Storm Preparation Checklist: Protect Your Texas Roof Before Hail Season

Texas hail season runs March through June, peaking in April and May, and the homeowners who come through it with minimal damage and a clean insurance claim do five specific things before the first storm cell forms. This checklist walks through all five, plus what to do during the storm and in the critical 72 hours after.

Why pre-storm prep matters more than after-storm scrambling

Most Texas homes get hit with at least one significant hail event every 3 to 4 years, according to the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS). The Texas Department of Insurance reports that hail and wind claims account for roughly 40% of all homeowner claims paid in the state. The homeowners who recover fastest are the ones who set up their documentation and contacts before the sirens go off.

Waiting until after a storm to figure out your deductible, find a contractor, or document your roof's condition is how good claims turn into denied claims. Adjusters compare what they see to what existed before. If you have no baseline, they default to assuming pre-existing wear.

The five-item pre-storm checklist at a glance

1. Photograph your roof and establish a baseline.
2. Inspect and clear gutters and valleys.
3. Trim trees within 10 feet of the roofline.
4. Verify your deductible structure (wind/hail vs. all-perils).
5. Save contractor and adjuster contacts in your phone now.

1. How do you photograph your roof to create a pre-storm baseline?

Walk the perimeter of your house and take a wide photo of each elevation (front, back, left side, right side) plus close-ups of any existing wear: cracked flashing, lifted shingles, soft spots, prior repairs. Date-stamp the photos by checking that your phone's location and time data are on. Store them somewhere that survives a hard drive crash, Google Photos, iCloud, or a shared family folder works.

The aerial baseline most homeowners skip

Ground photos miss 70% of the roof surface. If you have a satellite measurement on file, like a Class 4 measurement from a recent inspection or a free Aroof report, that aerial view becomes your second baseline. An adjuster can compare post-storm imagery against your pre-storm measurement to confirm what changed. This is the single highest-leverage prep step, and it costs nothing to set up.

What to capture indoors too

Pop your head into the attic with a flashlight. Photograph the underside of the decking, any existing water stains, and the insulation. Post-storm leaks show up here first, and a clean baseline photo proves the stains are new.

2. Why do clogged gutters and valleys amplify hail damage?

According to the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA), backed-up valleys are responsible for a significant share of secondary water damage in storm claims. When a valley clogs with leaves or shingle granules, water pools, freezes overnight, and forces its way under shingles. Hail damage that would have been a $4,000 repair turns into a $20,000 interior claim.

The 20-minute cleanout

Clear gutters of leaves, twigs, and granule buildup. Flush downspouts with a hose until water runs free at the bottom. Walk up to the lower valleys with a leaf blower (from a ladder, not the roof) and clear any debris that has settled at the centerlines. Do this in early March, then again in late April after the first round of storms.

Watch for granule piles

A pile of black sand-like granules at the bottom of a downspout means your existing shingles are already shedding their UV coating. That is normal wear past year 12, but it tells you the roof is more vulnerable than it looks.

3. Should you trim trees back from the roofline?

Yes. Texas A&M Forest Service and multiple insurance carriers report that falling branches cause more roof damage than hail itself in roughly 30% of severe-weather claims. A single 4-inch limb dropped from 20 feet can punch through decking and snap rafters. Pruning costs $200 to $600 per tree. A branch-through-the-roof repair averages $8,000 to $15,000.

The 10-foot rule

Any branch within 10 feet of the roof should come off before April. That clearance also keeps squirrels and raccoons out of your soffits, slows moss growth on shaded slopes, and gives wind a path to flow around the house instead of slamming branches into your shingles.

Hire a certified arborist for anything over 25 feet

Tall trees are not a DIY job. An ISA-certified arborist carries the right liability coverage if a limb lands in the wrong place. Verify their certification at the International Society of Arboriculture's online directory before you sign.

4. How does your wind/hail deductible actually work?

Pull out your policy declarations page right now and check whether your wind/hail deductible is separate from your all-perils deductible. Most Texas carriers default wind/hail to 1% or 2% of the dwelling coverage, but many homeowners are quietly enrolled in 5% deductibles to keep premiums down. On a $400,000 policy, the swing between 1% and 5% is $16,000 out of your pocket on every single claim.

The math nobody explains at policy renewal

A 5% wind/hail deductible on a $500,000 home means you pay the first $25,000 of any storm claim. If your roof replacement comes in at $28,000, you net $3,000. That is often less than the premium savings you accepted, which means the carrier wins twice. Call your agent before April and ask: "What is my out-of-pocket exposure on a total-loss hail claim today?"

