Hail Damage

Michael Holigan: When you're building a new home or replacing a roof on your existing home there's a lot of things to consider, like shape, style, price. But there's one other thing you ought to keep in mind - hail damage. We came to a research lab at Texas Tech University where engineers have designed equipment that recreates the damage that hailstones can cause in even the most violent hailstorms. Using homemade artificial hailstones this air cannon can shoot golf ball and baseball size chunks of ice at speeds up to 100 miles an hour.

Dr. Milton Smith: We're testing materials to evaluate resistance to hail, materials could be on a building or on an automobile or on just about anything exposed to hail. Most storms are going to have very small hail. A few large storms will have damaging hail. Maybe one out of ten, one of out 20. But those are the ones that do all the damage to buildings.

MH: Insurance companies pay out hundreds of millions of dollars each year to replace or repair roofs damaged by hailstorms. And just how much punishment can a hard hailstorm dish out? Researchers retrieved this pad from a test area after a hailstorm in Texas in 1984.

MS: From this, we can determine the number of hailstones in a two foot by two foot square here. It's close to 200.

MH: Biggest number I see here, 175. That's a lot of hail in a 2x2 area.

MS: That is a lot of hail.

MH: And that's just one storm you said?

MS: That was just one storm and the imprints here can tell us about what diameter the hailstones were. In this case here...course that one there is very large, close to two inches in diameter to cause that.

MH: What would a two inch hailstone coming down with a little tail wind do to a wood shingle roof? We gave it the test. Well, as you can see, it left a big dent, split our wood shingle all the way up. It's ruined. Even broke the one underneath it. As you can see, wood shakes just can't take a two-inch piece of hail with wind. Just blows it apart. The most common roofing material in the U.S. is the standard asphalt composition shingle. Composition shingles are available at different price levels in varying degrees of durability. We shot some ice at a mid range composition product. You can see on this composite shingle it did make a perforation all the way through the shingle. Now, in most states if an insurance adjuster can find five of these in a 10x10 area on your roof, they call to replace all of the roof on that slope of the house. So what kind of roof can take this punishment? Research is showing that certain specially designed materials hold up really well. This one is called Fire Free. It takes a hit from a one and three-quarter inch iceball at 75 miles an hour, the same as a hailstone falling in a 30 mile an hour wind, and shows no damage. Looks good. No dimples and no cracks. Tough shingle. Another kind of really durable roofing that is growing in popularity is metal roofing. It's lighter than most other materials, but researchers say it's one of the strongest most dependable materials they've tested. Shingle just absorbed the blow and it just fell off. It didn't even shatter the ice. We tried it again.

(Man1): Just a bigger dent now?.

MH: Just a bigger dent. Didn't hurt the shingle at all, no cracks, nothing.

(Man2): That's outstanding.

MH: So we upped the ante. We tried a two-inch iceball at 90 miles an hour at the metal roof. This material, called Decroshake, took the hit. I can't see any damage at all. Looks fine, even with the big ice. Because of the added cost, metal roofing might not be an option for many homeowners, but it is one of the most weatherproof and fire resistant materials you can use for roofing your house. So what if you can't afford the more expensive materials? Researchers say a good composition roof should be fine. As long as you invest in a quality product with the longest possible guarantee.

MS: I would stay away from the very lowest cost. I would look for overall performance, not just from hail, but from a standpoint of fire, wind damage, appearance, I think all those things should be considered and not just at the time it's installed, but perhaps anticipate what it's going to be like in 10 or 15 years.

Episode 54 1997 - 98 Season

| Bathroom Makeover | Hail Damage | Glass Blocks | Refinance |

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