What To Look At After A Storm

Key takeaways

• Damage concentrates at the ridge, the gable edges and the eaves, because that is where wind lift is greatest.
• Tiles that have lifted and dropped back are more common than tiles that have gone, and far easier to miss.
• Photograph before tidying, because the evidence cannot be recreated once debris has been cleared.
• Weather records for the date are freely available afterwards and matter for insurance.
• Wait for the wind to drop entirely before inspecting anything, and never go up.

Wait until it has actually finished

The first rule is timing. Going out to inspect while gusts are still coming through puts you underneath a roof that has already demonstrated it is shedding things, and loose material can travel a surprising distance from a building. Wait until the wind has genuinely dropped, then look. The only exception is if water is actively entering the house, in which case the priority is protecting the inside and getting the property made safe rather than conducting a survey. Nothing you learn from an inspection during a storm is worth what can go wrong while you are standing there.

Start at the perimeter, because that is where wind works

Air passing over a roof accelerates and creates suction, and that suction is strongest along the edges: the ridge at the top, the gable verges at each end, and the eaves at the bottom. Meanwhile air pushed into the roof space through eaves gaps presses outward from beneath. Tiles at the perimeter are caught between those forces and are also the ones held by the least, since they have no neighbour on one side and often rely on mortar rather than a mechanical fixing. So the inspection starts at the top edge, works along both gable lines, then along the eaves, and only then looks at the open slopes.

Look for what moved, not only for what left

A missing tile is obvious. A tile that was lifted by a gust and dropped back slightly out of position is not, and it is considerably more common. Those tiles no longer sit down properly, their overlap is compromised, and their fixing may have been pulled part way out, which means they are the ones most likely to fail in the next blow. From the ground with a zoom, look for units sitting proud of their neighbours, tipped at a slight angle, or out of line with their course. A course line that has developed a wave in it is the same phenomenon across several tiles.

The specific list

Ridge tiles, for gaps, movement or a tile sitting high. The gable verge on each end, for missing mortar, a lifted trim or an end tile that has crept out. The eaves and the bottom course, which take pressure from beneath. Flashings around any chimney or abutment, for lead that has lifted. Any rooflight or dormer, for a flashing that has moved. The gutters, for tiles or fragments sitting in them and for sections pulled away from the fascia. And any aerial, satellite dish or vent, since fixings into a roof can loosen and those items are heavy enough to matter.

The ground tells you a lot

Walk the perimeter of the building looking down. Fragments of tile or slate indicate something has broken up above, and their position tells you roughly which elevation. Lumps of mortar point at the ridge, a verge or a chimney. A whole tile on the lawn is obvious, but pieces caught in a hedge or behind a bin are easy to miss and are just as informative. Check neighbouring gardens and the pavement too, since material can travel further than people expect. Collect what you find rather than binning it, because it is physical evidence of how the failure occurred.

Inside, and from the loft hatch

Check ceilings in upstairs rooms for new stains, particularly near chimneys, in corners and around any roof window. Then, if the hatch is accessible, look into the loft on a bright day with the light off and your eyes adjusted, from the hatch or boarded flooring only. You are looking for daylight through the slope where there was none before, for wet timber, and for damp insulation. Finding water in the loft after a storm is far better than finding it on a ceiling three weeks later, because at that point the insulation has already absorbed it and the timber has been wet the whole time.

Recording it properly

Photograph everything before anything is moved or cleared. Take wide shots that establish which elevation you are looking at, then zoomed shots showing the detail. Photograph the debris where it landed as well as the gap it came from. Write down when you first noticed it, as precisely as you can manage. Historic weather data for any given date can be retrieved afterwards and will establish what the wind was doing, which matters because cover often depends on a measured threshold rather than on how severe it felt. This whole step takes ten minutes and cannot be reconstructed later, which is precisely why it gets skipped and then regretted.

Making safe versus repairing

These are two different jobs. Making safe means stopping water entry and removing or securing anything that could fall, often with a temporary cover, and it is reasonable to do quickly and in poor conditions. A permanent repair means matching materials, checking battens and fixings, and reinstating the covering properly, and it wants dry settled weather to be done well. Securing the roof now and returning for the real repair once conditions allow is one job in two stages, not two jobs. What is not reasonable is being charged for a permanent repair carried out in conditions where it cannot have been done properly.

The people who knock the day after

Storms bring cold callers, and a proportion of them are not what they claim to be. The pattern is consistent: they were working nearby, they noticed something from the road, they can do it today, and they want cash. Nobody legitimate needs a decision on the doorstep. If somebody tells you your roof is dangerous, that may be true and it is still not a reason to hire the person who told you. Take their details, take photographs of your own, and get somebody you have chosen to look. Genuine emergency work exists; unsolicited doorstep quoting immediately after bad weather is where most roofing fraud starts.

Insurance, and the two questions that decide it

Storm damage is one of the few roof events policies commonly contemplate, unlike gradual deterioration which is generally excluded. Two tests generally decide the outcome: the measured severity of the weather on the day, and the state the roof was in before it. The second is the one that defeats claims, since an insurer can reasonably argue that a worn roof was already failing and the wind simply completed it. Speak to them before authorising anything past making the property safe, establish exactly what evidence they expect, and hold on to the broken material.

Neighbours and shared boundaries

Storms affect streets rather than individual houses, so it is worth looking beyond your own building. Damage on several roofs nearby supports the case that this was a weather event rather than wear, which matters if an insurer questions it. It may also reveal that material from a neighbouring property has landed on yours, or vice versa, which is a conversation better had immediately and amicably than months later. On a terrace, a neighbour's damaged roof affects the continuous surface you share, so what has happened three doors along is relevant to you even if your own elevation looks untouched.

What to do about the things you cannot reach

Some findings need attention and cannot safely be examined from the ground: a flashing that has clearly lifted, a ridge tile sitting proud, a section of verge that has gone. The correct response is not to get closer but to record what you can see, keep the area beneath clear if anything could fall, and get somebody with proper access to look. It is reasonable to ask for photographs taken from the roof as part of that visit, since you are paying for an assessment of surfaces you cannot inspect yourself, and photographs are the only way that assessment becomes something you can hold on to and compare against next time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I check first after a storm?

The perimeter of the roof: the ridge, then each gable edge, then the eaves. Wind creates lift rather than pushing, and that lift is greatest at the edges where tiles are also held by the least. The open middle of a slope is the last place to look rather than the first.

Is it safe to inspect during the storm?

No. Wait until the wind has genuinely dropped before going outside to look, because a roof that is shedding material can throw it a considerable distance. The only priority during a storm is protecting the inside of the house and getting the property made safe, not conducting a survey.

How do I spot damage if nothing is obviously missing?

Look for tiles that have moved rather than gone: units sitting proud, tipped at an angle, or out of line with their course, and course lines that have developed a wave. Lifted and dropped tiles are more common than missing ones and are the most likely to fail in the next storm.

Should I clear up the debris?

Photograph it where it landed first, then collect rather than bin it. Where a fragment came to rest indicates which elevation it came from, and the material itself is evidence of how the failure occurred, which an insurer may want to see.

Someone knocked offering to fix it. Should I let them?

Not on the doorstep. Storms bring cold callers and a proportion are not what they claim. Nobody legitimate needs a decision immediately. Take their details, photograph the damage yourself, and get somebody you have chosen to look, even if what they told you turns out to be true.

Will my insurance cover it?

Frequently, because a sudden weather event is the kind of thing cover is designed for. What decides it is the measured severity on the day and the condition the roof was in before it, and the second of those defeats more claims than the first. Speak to them before agreeing to anything beyond making the building safe.