What to check after a mid-South storm — from the ground

Storm season here brings straight-line winds and hail, and the damage they do is often invisible from the street while being obvious from twenty feet up. You do not need to get up there to learn a great deal.

Stay off the roof. Falls are the serious risk in this entire article, and wet or damaged decking is far less predictable than it looks. A pair of binoculars from the ground tells you most of what you need.

What to look for:

• Shingles that are missing, lifted at a corner, or visibly out of line with their neighbours.
• A build-up of granules — the sandy grit off the shingle surface — at the bottom of downspouts. A little is normal on a new roof. A lot, after a storm, is not.
• Damaged or displaced flashing where the roof meets a chimney, a wall, or a vent.
• Dents on soft metal — gutters, vents, the fins of the air conditioning condenser. Hail that dents aluminium has very likely bruised the shingles too, even where you cannot see it.
• Inside, check ceilings and the attic for staining a few days later. Water takes its time.

Photograph everything before anything is repaired, with dates. If an insurance claim follows, the photographs you took the day after are worth considerably more than the ones you took a fortnight later.

A word on door-knockers. Crews follow storms through the mid-South and some of them are excellent. Others are not. Nobody reputable needs a signature on the doorstep the same afternoon. Take the time to check who you are dealing with.

Call someone if: you can see damage from the ground, water has come inside, or you simply want a roof looked at properly — which is a reasonable thing to want after a bad night.