Hail damage on a Solvay roof: baseball-size record, but what hit your shingles?

The largest hail in Onondaga County's storm record fell at Solvay on May 23, 2004. It measured 3.00 inches across, about the size of a baseball, and Solvay has four more one-inch reports between 2007 and 2019. Fayetteville, Camillus and Liverpool each have a 1.75-inch report.

One record from 2004 is not a forecast, and it says nothing about your own roof. What it does tell you is that large hail is not unknown here. If a storm leaves marks on your vents and gutters, take it seriously and ask what it did to the shingles.

A roofer can tell you whether marks on shingles come from hail or from age, and a dry ceiling does not answer that. An estimate that says what was found and where tells you more than the word hail does.

If a storm hit while you were away, the first sign may be a ceiling mark or a lawn full of shingles. Photograph first, and then tell the roofer what time you found it.

An older Solvay roof will have wear from the weather long before the storm. A few lifted tabs, a dented vent and a patch of bare shingles is a repair. Dozens of bruised shingles across a slope that faces the storm is a different job.

The village's housing is mostly from before 1980, so a roof here may be old enough that a roofer cannot say which marks came from which year. Ask the roofer to say so in the estimate. Honest uncertainty is a better sign than certainty.

If you own a two-family, tenants may see nothing inside while the roof still has marks. Ask the roofer to write down what the shingles show, so you decide on the roof and not on a stain.

If a door-to-door roofer says your roof must be replaced after a storm, take a day. Ask for a written estimate and compare it with another. Before you sign, look for the three-business-day cancel notice that New York requires in a home improvement contract, and hand the paper back if it is missing.

New York's insurance regulator explains that a roof claim can be paid at actual cash value, which deducts depreciation, or at replacement cost, depending on the policy and on how much of the home's value is covered. Find which policy covers the building and read its roof wording before you call anyone.

We do not file claims or talk to adjusters. What your insurer pays is set by your policy, not by an estimate. The estimate does give you a written scope of the work to show anyone who asks.

The regulator also warns that some insurers restrict the number of small claims in a short period. Ask your insurer how it counts them before you file.