Siding

Hail-Damaged Siding in Round Rock

Everyone checks the roof after hail. The wall that faced the storm took the same stones sideways.

Call (737) 237-8867 What the City Does Not Check

Walls Get Hit Too

Short version

Wind-driven hail hits the walls that face the storm.

Look for round chips in the paint, cracked boards and dented metal.

Chipped paint on siding is an opening for water even when the board is intact.

On September 24, 2023 the National Weather Service logged hail of 2 and 3 inches in Round Rock. Stones that size, driven by wind, do not only fall on roofs.

Wall damage is easy to miss because it is spread out and at eye level looks like dirt. It tends to be on one or two sides of the house and absent from the others.

A tan horizontal-board wall dotted with small round chips in the paint, beside a white downspout with round dents and torn leaves on the ground

What to Look For

Material	What hail leaves
Painted fiber cement	Round chips where paint and a little surface are knocked off. Sometimes a cracked plank, often at a nail or an end.
Wood or hardboard	Dents and chips that break the paint film. The board then takes in water and swells.
Metal downspouts and gutters	Rows of round dents. Useful evidence of hail size even when the wall looks fine.
Window screens and frames	Torn mesh, dented frames, chipped glazing bead.
Painted trim and garage doors	Chips at edges and dents in panels.

Repair or Replace

Scattered chips on sound boards can be filled, primed and painted. The whole wall usually gets painted so the patches do not show.

Cracked boards are replaced one by one.

A wall of older hardboard that was already swelling before the storm is a candidate for replacement, since the hail has now broken what paint protection it had.

Do it in the same season as the roof if you can. A crew replacing fascia and drip edge is already working at the top of those walls.

Questions About Hail-Damaged Siding

Which side of my house would have hail damage?

The side the storm came from. A contractor can tell by which walls show chips and which downspouts are dented.

The storm was three years ago. Does chipped paint still matter?

Yes. Each chip is bare material. On wood and hardboard that leads to swelling. On fiber cement it leads to peeling.

Can a roofer look at the siding during a roof inspection?

Ask for it. A complete hail inspection includes the walls, gutters and window screens.

Keep Reading

Hail damage roof inspection Siding repair Fiber cement siding The September 24, 2023 storm

Chips on One Side of the House?

Say which direction that wall faces.

Call (737) 237-8867 Write It Down Instead