Replacement cost vs. actual cash value

Confirm your policy pays Replacement Cost Value (RCV), not Actual Cash Value (ACV). ACV depreciates your roof by age. A 15-year-old roof on an ACV policy might pay 30 cents on the dollar of what a replacement actually costs. Switching from ACV to RCV usually costs $100 to $300 more in annual premium and is the single best policy upgrade most Texans can make.

5. Who should already be in your phone before a storm hits?

According to the Texas Department of Insurance, claim volume spikes 400% to 600% in the 48 hours after a major hail event. Every reputable contractor in your zip code is booked solid within 24 hours. Homeowners who already have a roofer, a public adjuster (if they use one), and their carrier's claims line saved get in line first and get tarped, measured, and inspected days before their neighbors.

The five contacts to save today

• Your insurance carrier's 24-hour claims phone number (not your local agent's office line).
• Two local roofing contractors you have vetted: one for the inspection, one as a second opinion.
• A licensed Texas public adjuster if your home is over $500,000 in value.
• An emergency tarp service.
• Your insurance policy number, written somewhere you can find it offline if cell service goes down.

How to vet a roofer in March, not May

Check their Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation status, read three years of Google reviews (not just recent ones), and ask for two references from claims they handled in your zip code. The five minutes you spend now saves you from signing with a storm chaser in a panic later. Our guide on spotting roofing scams covers the red flags in detail.

What should you do during the actual storm?

Stay inside. The National Weather Service reports that even pea-sized hail traveling on 30 mph straight-line winds can break skin and cause concussions. Do not climb up to tarp anything mid-storm. Do not move your car if it is already parked, the few seconds outside are not worth the head injury risk. Move pets and family members to an interior room on the lowest floor.

What you can safely do

Open a window-facing blind and time-stamp video of the hail falling. Note the size by comparing it to a quarter (1 inch), golf ball (1.75 inches), or baseball (2.75 inches). Adjusters use hail size to confirm that a storm produced damage-causing impact, so a 15-second video with audio is worth thousands in claim leverage.

The first 72 hours after the storm

Texas law (TDI rule 28 TAC 21.203) gives carriers 15 business days to acknowledge a claim and another 15 to investigate. Your clock starts when you file, not when you discover damage. File within 24 hours of the storm even if you have not climbed the roof yet. You can supplement the claim with additional damage findings later.

Document, file, and tarp, in that order

1. Photograph damage from the ground only. Walk the perimeter, shoot dented gutters, broken window screens, splatter marks on siding, and dings on AC condenser fins. Those are all secondary indicators that adjusters use to confirm hail size and direction.
2. File the claim within 24 hours. Use the carrier's app or the 24-hour line you saved in your phone. Get your claim number in writing.
3. Hire a licensed tarp service if there is active leaking. Save every receipt. Emergency tarping is a covered expense under almost every Texas policy.

The one mistake that voids more claims than any other

Do not sign a contract with a door-to-door storm chaser. The Texas Attorney General's office logs hundreds of complaints every hail season from homeowners who signed an "Assignment of Benefits" form thinking it was just an inspection authorization. That single signature transferred their entire claim to a contractor who then over-billed the carrier, got denied, and left the homeowner with no claim and a lien on the house. If someone shows up in an unmarked truck the day after the storm, get their license number and call your saved contractor instead.

What to do if your carrier drags its feet

If a carrier blows past the 15-business-day acknowledgment window or the 15-day investigation window, file a complaint at tdi.texas.gov. The Texas Department of Insurance publicly tracks complaint ratios by carrier, and most insurers resolve TDI-flagged claims within 10 days to keep their ratio clean. The complaint form takes 8 minutes to fill out and costs nothing.

When to call a public adjuster

If your damage exceeds $20,000 and the carrier's initial offer is more than 25% below your contractor's estimate, a licensed Texas public adjuster can renegotiate the claim. They charge 10% of the settlement. On a $40,000 supplemental gain, that fee pays itself back four times over.

Next step: lock in your baseline before April

The single most useful pre-storm document you can have is an accurate, third-party measurement of your roof's surface area, slope, and condition. Adjusters consistently weight third-party measurements over contractor-supplied numbers because they were captured before there was any reason to inflate them. Pull a free satellite measurement at aroof.build today, save the report alongside your ground photos, and you will have given any future hail claim the strongest possible starting position. For more on what a good measurement should include, see our other articles on insurance documentation.