Roof, hail and wind damage is usually covered by a standard homeowners policy when a storm caused it, and usually not when the roof simply wore out. After the cause, three things decide what a claim pays: how much of the roof the repair reaches, whether the roof is settled at replacement cost, actual cash value or on a payment schedule, and which deductible applies. The guides below take each in turn, from the first photos after a storm to the last check.
General information, not legal or insurance advice, and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Your policy’s wording and your state’s law decide, and both change. For help with your claim, your state insurance department’s consumer line and legal aid are free.
We don’t name or recommend roofers, public adjusters, restoration firms or lawyers, and we earn nothing from your claim. Policy terms on these pages come from the ISO HO-3 specimen, the standard “special form” many US homeowners policies build on, read in the 2000 edition (HO 00 03 10 00) hosted by the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group, and the 2011 edition (HO 00 03 05 11) in the Maine Bureau of Insurance’s copy. Your insurer’s own form, its endorsements and your state’s amendments can say something else.
A reading path
If a storm has just hit, start at step 1. If you’re asking whether the damage is covered, start at step 2.
- Right after the storm: storm damage claims, the first 30 days, a dated order of steps with the clause or rule behind each.
- Is it covered? Leaks, then the cause that hit you: hail, wind or a fallen tree (below).
- The claim: roof insurance claims, step by step, from the report to the amount held back.
- How far the repair goes: when insurance pays for a new roof, and the state matching rules for roofs and siding.
The cause decides coverage
For the house itself, the HO-3 specimen covers “risk of direct physical loss” unless a cause is excluded. Wind, hail, a falling tree and the weight of ice or snow aren’t excluded. Wear and tear, deterioration, and faulty workmanship, materials or maintenance are. So the open question is often cause: the storm, or age? The Texas Department of Insurance puts it plainly: your insurer “won’t pay for a new roof just because it’s old or worn out” (TDI, Insurance and your roof).
Your belongings are insured differently. Under the specimen, rain that soaks things inside is covered only if wind or hail first made an opening in the roof or a wall. Our page on whether homeowners insurance covers roof leaks goes cause by cause for the roof, the water inside and your belongings.
Hail
Hail isn’t among the specimen’s exclusions, so hail that breaks, punctures or knocks off roofing is usually covered. What changes the answer is an endorsement that excludes “cosmetic” damage (dents that change how the roof looks without letting water in), an older roof paid at its depreciated value, a separate wind and hail deductible, or a finding that the damage comes from wear. Read hail damage roof claims for the cosmetic line and recording a storm.
Wind, and the flood line
Windstorm isn’t excluded for the house either. The homeowners form excludes flood and storm surge “whether or not driven by wind”, and the NFIP flood policy excludes wind, so damage from both can mean two claims, two adjusters and two deductibles. And on parts of the coast, wind is insured on a separate policy: in Texas, many coastal homes have it through the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, whose claims run on their own statute (Tex. Ins. Code ch. 2210). Wind damage roof claims covers both, with the TWIA clocks.
Fallen trees
A storm-felled tree on the house is usually a covered loss to the house. Removing the tree is a separate, small allowance: in the specimen, up to $1,000 per loss and no more than $500 for any one tree, and only if the tree hit a covered structure or blocked your driveway or an accessibility ramp. The tree itself usually isn’t covered when wind brings it down. See trees, storms and your homeowners policy, including a neighbor’s tree on your house.
The first days: what the policy asks of you
The specimen’s Duties After Loss condition asks you to give prompt notice, protect the property from further damage, make reasonable and necessary repairs, and keep an accurate record of what they cost. In practice: stay off a damaged roof, photograph from the ground before cleanup, tarp what you safely can and keep the receipts, and follow any phone report with something written that shows the date.
Then come the inspection, the adjuster’s estimate and the decision: ask for the estimate in writing, and for the policy provisions behind any part denied. If you disagree only about the amount, many policies have an appraisal clause; your state insurance department can take a complaint about how a claim is handled.
Repair, replace, and matching
The specimen pays to replace “that part of the building damaged” with material of like kind and quality, not a whole roof by default, and it sets no percentage of damaged shingles at which a new roof is owed. When new material can’t match the old, some states have a written rule: our matching page lists 11 states whose statute or regulation we read in official text. When a building code, not appearance, requires wider work, that is the specimen’s Ordinance or Law coverage, up to 10% of the dwelling limit in the 2000 edition.
How the roof is paid
On a replacement cost roof, the check often comes in two parts. Under the specimen, the insurer pays no more than actual cash value (replacement cost minus depreciation for age and wear) until the repair is finished, unless the repair costs less than both 5% of the building’s insurance and $2,500. You can take the actual cash value first and claim the rest, often called recoverable depreciation, if you tell the insurer within 180 days after the date of loss that you intend to. On a roof settled at actual cash value, age lowers the payment and there is no second check. Our recoverable depreciation calculator runs the two-check arithmetic on your own estimate.
The deductible comes off first. Some policies carry a separate wind and hail, named-storm or hurricane deductible written as a percentage of the dwelling limit; TDI says the wind and hail deductible “is often more” than the one for other damage (TDI column, March 2026). The deductible calculator turns your percentage into dollars, and our page on hurricane deductibles by state has the trigger rules we have read. If your lender is named on the check, see the mortgage company and your insurance check.
The clocks
There is no national roof claim deadline, and “you have one year to file” is not a general rule. The specimen asks for “prompt notice” without a day count, a signed, sworn proof of loss within 60 days after the insurer asks for one, and suit within two years after the date of loss, a period state law often changes. Florida bars a new or reopened claim unless notice is given within 1 year after the date of loss, and a supplemental claim within 18 months (Fla. Stat. 627.70132). A TWIA claim must be filed no later than the first anniversary of the date the damage occurs, which the commissioner may extend by up to 180 days for good cause. Our claim deadlines by state shows each state’s rules we have read and marks the rest “not confirmed”. Waiting until the last day is never safe.
Roofers at the door
After a storm you may hear “we’ll cover your deductible” or “insurance has to give you a whole new roof”. Neither is a general rule. In Texas the insured must pay any deductible (Tex. Ins. Code 707.002), and a seller who pays, waives, absorbs or rebates it without the insurer’s consent commits a Class B misdemeanor (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code 27.02). Florida bars contractors from offering a deductible waiver or anything of value for a roof inspection or claim (Fla. Stat. 489.147). The Federal Trade Commission says to “never sign your insurance check over to a contractor” (FTC, September 2025).
Your next step
- Get the full policy with every endorsement, and look for “cosmetic”, “roof surfacing”, “actual cash value”, a roof schedule, a wind exclusion or a separate wind and hail deductible.
- Photograph the damage from the ground before cleanup, with the storm date, and keep receipts for any temporary repairs.
- Report the claim in writing and log every call: date, name, what was said.
- If something is unclear or you disagree, ask the insurer in writing for the clause it relies on. Your state insurance department’s consumer line is free (find it in the NAIC’s directory of state insurance departments), and legal aid or your state bar’s lawyer referral service can point you to a licensed attorney.
Sources checked on 8 November 2026.
