Storm

Hail Damage Roof Checklist for Littleton Homeowners

By Littleton Roof Repair · September 11, 2026 · 5 min read

The cell came over the hogback around 4 p.m., the gutters roared for ten minutes, and now the deck is covered in leaves and the car has dimples. Here's what to do in the next 48 hours, and what to leave alone. Print this or save it; you'll use it again. Some part of the South Metro gets roof-bruising hail almost every summer.

First hour: safety and photos

• Stay off the roof. Wet shingles covered in leaf pulp on a two-story are how people get hurt after storms. Nothing on the roof needs you today.
• Photograph the hail itself if any is still on the ground, next to a coin or a tape measure. Size matters to a claim. One-inch stones bruise a standard shingle; 1.5-inch stones bruise almost anything but Class 4; 2-inch stones crack shingles and dent metal.
• Note the time. The storm date and approximate time go on the claim, and adjusters cross-check them against weather radar.
• Check inside. Ceilings under the attic, especially around bathroom vents and skylights. A hail storm rarely causes a leak the same day, but the wind that came with it can.

First day: the walk-around

Hail damage is easiest to prove from the ground, because adjusters look at the "collateral" first — the things that can't be faked or aged. Walk the house with your phone and photograph:

1. Gutters and downspouts. Dents on the top edges and the outside faces. Count them per ten feet.
2. Window screens. Torn or pushed-in screens on the side the storm came from (usually the west or northwest in Littleton).
3. The AC condenser. Flattened fins on the side that faced the storm.
4. Painted wood. Chipped paint on deck rails, fence caps, the garage door.
5. Metal vent caps and the mailbox. Small dings.
6. Siding. Cracks or chips in vinyl, dents in aluminum.
7. The car, if it was outside.
8. Shingle granules at the downspout outlets — a pile that looks like coarse black sand.
9. Shingle pieces or tabs in the yard. That's wind, and it's urgent.
10. The neighbors' roofs. Not for the claim, but if a tarp goes up two doors down, the storm was worse than it looked.

None of this proves your roof is damaged. All of it proves a storm hit your house, and that's the first thing an adjuster establishes.

First week: get the roof looked at

Call a local roofer for an inspection. A real hail inspection means someone walks every slope, chalks a 10-foot by 10-foot test square on each, counts the hits inside it, and photographs them. Adjusters use the same method, and most carriers consider something in the range of 8–10 hits per square on a slope to be replacement-level damage on that slope. We do storm inspections free, because if there's damage we're quoting the work, and if there isn't, we'd rather tell you than have someone else tell you there is.

What we're looking for:

• Bruises — soft spots where the mat under the granules has fractured. The shingle looks fine and feels like a bruised apple.
• Granule loss in splash patterns, not the even wear of age.
• Hits on soft metals — vent caps, flashing, ridge vent — which show hail size clearly.
• Wind creases on the slopes that faced the storm.

If the damage is scattered on one slope, it's a $400–$1,200 repair and probably not a claim. If it's on every slope, it's a claim, and we'll write the scope. Our hail damage and claims page covers the sequence from here.

Before you sign anything

The week after a real hail storm, the streets off Bowles, University and County Line Road fill with trucks and clipboards. Here's the short version of what Colorado's Residential Roofing Bill of Rights says, and what to do with it:

• Every roofing contract must be in writing, with scope, price, dates, and the roofer's contact information.
• A roofer cannot pay, waive, or rebate your deductible. A "free roof" offer is illegal. Walk away.
• You can cancel within 72 hours if your insurer denies the claim, and the deposit comes back within 10 days.
• A roofer cannot negotiate with your insurer on your behalf. Anyone offering to "handle the claim for you" is offering to break the law.

The Colorado Division of Insurance publishes a hail claim guide worth reading. Beyond the law: ask where the company is licensed (it should be the city or county your house sits in), get the certificate of insurance, and check for a local address. Our post on questions to ask Littleton roofing contractors has the full list.

Filing the claim

If the inspection shows replacement-level damage, call your insurer with the storm date, the collateral photos, and the roofer's report. Ask for the claim number and the adjuster's name. When the adjuster comes, have the roofer there if you can. The adjuster's scope and the roofer's scope get compared line by line, and gaps — missed slopes, no ice-and-water membrane, no drip edge — get resolved with a supplement.

Know your deductible before you call. Many Colorado policies now carry a 1–2% wind-and-hail deductible; on a $600,000 house that's $6,000–$12,000, and a $900 repair isn't worth a claim on your record.

Later

Hail bruises don't leak for three to five years. If you skip the inspection this summer and the roof looks fine, the leak shows up in 2029, the storm is out of the claim window, and the roof is on you. Get it looked at. It costs nothing and the answer is usually clear.