Chicago weather attacks a roof in four different ways, and they need four different responses. Winter drives ice dams from the inside out. Spring and summer bring the hail and wind that produce insurance claims. Heat cycles the shingles until they lose their grip. Autumn fills the gutters that make winter worse.
Most roofs here fail from a combination, not a single storm. This page covers what each one does, what to check and when, and what to do in the two days after a storm when it matters most.
Ice dams are an attic problem, not a roof problem
This is the one worth reading if you read nothing else, because it is the problem most often fixed the wrong way.
An ice dam forms when heat escapes from the house into the attic, warms the roof deck, and melts the snow lying on it. That meltwater runs down the slope until it reaches the eave, which overhangs open air and stays cold. There it refreezes. The ridge of ice builds up, backs water up behind it, and eventually that water finds its way under the shingles and into the ceiling below.
Notice what is not in that description: the roof. The shingles did nothing wrong. The problem is that the attic is warm.
Which is why heat cables are a poor answer. They melt a channel through the ice and stop the immediate leak, and they do nothing about the heat loss that made the ice. You pay to run them every winter, forever.
The University of Minnesota Extension sets out the real fix as three things in order.
Air sealing comes first. Warm air leaking into the attic is the largest single cause. It gets in around plumbing vent stacks, recessed can lights, furnace and water heater flues, electrical penetrations, the attic hatch, duct boots, dropped soffits, and the top plates of partition walls. Sealing those is unglamorous work and it does more than anything else on this list.
Insulation comes second. Cold-climate attics should reach R-49 or better. Insulation slows the heat that has not been sealed out.
Ventilation comes third. Its job is to carry away whatever heat still gets through, keeping the deck close to outdoor temperature. It has to be balanced, with intake at the soffits and exhaust at the ridge. Ridge vents with no soffit intake do very little, which is a common and expensive mistake.
Do those three and ice dams largely stop happening. Skip them and you will be buying heat cables and ceiling repairs indefinitely.
What wind actually does
Wind does not lift shingles off the middle of a slope. It catches an edge, breaks the adhesive seal underneath, and peels back from there.
That is why wind damage is so often invisible from the street. The shingle is still lying flat and still nailed down, but the seal that held its lower edge is broken. It will lift in the next storm and take the row above with it.
If you can get close enough to see shingles sitting slightly out of line with their neighbours, that is the signature. So is a shingle that flutters in a breeze when the rest of the roof is still.
What hail actually does
Hail hits the face of the shingle. It knocks the granules loose and bruises the mat underneath, and those granules are what shield the asphalt from ultraviolet light.
Once they are gone the shingle ages fast. This is why hail damage often surfaces as a leak two or three years after the storm rather than the same week, and why homeowners sometimes discover they missed a claim deadline for damage they did not know they had.
Look for bare dark patches on the shingles, and for granules collecting like coarse black sand at the bottom of your downspouts. Then look at your gutters, vents and any soft metal for dents. If hail dented the gutters, it hit the roof with the same force.
Hail size decides whether you have a claim
Not all hail damages a roof.
One inch across is the National Weather Service threshold for a severe thunderstorm, and that line exists because damage climbs sharply around there. Most insurers use one inch as the informal cut-off for functional damage.
Shingle type shifts it. Older three-tab shingles start taking damage at roughly one inch. Thicker laminated or architectural shingles generally hold to about one and a quarter.
Smaller hail is not harmless. Research from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety found that sub-severe hail under an inch still strips granules and accelerates ageing. That rarely supports a claim by itself, but on a roof already fifteen years old it shortens what is left.
Heat, and why summer matters
Asphalt expands and contracts with temperature. A Chicago roof runs through a wide swing between a January night and a July afternoon, and every cycle works the fasteners and the seals a little looser.
Heat also drives attic temperature, and an attic that runs very hot cooks the shingles from underneath. The same ventilation that prevents ice dams in February keeps the deck cooler in August. It is one fix for two problems, which is worth knowing when you are weighing what it costs.
