Hurricane Season Roof Checklist for League City Homeowners

Start in the attic on a bright day with the lights off. Daylight through the deck means a nail pop or a missing shingle. Dark stains mean water has been getting in. Then walk the yard with binoculars and look for lifted, creased, curling or missing shingles, exposed nail heads, rust on the valley metal, and pipe boots cracked around the collar.

Anything you find is a small repair now and a big one in a storm. A lifted shingle with a broken seal strip is the first thing wind grabs, and once one goes the next course is exposed. Creased shingles get replaced and the courses around them resealed. Pipe boots get replaced, not patched. Wall and chimney flashing gets rebuilt in metal where it has failed. If the roof is past twenty years and bald across a slope, read the signs you need a new roof before you spend money sealing it.

Yes, and do it before June. Live oaks in the older parts of League City and along Main hang limbs over roofs, and a limb that rubs the shingles in a breeze will strip them in hurricane wind. Cut back anything within six feet of the roof and take down dead limbs anywhere on the lot, because those become projectiles.

A gutter full of leaves and shingle grit holds water against the fascia and pushes it back under the drip edge onto the deck. In a tropical storm that rains for two days, that is how a roof with no shingle damage still gets a wet ceiling. Clean them, run a hose through the downspouts, and tighten the hangers so wind cannot tear the run off. Check the fascia for soft spots while you are there. Rotten fascia will not hold a gutter or a drip edge in a storm.

Because an adjuster needs a before to compare with an after. A homeowner with real wind damage and no before photos ends up arguing about wear and age. Photos dated before the season end that argument.

Do it in good light. Shoot every slope from the ground, then the ridge, the valleys, every pipe boot and vent, the flashing at walls and the chimney, the gutters and the fascia. Get the attic too. Keep them in an album you can find on your phone, along with the receipt from any repair and the invoice from your last roof replacement, because the age of the roof is the first thing an insurer asks about. If Vance has inspected your roof, his written findings and photos do the same job, and they carry more weight because a roofer took them.

Read it before the season, not after the storm. Galveston County is a TWIA first tier coastal county, so many League City homeowners carry a windstorm policy separate from their regular homeowners policy. It has its own deductible, often a different number from the one you know. Learn both, because the deductible decides whether a claim is worth filing at all.

Find out three things. Who you call to file a wind claim, and whether that is your regular carrier or a separate one. What the windstorm deductible is in dollars. How many days you have to report damage. Write them on a card and keep it with the photos, because after a storm the phone lines jam and your agent's office may have no power. We document damage and give you photos and a written scope for the adjuster. You talk to your insurer. We do not promise what they will pay.

Beryl on July 8, 2024 is the recent example, and the order is the same for every storm. First, stay off the roof. Wet shingles on a pitch are how people get hurt, and there may be power lines down in the yard. Look from the ground and the attic. If water is coming in, put a bucket under it, move furniture, and poke a small hole in a bulging ceiling before the drywall falls. Our emergency roof leak repair page covers the first hour.

Second, photograph everything before anyone touches it. Third, call your insurer to open the claim, then call us at (713) 828-2551. We tarp open areas so the damage does not spread, then come back for the permanent repair. Our storm damage roof repair page explains what an honest inspection looks like after wind and hail. Fourth, keep every receipt. Fifth, do not sign anything on your doorstep.