All Pro Roofing

On occasion thunderstorms have produced hail stones the size of softballs, and even larger.  So there are no roofing materials that are hail proof, although some products, by design, or by the very nature of the product resist damage from a hail storm.

In the late 1990’s Texas developed a rating system to determine a roofing products resistance to impact (hail).  The purpose was to determine how well a roofing material would stand up during a hail storm.  Products that were submitted by their manufacturer for testing were given a Class rating of from 1 to 4 (4 being the best).  The Underwriter’s Laboratory number is “UL 2218.”  Roofing products that receive a Class 4 rating are named or promoted by their manufacturer as “Impact Resistant.”

Hail stones from a thunderstorm come in a variety of sizes, shapes and densities.  As a general rule the hail stone must be the size of a golf ball or larger to damage a roof, although many “impact resistant” shingles will not be damages from such a storm.  Composition shingles with a modified asphalt (SBS) base can usually survive a hail storm that has hail stones up to the size of a goose egg.

Most metal roofs, by the very nature of the product will not be functionally damaged by up to baseball size hail.  Although these metal roofs will still keep the rain out they will usually be damaged in appearance.  On the other hand golf ball size hail and even larger sometimes makes only small dents to these metal roofs.

“Impact Resistant Shingles” installed on a roof in Texas will allow you a discount on your homeowners insurance policy premium.  It is a state mandated discount that all insurance carriers must offer.  Depending on the cost of a policy and the discount offered by the insurance company the discount could range from $100.00 a year to several hundred dollars or more per year.  Currently State Farm seems to offer the largest discount (up to 27%) for impact resistant shingles.