Colorado Springs sits inside one of the most active hail corridors in the United States. Most homeowners here will deal with hail damage at some point, and the single biggest mistake we see is assuming that a roof which looks fine from the driveway came through a storm untouched.
Why hail damage is so easy to miss
Hail rarely punches visible holes in a roof. What it usually does is bruise the shingle – fracturing the fibreglass mat underneath the surface while leaving the top looking more or less intact. That bruise breaks the shingle’s structural integrity and accelerates granule loss. The roof does not leak the week after the storm. It leaks three or four years later, having quietly shed years of service life.
What to look for from the ground
You can do a useful first check without climbing anything:
- Granules in the gutters and downspouts. A handful of granules is normal wear. A significant accumulation after a storm is not.
- Dents on soft metals. Gutters, downspouts, vents, flashing and metal window trim dent before shingles show damage. They are your early warning system.
- Damage to other surfaces. Dented air conditioner fins, pockmarked fence tops, damaged deck boards and stripped leaves all indicate hail large enough to affect a roof.
- Cracked or missing vent boots. The rubber boots around plumbing vents are among the first components to fail under hail impact.
What a professional looks for on the roof
On the roof itself, we look for randomly distributed impact marks – hail damage has no pattern, which is what distinguishes it from foot traffic or manufacturing defects. We check for bruising by pressing on suspect marks, which feel soft like a bruise on fruit. We measure impact density across each roof plane, because adjusters assess damage per square rather than as a total count, and we photograph everything with a scale reference.
When to act
Most Colorado policies require a hail claim to be filed within a set window after the storm, commonly one year, though this varies by insurer. Waiting to see if the roof leaks is the worst possible strategy, because by the time it leaks the filing window has usually closed and you pay for the replacement yourself.
If a significant hail event has passed over your neighbourhood, book an inspection. Ours are free, they take under an hour, and if your roof is undamaged we will tell you so and leave. There is no downside to knowing.