What to Check After a Hailstorm

The tricky thing about hail is how little it shows for how much it does. A roof can look completely intact from the yard while the shingles above have lost the granule layer that shields them from the sun, and that quiet damage may not become a leak for months. So the goal in the hours after a storm is not to diagnose your roof — you can't, not honestly, and certainly not safely. The goal is to be a careful witness: gather the evidence that's visible from the ground, record it well, and recognize the signs that mean it's time to bring in someone who can see what you can't.

Everything below happens with both feet on the ground. Hail-struck surfaces are slick, and a roof that just took a beating is the last place you want to be standing. Wait until the storm has fully passed, check for downed limbs or lines, and only then start your lap — phone in hand for photos, binoculars for the high stuff, and something like a ruler or a coin for scale.

Read the metal first

Metal gutters and downspouts are your best witnesses because they take a hit and keep the record plainly. Work around the house methodically, side by side, and look closely at the upward-facing surfaces where falling hail lands squarely:

• Dents, dings and dimples pressed into the troughs and the downspouts.
• Fresh scratches or paint chips that weren't there before the storm.
• The same story repeated on metal fixtures nearby — vents, light housings, the fins of an AC unit, even the mailbox.

Because this metal is easy to inspect at eye level, it gives you a reliable read on how hard the hail was coming down and from which direction. Note the side of the house that took the worst of it; the storm usually favors one face, and that's where the roof above likely fared worst too.

The granules in the gutter are the real tell

Here's the single most useful thing to look for, and it's easy to walk right past: an unusual amount of shingle granules collected in the troughs and piled at the downspout outlets, or washed into the splash areas where the downspouts empty. Those granules are the protective mineral coating scoured off the shingles by the impacts. Finding a heavy accumulation of them is often the clearest ground-level evidence that the roof itself was struck — even when the shingles look perfectly fine from below. If the metal is dented and the gutters are full of grit, treat that as a strong signal, not a curiosity.

Let the softer surfaces corroborate

Painted and softer surfaces record hail impacts differently but just as usefully, and they help confirm what the metal is telling you. Scan the siding for spatter marks, dents or cracks, concentrating on the side the storm came from. Check window screens and frames for tears, dents or sections knocked loose. Look over decks, railings and outdoor furniture too — they aren't the point of the inspection, but fresh damage there is supporting evidence of how severe the hail was. And use the binoculars to study the roof edge from the ground: bruising or missing granules along the shingle edge, and dents in the metal roof vents, flashing or any skylight housings, all read from below.

What you do not do is climb up to get a closer look. A hail-struck roof is both a fall risk and something that walking on can actively worsen. The guide on inspecting the roof edge from the ground keeps that part of the job safely at eye level, and the actual on-roof inspection belongs to a professional.

Document it like you'll need it

Good records pay off whether you end up consulting a contractor, filing an insurance claim, or simply want a before-and-after baseline for the next storm. The trick is to document as you go rather than trying to reconstruct it from memory later:

• Photograph each area of damage with both wide shots and close-ups, so the location and the detail are both clear.
• Put a ruler or coin in the frame for scale, and photograph any hailstones that are still on the ground before they melt.
• Note the date and time of the storm and of your inspection.
• Keep the photos organized by location so nothing gets lost in the roll.

For a fuller framework that extends this across the whole exterior, the post-storm exterior inspection checklist is a useful companion.

The roof, the pros, and the people who knock

Once your ground-level check turns up the warning signs — heavy granule loss in the gutters, dented vents or flashing, damage to nearby surfaces that suggests the roof caught it too — the next step is a roofing professional for the actual roof inspection. A pro can assess the shingles safely, document their findings properly, and advise on repairs. On the insurance question there's no universal rule; it depends on your policy and the apparent severity. Many homeowners document the damage themselves first, get a professional assessment, and then decide about a claim.

One last caution that's easy to forget in the stress after a storm: be wary of the unsolicited crews that go door to door in hail-hit neighborhoods. Stick with established, licensed contractors you can actually verify, and don't let urgency rush you into signing with whoever showed up first. For the other half of the story — getting ready before the weather turns — see preparing your exterior for a major storm, and the seasonal care hub keeps the rest of your calendar in one place. A hidden hail bruise costs far less to catch now than after it has quietly become a leak.