All Hail the King: Shingle Quality Protecting Your Roof

As the effects of global warming become more and more evident we have to face the facts that extreme weather is here to stay. One byproduct of this changing ecosystem is an increase in the amount of and size of hail we experience.

Many Michigan residents have recently seen hail the size of softballs raining down on their home and property. Anything that size and moving that fast can cause substantial damage but when it is coming from the sky in every direction there is no escaping the damages. There have been eye witness reports of hail breaking through the ceiling of a home, straight through to roof, wood, and drywall. Such instances obviously require an insurance adjuster to come out to approve a whole new roof but it doesn’t always take that drastic of an event to warrant similar actions.

You will be happy to know that over ninety percent of all hail is smaller than a golf ball. This means that you are not that likely to experience anything like in the story told above however keep in mind that there can still be substantial damage done to the roofing shingles regardless of the size of the hail.

The most common type of damage induced by storm to your roof is when the granules are knocked loose off of the shingle. When this happens the asphalt underneath the shingle gets exposed allowing sunlight to deteriorate it and eventually leading to water leaking into your home.

Insurance claims for wind and hail damage account for the vast majority of the providers total portfolio. As most insurance claims are made for roofs and the losses keep on climbing the company is forced to raise the consumers premiums. Total losses attributed to roofing claims has topped out over 5 billion dollars a year and there is no way for the insurance companies to keep up with these sort of losses. Therefore, they have no problem actively seeking solutions to mitigate some of those losses by helping to protect their customers roofs.

The most cost effective and easiest to implement strategy for mitigating those losses is to educate consumers on some of the new shingle product on the market. Several shingle companies have developed new technology allowing them to advertise the fact that their products are impact resistant. These shingles are manufactured to be stronger and more flexible then other products and have a rubber like consistency to them. These shingles can not only take the impact from a strong hail storm without incurring any major damage but they are also able to blow up and curl in heavy winds only to settle right back down to normal afterwards.

These products tend to cost a bit more initially but in the long run they will last a much longer time and reduce the likelihood of needing any future repairs substantially. Also, many insurance providers are now offering huge discounts when their customers get this type of new roofing system installed. Not every contractor is certified to do so, let alone interested in the benefits of such products, so the proper research is necessary here before choosing who to do the work.