HAIL DAMAGE,
DEFENSIBLE.
An insurance adjuster looks at hail damage differently than a roofer does. Knowing what they look for — and documenting accordingly — is the difference between a clean approval and a denied claim. Here is the practical guide.
What an adjuster is actually checking
Adjusters use four primary criteria to determine if hail damage is real and claim-worthy: random pattern (storm hail does not hit in straight lines), recent indicators (mat exposure, granule loss, soft-metal dents), size correlation (damage matches reported hail size), and consistency across slopes (damage on the windward sides is heavier).
Your documentation has to answer all four. Not just "there is hail damage" — but specifically that it is real, recent, size-appropriate, and consistent.
The wide shot — establish the pattern
For each slope of the roof, take a wide-angle photo from the eave looking up. The adjuster wants to see the random scatter pattern of hail strikes. A photo of one strike does not tell them anything; a slope-wide shot does.
The close-up — show the indicator
On hail strikes, the asphalt mat is exposed where granules were knocked off. That exposure is fresh — the mat is darker than the surrounding shingle. That contrast disappears within 6 months as the mat oxidizes.
Get a close-up of at least 10 strikes per slope. Each close-up should show the granule loss + mat exposure clearly. A nickel for scale is old-school and still works.
Soft metals — the corroborating evidence
Hail dents soft metals: gutters, downspouts, AC fins, vent caps, screens. Soft metal damage is harder to fake than shingle damage. Photograph any soft metal damage you find — it corroborates the shingle claim.
Indirect indicators — the bonus evidence
Splatter marks on chimneys, paint, and trim. Beaten-down vegetation if the storm was recent. Hail dents on car hoods or hot tubs in the yard. Adjusters love corroborating evidence outside the roof itself.
What NOT to document
Mechanical damage (foot traffic, branch impact) — looks like hail to a homeowner, looks fake to an adjuster.
Granule loss without a strike pattern — could be aging.
Old hail damage on an old roof — hard to time-bound; adjuster may attribute to a prior storm not on this claim.
Photographing these and including them in your evidence weakens the supplement. Cull aggressively.
How to organize photos for the supplement
Tag photos by slope (north, south, east, west) and by indicator type (strike, soft metal, splatter, indirect). The supplement can then reference photos by slope: "Per attached photos NW-1 through NW-12, the north and west slopes show consistent random hail strike patterns with mat exposure indicating recent damage."
Doing this fast on the roof
Modern roofing CRMs with AI tagging (Revolve Core does this) auto-tag photos by slope based on phone orientation and damage type based on visual recognition. You shoot fast; the photos file themselves. The supplement reference list builds itself.
The bottom line
Hail damage that gets approved is hail damage that is documented to answer the adjuster's four criteria. The roofer who documents to those criteria wins more claims than the roofer who documents "more."
See the photo workflow that handles all of this
QUICK
ANSWERS.
Most carriers want damage within the past 12 months and within the policy period. Mat-exposed strikes typically indicate damage within the last 6 months; older strikes oxidize and look different.
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