Chicago's Storm Damage Roofing Experts

Hail damage on asphalt shingles usually looks like soft, dark bruises where granules have been knocked loose and the mat underneath is exposed — often round and randomly scattered rather than in lines. From the ground you can rarely see it, so start with the soft metals: gutter faces, downspouts, vent hoods, AC condenser fins and metal fascia all dent visibly and hold the impression. If those show round dents, the roof was almost certainly struck too. Interior signs like ceiling stains usually appear months later, well after the window to file has narrowed, so an inspection after a known hail event is the reliable route.

Hail and wind are generally treated as weather-related losses rather than losses caused by the homeowner, and carriers rate them differently than at-fault claims. That said, premiums are set by your carrier based on your policy, your claim history and regional loss experience, and rates across the Chicago area do move after major storm seasons whether or not you personally filed. We are a roofing contractor, not an insurance advisor — your agent is the right person to ask how a claim would affect your specific policy, and it is a fair question to ask before you file.

No. You choose your contractor. Carriers often maintain preferred or program contractor lists and may recommend one, but a recommendation is not a requirement and you are free to hire whoever you want. What the carrier does control is coverage and the amount they will pay for the scope of the loss. Your contractor's job is to document damage accurately and provide a written estimate; the carrier's job is to determine what the policy covers.

For a typical single-family home in the Chicago suburbs, tear-off and installation is usually one to two days of on-site work, with larger, steeper or multi-layer roofs running longer. The overall timeline from first call to finished roof is longer than the install itself: inspection, adjuster appointment, carrier approval, material ordering, permitting with your municipality, and a final building inspection after completion. After a widespread hail event, adjuster availability and material supply are the usual bottlenecks.

Most standard homeowners policies cover sudden, accidental damage from hail and wind, subject to your deductible and your policy's terms. What they generally do not cover is ordinary wear, age-related deterioration, or damage from deferred maintenance. Some policies in hail-prone regions carry a separate wind and hail deductible, or pay actual cash value rather than replacement cost on roof surfaces, which changes the math considerably. Read your declarations page, and if it is unclear, ask your agent before an inspection.

Yes. Your deductible is a term of your policy and it is your responsibility. Under Illinois law a contractor cannot waive, absorb, discount, rebate or otherwise pay a homeowner's insurance deductible, and any company offering to do so is proposing something illegal that exposes you as well as them. We will tell you this plainly, because how a contractor answers this question tells you a lot about how they handle the rest of their paperwork.

Most policies require that a loss be reported promptly, and many include a contractual deadline measured from the date of the storm — often one to two years, though the exact language varies by carrier and policy. Waiting creates a second problem beyond the deadline: the longer you wait, the harder it becomes to tie the damage to a specific dated event rather than to general wear, and that is the argument carriers make most often. Check the loss-reporting language in your own policy, and if you know a hail event hit your area, get it documented while the evidence is still fresh.

Repair makes sense when the damage is localized, the surrounding shingles still have flexibility and granule coverage left, and a matching shingle can be sourced. Replacement becomes the better answer when damage is spread across multiple slopes, when the roof is already near the end of its service life, when there are multiple layers, or when the shingle line is discontinued and a patch would be visibly different. Storm claims add another factor: a carrier's scope may fund replacement of some slopes and not others, and matching becomes part of that conversation. We document what we find and give you the honest version, including when a repair is genuinely enough.