How to Spot Roof Damage After a Storm

The right setup for a post-storm check is simple, and none of it requires climbing anything. Going up unprepared is how a quick look turns into an emergency room visit, so let's not do that.

Safety is the first real decision you make. If the roof is wet, the pitch is steep, or you can see anything sagging, stay on the ground. A storm-damaged roof can shift underfoot without warning, and no inspection is worth that. If you spot sagging sections, big patches of missing shingles, or anything that makes you think the deck itself is hurt, that's your cue to call a pro. We do free roof inspections across the Portland metro for exactly this reason, so you never have to guess whether it's safe to look closer.

More than you'd think. A slow walk around the full perimeter of your house with binoculars will catch most of the obvious damage. Look up at every slope, ridge, and edge as you go.

Pay extra attention to the ridge line, the valleys, and anywhere something pokes through the roof, like chimneys and skylights. Those spots collect water and they're where leaks start. Lifted or misaligned flashing around those penetrations is the storm damage homeowners miss most often.

One trick I tell everyone: when you photograph damage, set a coin or a ruler next to it if you can reach it safely. That scale reference makes the size obvious to the insurance adjuster looking at your photos later. And if you're not sure whether what you're seeing is storm damage or just normal wear, have a licensed roofer look before anyone touches it. A proper inspection before repairs protects your claim.

Some of the worst storm damage never shows from the street. Water can slip in through a small flashing breach or a cracked shingle and travel several feet along the framing before it shows up anywhere you'd notice. That's why I treat the attic check as non-negotiable.

Head up during daylight with your flashlight, then turn the flashlight off for a moment and look at the underside of the roof. Any pinpoints of daylight mean there's a hole, and that hole is letting in water. Then flip the light back on and work through the checklist below.

One more tip: if the attic smells musty but you don't see water, run your hand across the insulation. Wet insulation compresses and loses its shape, and a five-second touch test tells you more than staring at it. Mold can get started within a day or two of water getting in, so a musty smell is worth taking seriously. If anything points to soft decking or damaged rafters, that's structural work for a licensed contractor, not a weekend project.

This is where a lot of homeowners lose money they're rightfully owed. Adjusters work from evidence, and the stronger your evidence, the smoother your claim. Getting photos taken within the first day or two after you find damage is the single most useful thing you can do. The full storm damage and insurance guide walks through the claim process step by step, but here's the documentation package that holds up.

For photos: take wide shots of each roof slope so the full extent shows, then close-ups of individual damaged shingles, dents, and lifted flashing with a coin or ruler for scale. Then, and this surprises people, photograph the undamaged areas too. Showing intact sections next to damaged ones helps the adjuster separate storm damage from ordinary wear, and that heads off disputes before they start.

A narrated video walkthrough is worth the extra ten minutes. Walk each slope and the attic, say out loud where you are and what you're seeing. It gives the adjuster context that photos alone can't.

Finally, keep records: the date, time, and weather when you inspected, any local storm reports or weather alerts from that day, and a written log of what you checked and who was with you. It feels like overkill until the day it isn't.

Even careful homeowners make a handful of predictable errors that cost them time, money, or the claim itself. These are the ones we run into most.

Every one of these is avoidable with a little patience. The inspection itself takes an hour or two. Sorting out the consequences of skipping it can take months.