Why Attempting to Patch a Roof for Hail Damage is Ridiculous

Hail-damage to roof shingles

All the recent hailstorms lately—Denton, Frisco, Dallas, Killeen, McAllen, Eagle Pass, etc.—have reminded me of an issue I’ve been meaning to blog about for quite a while.

I first ran into this “patching” or roof repair issue when I was working as an independent insurance adjuster for State Farm and USAA.  We would be instructed to conduct a “test square” on each directional slope of a roof.  Basically, four test squares for each house—North, East, South, and West—or however many directional slopes the house actually had.

A test square is a ten foot by ten foot square—it corresponds to a square of roofing which is the commonly used unit of measurement in roofing.  Then, we were instructed to inspect and mark every hail-damaged shingle in the test square.  If there were X or more (say 10) damaged shingles in a test square, then the insurance company would agree to replace all slopes facing that direction.  BUT, if there were 9 or less, then the insurance company would try to force the policyholder to accept a “repair” or “patch job.”

The theory behind the patch job roof repair is that it is cheaper to replace every shingle on a slope than it is to “patch” repair more than X (again, say 10 for this example).  So, if it costs $150 per square to replace every shingle, and it costs $15 to replace a single shingle, then once you hit 10 you might as well replace it all.

The problems come when this theory is applied to reality.  If you have one damaged shingle per square (and this is giving the insurance adjuster the benefit of the doubt of whether or not he found every damaged shingle), then the insurance company would pay $15 per square on slopes facing that direction.  Say, for this example, the adjuster found 1 damaged shingle per square on the west-facing slopes; further, assume there are 10 squares of west-facing slopes.  So, 10 squares x $15 for one shingle/square = $150.00 for the replacement of 10 damaged shingles.

It all sounds well and good in theory; however, this methodology is inherently unfair to the homeowner for several reasons.  First, there’s a matching issue—the new shingles are not going to match the old ones, and the homeowner will be left with a roof that looks like it has been sporadically patched.  This obviously affects not only the effectiveness of the roof but also the value of the home.  Second, and more importantly, what roofer is going to spend the time needed to find 10 damaged shingles in 1000 square feet of roofing area for $150?  That would take hours of looking for the shingles not even including the time it would take to actually “patch” them out.  Finally, how does the homeowner know that the roofer found every damaged shingle?  Honestly, I’ve done thousands of hail damage inspections during my time as an adjuster, public adjuster, and bad faith attorney.  NOBODY can be expected to catch 100% of them.  So what happens five years later when the roof starts to leak?  Oh, sorry, homeowner, it’s old damage and it’s past the statute of limitations.  Guess you’ll just have to pay for a new roof yourself.

But that’s not the way insurance is supposed to work, is it?  The whole point is to transfer the risk of damage (and monetary loss) from the owner to the insurance company.  That’s why you pay premiums.

So, if you or someone you know finds themselves in this type of situation, please give us a call.  We handle these cases on contingency, which means you don’t pay us or any costs unless we achieve a recovery for you.  I have personally been in the hail damage insurance business since 1997—coming on twenty years now!  In addition, we have several attorneys experienced in hail damage insurance cases who can assist you.  Don’t get lowballed, get justice!