- Totally get the “checkerboard roof” frustration. I had a similar fight with insurance after a windstorm—patches everywhere, looked awful.
- My deductible was $2k, but then I got hit with “code upgrade” costs that weren’t covered. Ended up paying more than I thought.
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—same here. I’d rather pay extra than see mismatched shingles every day.“living with a patchy roof would drive me nuts”
- Curious, did anyone have luck getting insurance to cover hidden stuff like rotten decking? Or is that always out of pocket?
Had a similar situation after a hailstorm—insurance covered the visible shingle damage, but when the roofer pulled things up and found a bunch of rotten decking, that was all on me. From what I’ve seen, unless your policy specifically has some kind of “hidden damage” add-on, they usually call that “maintenance” not storm damage. Has anyone actually managed to get them to budge on that? I always hear mixed stories. Maybe it depends on the adjuster or how the claim’s written up?
Yeah, I’ve run into that too—insurance will pay for what’s obviously storm-related, but anything that looks like it’s been rotting for a while? That’s “maintenance.”
In my experience, it really does come down to how the adjuster writes it up and sometimes just luck. I’ve seen one neighbor get a partial payout for decking because the roofer argued the storm “exposed” the rot, but most of the time, you’re eating that cost. Insurance companies aren’t exactly looking for reasons to pay out more than they have to.“unless your policy specifically has some kind of ‘hidden damage’ add-on, they usually call that ‘maintenance’ not storm damage.”
“unless your policy specifically has some kind of ‘hidden damage’ add-on, they usually call that ‘maintenance’ not storm damage.”
That’s been my experience too, and honestly, it’s frustrating. The last big storm we had, I thought insurance was gonna cover everything since a bunch of shingles blew off, but when the roofer got up there and found some rotten decking, adjuster said, “Nope, that’s on you.” Ended up costing me about $2,800 just for the extra wood and labor, on top of my deductible. I guess if the storm hadn’t ripped the shingles off, I wouldn’t have even known about the rot, but they still called it “wear and tear.”
Seems like it really depends on how the adjuster feels that day or how good your contractor is at documenting what’s storm-related. I’ve heard of people getting lucky if their contractor writes a really detailed report. Either way, fixing up after a storm isn’t cheap—especially if your house is older or you haven’t had the roof checked in a while. If you’ve got an older roof, might be worth looking into those “hidden damage” riders, but they’re not always cheap either.
Yeah, I’ve run into the same thing with insurance—if there’s any sign the damage was there before the storm, they’ll call it “maintenance” every time. Had a similar deal last year: wind ripped off some siding, but when they found old water damage underneath, that part was all on me. Ended up shelling out way more than I expected. It’s wild how much hinges on what the adjuster sees or how your contractor writes things up. Makes you wonder if it’s even worth filing sometimes, especially with older houses where hidden stuff pops up.
