Hail Damage on Siding: How to Spot It and What Insurance Covers

How to check your siding for hail damage

You can check most siding from the ground. Walk around the house in early morning or late afternoon light, when low sun makes dents and cracks easier to see.

Look along the wall at an angle rather than straight at it, and crouch to look up at the bottom edges of the panels. Use your phone to photograph anything you find, with a coin or tape measure in the frame for scale.

Check the soft metals on the same sides of the house. Dented gutters, downspouts, window trim, vent hoods and flattened air-conditioner fins are strong evidence that hail hit that wall.

Press on any panel that looks off. A vinyl panel that rattles or moves freely may have a broken nailing strip behind it, which means it is no longer locked to the wall.

What hail damage looks like on each type of siding

Vinyl siding

Hail fractures vinyl rather than denting it. Look for cracks running up from the bottom edge of a panel, half-moon chips out of the lower lip, round holes where a stone punched through, and star-shaped cracks around an impact point.

Vinyl gets stiffer in cold weather and more brittle with age and sun exposure. Older siding on the sunny sides of a house often cracks in a storm that leaves shaded walls untouched.

Aluminum and steel siding

Metal siding records hail as dents and dimples. They are easiest to see when you look along the wall in low sun, and almost invisible in midday light.

Check for chipped or chalky paint at impact points and spots where bare metal shows. Exposed steel can rust, and dents in either metal are usually where a cosmetic damage argument starts.

Fiber cement siding

Fiber cement is hard, so hail chips it instead of denting it. Look for missing chunks at bottom edges and corners, small craters with hairline cracks around them, and spots where the factory finish popped off to show gray board underneath.

Wood and engineered wood siding

Hail leaves gouges, splintered edges and paint knocked off in small spots on wood siding. Once water gets into those spots, older hardboard and some engineered wood can swell along the edges.

When it is not hail damage

Several common problems look like hail at first glance. Knowing them prevents a claim that gets denied and stays on your loss history.

• Heat distortion. Wavy, glossy panels near a grill or a window that reflects sunlight are heat damage, explained in our guide to vinyl siding melting near windows.
• Buckling. Long wavy runs across a wall usually mean panels were nailed too tight, covered in our guide to signs of bad siding installation.
• Chalking and fading. Even dullness or white powder across every wall is weathering, not storm damage.
• Mower and trimmer marks. Nicks and scuffs on only the lowest course or two come from yard equipment.

Hail damage is directional and random within a wall. Damage spread evenly on all four sides points to wear or a product problem instead.

Why hail damage shows on one side of the house

Hail rarely falls straight down. Storm winds drive it at an angle, so it hammers the walls facing the storm and often misses the opposite sides completely.

Adjusters expect that pattern. Damage concentrated on the storm-facing walls, with matching dents on gutters and trim on the same sides, makes a claim more credible.

Found cracks, chips or dents on one side of the house? Call (608) 909-9109 for a free on-site inspection, and we will meet your adjuster on site.

How insurance handles hail damage to siding

Hail damage to siding is part of the same loss as the roof, gutters and screens. File them together on one claim with one deductible, because adding siding months later is harder.

Check whether your policy uses a flat deductible or a percentage wind and hail deductible. A percentage deductible is based on your dwelling coverage and can be much larger than homeowners expect.

Cosmetic damage exclusions

Some policies exclude hail damage that only affects appearance, most often on metal roofs and sometimes on metal siding. Dents may be excluded under that wording, while cracked or punctured panels that let water behind the wall are usually still covered.

Our guide to cosmetic damage exclusions explains how to find the wording and what evidence matters.

Matching the rest of the house

Siding fades, and colors and profiles are discontinued, so new panels often do not match the old ones. Whether insurance replaces a whole wall or the whole house depends on your policy, your state's rules and whether matching siding is still made.

Our guide to whether insurance will replace all your siding walks through matching and how to document it.

Is it worth filing?

Get the damage inspected and estimated before you file, then compare the estimate with your deductible. A claim that barely clears the deductible still goes on your loss history.

Once the roof, gutters, screens and siding are added together, a hail claim often clears the deductible by a wide margin. A documented inspection tells you which side of that line you are on before you call your insurer.

What to gather before the adjuster visits

Collect these before the adjuster arrives, so the same damage is seen and agreed on in one visit.

• The storm date and reported hail size, from National Weather Service storm reports
• Dated photos of every wall, plus close-ups of damage with something for scale
• Photos of dented gutters, downspouts, trim, vents and air-conditioner fins
• The siding manufacturer, profile and color, from leftover pieces or build records
• Records of any earlier siding repairs

Having your contractor at the inspection helps make sure every damaged wall and accessory item makes it onto the estimate.

If the claim is denied or underpaid

Ask for the adjuster's photo report, the line-item estimate and the policy wording in writing. Then request a reinspection with your contractor present, with your own photos and notes.

Missed walls, trim and accessories are usually added through a supplement with documentation. If you still disagree on the amount, most policies include an appraisal clause, and you can file a free complaint with the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance.

Getting siding hail damage documented

Siding damage is easiest to prove soon after the storm, before freeze-thaw cycles push water into cracked panels. Buckshot Exteriors is family-owned and has worked on roofs and exteriors since 1979, with offices in Madison, WI and Centerville, IA.

We offer a free on-site inspection, check the roof and siding together, and meet your insurance adjuster on site to document hail and wind damage. Our storm-damaged siding page explains repairs, our siding repair page covers smaller fixes, and our hail damage and residential roofing pages cover the roof.

Call (608) 909-9109 to schedule a free inspection, or see how our storm damage team works. If a storm just came through, our 24-hour storm line is the same number.