Hail, straight-line wind and the occasional tornado warning are part of living in Wake Forest, Raleigh and the Triangle. When a storm has come through, the most useful thing you can do in the first day is not to call a contractor — it is to document what you can see, safely, while it is fresh. This is the checklist we recommend. It helps whether you end up calling us, another contractor, or nobody at all.
First: stay off the roof
Nothing on this list requires a ladder. Wet shingles, loose debris and damaged decking are how people get hurt after a storm, and a photo from the ground or a window is enough to start with. If part of the roof is open to the weather, a tarp is a reasonable temporary step — we can place one for you, and it should only ever be done by someone with the equipment to work on a damaged surface safely. Call (919) 426-6949 if that is where you are.
What to photograph from the ground
Take more photos than you think you need, in daylight if possible, and keep them in their original form so the date and time stay attached.
Each side of the house, whole-roof view. Stand back far enough to get the full slope. Do this for every side, even the ones that look fine.
Anything on the ground that came off the roof. Shingles, shingle granules in piles at the downspouts, pieces of flashing, ridge cap, vent covers.
Gutters and downspouts. Dents, sections pulled away, gutters overflowing with granules. See also what we look at on gutter work.
Siding, windows, doors and garage door. Dents, cracked or missing pieces, broken seals, screens torn.
Soft metals. Mailbox, AC unit fins, window screens, metal porch rails — hail leaves marks on these that are easy to see and easy to date.
Trees and fences. Downed limbs and where they landed, especially if they touched the house.
Inside the house. Any new water stains on ceilings, wet insulation visible in the attic hatch, drips, or wet spots on walls around windows.
What to write down
A short note on your phone the same day: the date and roughly the time of the storm, what you noticed first (a leak, a noise, debris), and which rooms are affected. If a neighbour's property was visibly hit too, note it — it helps anyone assessing your roof understand the storm's path.
What to keep
Keep the photos, the note, and any receipts — for a tarp, for emergency water cleanup, for a hotel if you had to leave. Keep damaged pieces that came off the roof in a bag in the garage rather than throwing them away; a sample of the shingle is often useful later.
Insurance: one sentence
If you think the damage may be covered, contact your own insurance company and follow their instructions; your policy and your insurer decide what is covered, and the photos and notes above are what they will ask you for. We do not interpret policies or negotiate claims. What we do — photos, a written estimate you can keep — is described on our insurance claim repairs page.
What a roofing inspection adds
Once you have your own photos, an inspection fills in what you cannot see from the ground: lifted or creased shingles, cracked pipe boots, flashing pulled at the chimney or walls, hail bruising that is only visible up close, and whether a leak is from the storm or from something older. We document what we find with photos and give you a written estimate before any work is scheduled, so you know what you are dealing with before deciding on repairs. If the roof simply needs a repair, we say so.
See the work
The projects page shows completed roofs from our own jobs across the Triangle.
Need someone to look at the roof?
Tell us what you're seeing — a leak, missing shingles, debris, or just a storm that has you worried — and where the property is, and we will set up an inspection. More on our roofing and storm damage repair page; towns we cover on service areas. Or call (919) 426-6949.
