Wind Damage to a Cicero Roof: Find Out What the Storm Actually Did

The first question after a storm is what it did. A few lifted shingles, a dented hail surface and a branch through the deck are three different jobs. A roofer who looks at the roof can sort them, and you can help by writing down when the storm hit and what changed.

NOAA lists eight hail reports with Cicero as the location, and only one reached an inch, in April 2011. That is history, not a reading of your roof. The town's section of the county hazard plan lists no wind, hail or ice events, so your damage is a question about your roof, not the town's record.

Claims are between you and your insurer, and a policy pays on its own terms. The state insurance regulator shows the difference between actual cash value and replacement cost with a roof example. Depreciation can cut what a policy pays. Insuring at 80 percent of replacement cost or more means a loss is paid without that deduction. Read your own policy for which one applies.

Photograph the damage, keep any shingles you pick up and get the roofer's estimate in writing. A written estimate for the work, with the tear-off and deck lines separate, gives you something to compare with what your insurer offers. Before you agree to a repair, ask your insurer what paperwork it wants.

Cicero's town page says no building permit is needed for roofing within its two-layer limit. Where no permit is pulled, there is no permit file, so make your own record: dated photos, the roofer's written estimate and the signed contract. That two-layer limit gives no leave to cover two layers.

If the repair becomes a replacement, the state code applies in Cicero as elsewhere: the old covering comes off to the deck, and a recover is not allowed over two layers or a water-soaked roof. Ask the estimate to say which applies to you.