What to check, and when
Two proper looks a year is enough for most houses, plus one after any serious storm.
Spring, after the freeze-thaw has finished. Look for shingles lifted or displaced over winter, check for granule loss in the downspouts, and look at the flashing around chimneys and skylights where ice tends to work things loose.
Autumn, before the first freeze. Clear the gutters properly, because blocked gutters hold water that freezes and makes ice dams worse. Check that soffit vents are not blocked by insulation. Trim back branches that will be carrying snow load in two months.
After any storm with hail or strong wind, do the ground-level check described below, even if nothing looks wrong.
That is the whole maintenance calendar. Anything more elaborate is usually someone selling a plan.
The first 48 hours after a storm
Do the safe things and stay off the roof. Walking a wet or damaged roof is how people get hurt, and it can turn a repairable slope into a replacement.
Photograph everything from the ground. Wide shots that show the whole house and the address, then close-ups of anything specific. Dated photographs are worth far more than a description given three weeks later. If water is coming in, move what you can, put a container under it, and photograph the inside damage too.
Call your insurer and open the claim. Ask two questions while you have them: what is the reporting deadline, and does the policy pay actual cash value or replacement cost.
Then get an inspection in writing. A report that says what is damaged, where, and why it counts as storm damage is what an adjuster works from. A verbal opinion is not.
What your policy will actually pay
Actual cash value pays the cost of the roof minus depreciation for its age. On an older roof that can be a great deal less than the cost of replacing it.
Replacement cost value pays what it takes to put the roof back, normally in two parts. You receive an initial payment, then the withheld depreciation once the work is finished and invoiced.
Your deductible comes off either way. Some policies carry a separate wind and hail deductible set as a percentage of the insured value rather than a flat figure, which catches people out.
If the adjuster’s scope misses items, your contractor can file a supplement with photographs. That is routine, not a fight.
Read your own policy rather than relying on this summary. Terms vary between insurers.
When the adjuster and the contractor disagree
The argument is almost always the same one: is this storm damage or is it wear?
A public adjuster is licensed to represent you rather than the insurer, and can negotiate the scope and value of the claim. Proliance works alongside Proliance Public Adjusting for this. You can also request a re-inspection and have your contractor attend it, so both assessments happen on the same roof on the same day rather than weeks apart.
Repair or replace
Repair is right when the damage sits on one slope, involves a manageable number of shingles, and the roof has years left. There is no sense replacing a sound roof.
Replacement makes more sense in three situations. When the roof is near the end of its life anyway, a repair buys very little. When damage crosses several slopes, patching approaches the cost of doing it properly. And when the shingles are old enough that the colour is discontinued, a repair leaves a visible patch that is still there when you sell.
A good inspection report should say which of those you are in. If it does not, ask directly.
Storm chasers
Severe weather brings crews from out of state who work an area for a few weeks and move on. The pattern is consistent: a knock at the door within days of the storm, pressure to sign on the spot, an offer to cover or waive your deductible, and no local address.
Waiving a deductible is not a discount. The deductible is your share of the claim. A contractor absorbing it is generally inflating the invoice to the insurer to cover it, which is a problem you inherit.
Illinois licenses roofing contractors at state level under the Roofing Industry Licensing Act. Ask for the licence number, ask for proof of insurance, and ask for an address you could drive to. The contractor still trading in five years is the one who honours a warranty.
Get it looked at
Proliance inspects roofs across the Chicago metro at no cost and provides a written report you can give your insurer. Our inspectors are HAAG certified, the standard qualification for assessing storm damage. Call 800-613-4373.
Sources
- University of Minnesota Extension, ice dam prevention hierarchy (air sealing, insulation, ventilation)
- US Department of Energy Building America Solution Center attic air sealing, insulating and ventilating for ice dam prevention
- Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, Roof 101
- National Weather Service, one-inch hail severe thunderstorm criterion
