Roof and Ladder Work After a Hail Storm

Roof and Ladder Work After a Hail Storm

The week after a hail storm, every roofing and restoration crew in North Texas is on a roof it has never seen, on a schedule set by insurance deadlines rather than by site conditions. That combination is why storm season produces so many ladder and roof injuries.

The Week After the Storm

Inspection volume goes up tenfold in a few days, and much of it is done by crews brought in for the season. They are working unfamiliar houses, unfamiliar pitches and unfamiliar access, at speed, because every address is a claim.

That is the environment where the ladder gets set on whatever is closest to the truck and the roof gets walked before anyone has looked at the pitch. Storm work rewards a checklist more than it rewards hustle.

Ground That Was Dry Last Week

Hail comes with rain. A lawn that took a ladder foot flat in June is saturated in April, and a foot that sinks on one side changes the angle of the whole ladder without anybody noticing.

Use pads under both feet, or a leveler with a lock, and check the base again after the ladder is loaded. On new-build lots and graded yards, the topsoil is the softest layer and the easiest to miss.

The same goes for scaffold and towers set up for tarping or siding repair: base plates on soft ground behave nothing like base plates on a slab.

Wet Shingles, Granules and Broken Tile

Wet asphalt shingles are softer and slicker than dry ones, and hail knocks granules loose, which leaves grit that rolls under a boot. Tile that took a hit is cracked in ways that are invisible from the ridge and will not carry weight.

Walk the least steep part of the roof, spread weight, and stay off anything that looks bruised or displaced. Where the damage assessment can be done from the eave, do it from the eave.

The point of the inspection is the report. Walking the whole field is not required to write an honest one.

Damaged Gutters and Downspouts

A gutter that just took hail is often dented, loose at the hangers, or hanging off the fascia. Leaning a ladder into it puts the ladder's load into a fixing that is already failing.

Use a standoff stabilizer so the rails sit against the fascia rather than the gutter lip, and check the hangers before the ladder goes up. If the gutter moves when you push it with a hand, it will not hold a ladder.

Our Werner AC19-2 ladder covers at $15.99 also keep the rails from scuffing new fascia on a house that is being repaired and repainted.

Tarping and Temporary Repair

Tarping is the work that happens fastest after a storm and carries the most improvisation. A tarp full of water weighs more than the crew expects, and wind on a roof-sized sheet of plastic will move a person who is not anchored.

Our Werner X300000 walk-through ladder at $255.68 and the UpGear by Werner 50 foot kit at $89.38 are the access and arrest side of that job, and the extension ladder range covers the lengths storm crews need on two-story housing.

Run tarps with two people, anchor before the plastic is unfolded, and do not carry a bundle up a ladder in one hand.

Storm Season Is Access Season

Every storm brings a wave of inspection and repair work onto roofs at speed. A standoff, pads, a walk-through ladder and a harness turn that wave into ordinary work instead of a run of incidents.

Tell us how many crews you are putting out and we will kit them before the next system comes through.

Everything ships from 5030 Dexham Rd. Ste. 103 in Rowlett, TX, and local crews can pick up the same day. Call 972-331-1090 and we will tell you what is on the floor right now.