At the end of each severe weather event, building owners are often inundated with telemarketing calls from unscrupulous roofers who offer free estimates for hail damaged roofs.
Once they are on your roof, they are on the prowl for any impact marks that they can use to bolster their claim for hail damage. They work on the assumption that if they can get your insurance company to pay for a new roof, you will use them for installing the new roof. After all, they did all the work for you.
Comparison of suspected hail strike (left) and indentation caused by a blunt object (right)
The roofer insists that the black impact strikes (above) are caused by hail. They suspect micro-fracturing below the membrane that can cause moisture penetration and leaks.
There is a coat of aluminized asphalt coating on this roof. A hail strike would not abrade the surface enough to remove the asphalt coating off the roof as it bounces upon impact. A similar impact from a blunt object created an a similar indentation but no abrasion (red arrow).
Circular Pattern on Built Up Roof caused by Metal Pail
The black impact strike is probably caused by another object left on the roof for an extended period of time. It is definitely not hail as we only saw 3 of these on a 10,000 sf roof.
It would be foolish to turn down a free roof but if the roofer had to defraud your insurance company to get there, don’t expect them to install the best products or do a good job. After all, would you like to have this new roof?
Extreme Ponding over Modified Bitumen