The First 72 Hours After a North Texas Hail Storm

This is not a countdown and nothing expires at hour 73. But there is a real reason to move in the first few days rather than the following month: evidence taken close in time to the event is much harder to argue with, and almost every avoidable mistake in a hail claim gets made early — usually by being helpful, not by being careless.

Everything below follows the Texas Department of Insurance's published guidance for homeowners after hail or windstorms, with the roofing specifics filled in.

The first hour: safety, then evidence

Stay off the roof. Genuinely. The most common serious injury after a hail storm is a homeowner on their own roof, and a freshly-hit roof can have loose granules underfoot that behave like ball bearings. Whatever is up there will still be up there tomorrow.

Deal with anything actively causing damage. TDI advises taking steps to prevent further damage — removing standing water, covering openings — and keeping every receipt for what you spend doing it. Move belongings out of the way of a drip. Put something under it. If a ceiling is holding water, understand that it will eventually come down and keep people away from it.

Photograph before you cover anything. If a tarp is going on, the damage underneath it becomes invisible for the next several weeks. Two minutes of photographs first.

Note the time and the date. And, if you noticed, which direction the storm came from. Both matter later, when the damage pattern is being assessed against the event.

Day one: document everything

TDI's guidance is specific here: photograph and video the damage, keep a written list of what was damaged, and keep the damaged items themselves. In practice, on a roof, that means:

• The soft metals. Gutters, downspouts, roof vents and turbines, the fins on your air-conditioning condenser, the mailbox, fence caps. These record hail impact clearly, they are at ground level, and they are frequently what establishes that hail hit this specific property at all.
• Window screens. Tears and dimpling are good evidence and easy to overlook.
• The ground. Shingle pieces, granule accumulation at downspout outlets, hail on the lawn if any is still there. Photograph hail against something for scale — a coin, a ruler — before it melts.
• The house. Siding, garage door, patio furniture, vehicles. Collateral damage corroborates severity.
• Inside. Ceiling stains, damp patches, anything in the attic. Photograph the interior damage and the corresponding exterior location.
• The roof, from the ground, with whatever zoom you have. Not a diagnosis, but a dated record.

Do not make permanent repairs. TDI is explicit about this and it is the single most consequential instruction on this page. Temporary protection is expected. Permanent repair before the insurer inspects destroys the evidence for the claim you are about to make.

Day one or two: the knock at the door

Someone will knock. Often several someones. Crews follow hail across Texas, and the reason they can is that Texas does not license roofing contractors at the state level — the barrier to entry after a storm is a truck and a ladder.

Not all of them are dishonest. But you did not choose them, you have not checked them, and you are having this conversation on your doorstep on a day when you are stressed. That is the worst set of conditions for a decision of this size.

The things that should end the conversation:

• An offer to waive or cover your deductible. TDI states that contractors cannot legally waive your deductible under Texas law. This is illegal, and it tells you what you need to know.
• Pressure to sign today.
• A guarantee that your claim will be approved. Nobody can promise that.
• A request for payment up front. TDI advises never prepaying in full.
• A contract with blank spaces in it. Also warned about by TDI specifically.

Day two: get it inspected properly

Now you need someone on the roof, and specifically someone you chose. What a proper inspection produces is not an opinion, it is a document:

• Dated photographs of every slope, organized by elevation
• Close-ups of each defect, tight enough to be legible, with scale where it matters
• A hands-on check for bruising, which is often easier to feel than to see
• A hands-on check of the sealant strips — wind frequently breaks seals on shingles that drop back into place looking untouched
• Flashing, penetrations, ridge, ventilation and decking condition where visible
• A written summary in plain English, which you keep

That report is what you will be working from for the rest of the process. It is also what turns the adjuster's visit from a conversation into a walkthrough of a written list. More on what a good one contains: what a roof inspection covers.

Day three: decide whether to file

Filing is not automatic and it is not always right. Before you decide, get two numbers in front of you.

Your wind and hail deductible. Not your general policy deductible. TDI notes these can differ, and the wind and hail figure is often a percentage of dwelling coverage rather than a flat amount — which can make it considerably larger than the number you had in mind.

The documented extent of the damage. From your inspection report, not from a guess.

If the documented damage is comfortably above the deductible, filing is straightforward. If it is marginal, it is a genuine judgment call. If it is clearly below, filing achieves nothing except putting a claim on your record.

When you do file, TDI recommends being present for the adjuster's inspection and getting at least two bids. Both matter. The full sequence is on the Texas roof insurance claim process.

The five mistakes that cost the most

1. Waiting to see if it leaks. Hail damage often leaves a roof watertight for years while the mat degrades. By the time it leaks, the damage looks like age and your filing window has probably closed.
2. Making permanent repairs first. Understandable, and it removes the evidence. TDI says not to, explicitly.
3. Signing on the doorstep. Nothing about a storm requires a decision within an hour of it ending.
4. Not being there for the adjuster. They are covering a lot of properties. Damage nobody points out does not always get found.
5. Taking the first check and stopping. On a replacement cost policy, TDI describes payment as typically arriving in two checks, the second after repairs begin. No repairs, no second check.

Frequently asked questions