HARD KNOCKSCONSULTING
Where These Files Are Lost
Wind damage is a mechanism argument, not a photo contest
A carrier is not usually disputing that the wind blew. It is disputing that the wind is what damaged your roof. Every position below turns on mechanism — how the failure physically happened.
“The shingles are just old”
Age and wind damage coexist; the policy does not exclude damage to old roofs, it excludes deterioration. A creased shingle is a discrete bending failure with a visible fracture line across the mat. Deterioration does not crease — it curls, cups, and loses granules uniformly. The two look nothing alike once you are close enough to see them.
“Seal failure is not damage”
Unsealed shingles are the most common real wind loss and the most commonly dismissed. A shingle that no longer bonds to the course below is no longer a wind-rated assembly, which is a functional failure of the roof system even where nothing is missing. Hand-lift testing across slopes, documented by count and location, is how that becomes evidence.
“Only three shingles came off”
Repairing the visibly missing tabs while ignoring the field that lost its bond leaves you with a roof that fails in the next storm at your expense. The scope question is the extent of the compromised area, not the count of departed shingles.
“No reported winds at your address”
Reported gusts come from spaced observation stations, not from your roof, and terrain, exposure, and building height all concentrate load locally. Corner and rake uplift pressures run several times field pressure — which is exactly where wind damage shows up first, and why a station reading miles away proves very little.
The File
What a defensible wind file contains
Wind claims reward specificity more than any other loss type. Vague documentation invites the maintenance argument; precise documentation forecloses it.
Verified event data for the property
Date, recorded and modeled gust speeds, and the storm track relative to your address. Then the damage pattern gets compared to the wind direction — damage concentrated on the windward and leeward-corner zones is corroboration a carrier has to address.
Seal-strip testing by slope
Hand-lift a defined number of shingles per slope, record how many failed to bond, and photograph the release. A slope-by-slope failure rate is a measurement. “The roof seemed loose” is not.
Crease documentation
Close photographs of fracture lines with the shingle lifted, plus a wide shot establishing location. Creases are the strongest single piece of wind evidence and they are routinely photographed too far away to see.
The rest of the building envelope
Ridge cap, hip and rake, drip edge, flashing, siding and its fasteners, soffit and fascia, gutters, garage doors, screens, and fencing. Wind is a whole-envelope event; wind estimates are usually roof-only documents.
Interior consequences
Water that entered through a compromised roof or window is part of this loss. Stains, swollen trim, and elevated moisture readings tie the interior back to the wind event rather than to a separate maintenance issue.
Code and manufacturer requirements
Nailing patterns, starter course, underlayment, and ventilation as currently required, plus whatever the shingle manufacturer requires to keep a warranty intact. Repairs that void the warranty on the remaining roof are not repairs to like kind and quality.
Questions We Get
Wind claim questions
If yours is not here, ask it on the review form — it gets answered directly.
My roof is 18 years old. Do I still have a claim?
Yes. Age affects depreciation and it affects brittleness, but it does not convert a wind loss into an excluded one. What matters is whether the wind caused a discrete failure. On an older roof the practical question becomes whether repair is even possible without damaging surrounding shingles — and often it is not, which is a replacement argument rather than a denial.
The carrier paid for four shingles and closed the claim.
That is a scope dispute, and scope disputes are what the appraisal process exists for. Before invoking it, the file needs slope-by-slope seal testing and crease documentation showing the compromised area is far larger than the missing area.
Do I need to tarp before an adjuster sees it?
Yes — your policy requires you to protect the property from further damage, and reasonable emergency mitigation is reimbursable. Photograph everything thoroughly before you cover it, and keep receipts. Failing to mitigate is one of the few ways to genuinely damage your own claim.
My neighbors all got new roofs and I was denied.
It happens constantly, because outcomes track the quality of each file and the individual adjuster far more than the physical facts. A denial next door to five approvals is worth a second look on documentation grounds alone.
Is a tree falling on my house a wind claim?
Usually yes, as wind-driven falling object, and it typically brings debris removal and often ordinance-and-law exposure with it. The common shortfalls are removal cost limits and structural repairs to framing that were never opened up and inspected.
Where We Work
Wind and storm claims by county
Related losses: hail damage, roof damage and replacement, and water intrusion following a breach in the envelope.
Wind & Storm Claims
Paid for four shingles on a failed roof?
Send the estimate and a few photos. If the carrier scoped it correctly, I will say so — the review costs nothing either way.
HARD KNOCKS CONSULTING
220 South Main Street
Royal Oak, MI 48067
(947) 241-2950
stanley@hardknocksconsulting.com
State of Michigan — statewideNPN 20573993