the water damage. They will help you to get maximum possible claim amount from the insurance company.