After a hard Middle Tennessee storm, the most common question we hear is also the hardest to answer from the driveway: did my roof actually get hurt? Hail and wind damage are notorious for hiding in plain sight. Here is how to read the signs before they turn into a leak.
Look in your gutters first
The easiest clue is at ground level. Walk your gutters and downspout splash blocks and look for piles of shingle granules — they look like coarse black sand. A roof sheds some granules over its life, but a sudden pile after a hailstorm means the protective surface of your shingles took a beating.
Signs you can see from the ground
- Dented gutters, flashing, or vents. Soft metal dents before shingles show damage, so dinged gutters are an early warning.
- Shingle pieces in the yard or on the driveway after high wind.
- Shingles that look “bald,” shiny, or pockmarked when you look up at the roof.
- Lifted or curled shingles along the edges, a sign wind broke the seal.
The damage you can’t see
This is the catch. Hail leaves bruises — soft spots where the granules are knocked loose and the mat underneath is exposed. Wind leaves creases where a shingle was bent back and cracked. Neither is obvious from the ground, and both quietly shorten your roof’s life and open the door to leaks months later. That is why a ground-level check is only step one.
What to do next
- Photograph everything from the ground and note the storm date.
- Don’t climb up. A storm-damaged roof is slippery and dangerous, and most roofing injuries are falls.
- Get a professional inspection. Our free roof inspection puts an experienced roofer on the roof to find the bruising and creasing an untrained eye misses, with photo documentation you can use for a claim.
If we find real damage, our storm damage repair team documents it the way an adjuster needs to see it and can help you through the insurance process. Tennessee policies have filing deadlines, so a prompt check after a notable storm protects both your roof and your claim.
Storm-prone communities like Murfreesboro and Mount Juliet see this every spring. If a storm just rolled through your area, a quick inspection is the cheapest insurance there is — call us at (615) 300-6005.