How do you check a roof for damage after a storm?

You should never climb a wet or steep roof yourself. Instead, perform a ground-level collateral damage assessment. Check your downspouts for dents, look for torn window screens, inspect the soft metal fins on your exterior AC unit, and look for large amounts of shingle granules washed out of the gutters.

What is considered collateral damage in an insurance claim?

Collateral damage refers to storm impacts on items other than the roof itself. Because asphalt shingles are durable, it can be hard to spot hail hits from the ground. However, soft metals (like gutters, mailboxes, and AC fins) dent instantly. Finding collateral damage is the primary way adjusters verify the severity and direction of the storm.

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DIY Storm Damage Assessment

You do not need to risk your life on a ladder to know if your roof was destroyed. Use our ground-level checklist to identify the exact “Collateral Damage” evidence that adjusters look for.

Hybrid Tool Author: Damage Verified Research Team • Target: Safe, Ground-Level Inspections

Collateral Damage Scanner

Walk the perimeter of your home. Check the boxes below for any secondary storm damage you can physically see from the ground.

The Air Conditioning Unit The thin aluminum fins on the outside of my AC condenser are smashed flat, bent, or visibly impacted.

Gutters & Downspouts There are small, circular dents on my aluminum downspouts, or ‘splatter’ marks where the oxidation has been knocked off the metal.

Window Screens My window screens are torn, rippled, or look like they have small ‘bulges’ pushing through the mesh.

Ground Washout There are massive piles of dark sand/gravel (shingle granules) washing out of the bottom of my downspouts onto the driveway.

The Assessment Index

1. Why Adjusters Rely on Collateral Damage
2. The Undeniable Proof: Soft Metals
3. The AC Unit: A Two-for-One Claim
4. When to Call the Contractor

Asphalt shingles are designed to take a beating. From the ground, a destroyed roof often looks perfectly normal. Instead of risking a ladder fall, you must act like a forensic investigator and look for the “soft” indicators that the storm was severe enough to break the shingles.

1. Why Adjusters Rely on Collateral Damage

When an insurance adjuster arrives, the very first thing they do is walk the perimeter of your house. They are establishing the Storm Trajectory.

If you claim that massive hail destroyed the North slope of your roof, but the adjuster looks at the North-facing aluminum gutters and finds zero dents, they will instantly assume your roof damage is either faked (mechanical marring) or old blistering. It is a scientific fact: if hail was large enough to fracture an asphalt shingle, it was large enough to dent soft aluminum.

2. The Undeniable Proof: Soft Metals

Soft metals are the most important evidence on your property. They cannot be “faked” easily, and they record the exact size and severity of the kinetic impacts. Look closely at:

Aluminum Downspouts: Walk up to your downspouts and look at them from a severe angle (putting your cheek against the wall). Small indentations will shadow perfectly in the sunlight.
Window Wraps & Fascia: The thin metal wrapping around your windows will show distinct “pockmarks” from wind-driven hail.
The Mailbox: If you have a metal mailbox, check the top and sides.

Redacted photo highlighting severe hail splatter and denting on an aluminum downspout

3. The AC Unit: A Two-for-One Claim

The AC Coil Trap

The exterior fins on your HVAC condenser are incredibly delicate. If hail hits them, they smash flat, restricting airflow and destroying the efficiency of the unit. Adjusters often try to pay $150 to “comb” the fins back out. This rarely works and often cracks the freon lines. If more than 30% of the fins are smashed, demand a full coil replacement on your insurance claim—this is often a $3,000 to $5,000 line item on its own.

4. When to Call the Contractor

If you find two or more signs of collateral damage from the ground, you have enough evidence to justify a professional inspection. Do not call the insurance company yet. Call an independent contractor to climb the roof and photograph the primary damage first.

What to tell the Contractor:

“I have performed a ground-level assessment and found definitive collateral damage, including smashed AC fins, dented downspouts, and torn screens on the West and North elevations. I need a qualified inspector to safely access the roof, perform a 10×10 test square on the affected slopes, and confirm if the shingle mats have sustained functional fractures before I file a claim.”