Syracuse and the surrounding Onondaga County area
Storm and Wind Damage Repair
Get a wind damaged roof covered and documented after a storm, then decide without pressure whether it needs a repair, one slope or a full replacement.
What Storm Damage covers
In Onondaga County the storms that take roofs apart are winter storms and wind. The Town of DeWitt's annex to the 2025 county hazard mitigation plan scores winter weather at 67, severe thunderstorm at 61 and strong or damaging winds at 57, all in the plan's high band, while hail scores 21 and tornado 20, both in its low band. So the honest storm offer here is uplift, blow-off, fallen limbs and ice loading, not a hail campaign. The order of work after an event is fixed: make it weathertight, document it while the evidence is still on the roof, then decide the permanent repair with the paperwork read rather than signed in the driveway.
- Temporary covering of an opened roof or a torn-back slope to keep weather out
- Removal of storm debris and fallen limbs from the roof surface
- Wind uplift assessment: lifted tabs, broken seal strips, missing ridge and hip caps, torn drip edge and flashing
- Replacement of blown-off shingles, and full-slope replacement where the loss is widespread
- Repair of wind damaged ridge vents, gable vents, pipe flashings and chimney counterflashing
- Dated photographic documentation of the damage for you to give to your own insurer
- Deck repair where limbs or ice have broken sheathing
- Re-fastening and re-detailing of exposed slopes on sites with open exposure to wind
What changes the scope of the work
Every property is different. These are the factors that decide what the job actually involves.
Whether the deck is open to weather right now
An exposed deck takes on water with every hour of rain and every thaw, and wet sheathing is the difference between a slope repair and a structural one. Covering comes before assessing, pricing or any conversation about a claim.
How far the damage runs beyond what is visible
Wind lifts shingles that fall back into place with the seal strip broken. Those tabs look fine from the ground and are the first ones gone in the next event, so the whole roof gets walked, not just the slope with the obvious hole.
Site exposure
Cicero sits on the shore of Oneida Lake with open wetland to its south, and there is little to break the wind on that ground. Fastening pattern, starter course and ridge and hip detailing carry more weight on an exposed roof than on a sheltered city street.
What the storm actually was
The county's own hazard scoring puts winter weather and wind high and hail low. A hail diagnosis offered at the door in a county that ranks hail in its low band deserves to be shown, not just stated.
The age and layer count of the covering
Matching a discontinued shingle on a fifteen year old roof is rarely exact, and a roof already carrying two layers cannot be recovered under the code. Storm damage on an aging roof often turns into a replacement decision that was already due.
Whether trees are still a live risk
A limb that came down over Jamesville and the wooded southern hills usually has relatives above it. Repairing the roof without dealing with the tree schedules the next repair.
How the work runs
Make it weathertight first
Temporary covering over open decking and torn slopes. Nothing else on this list is urgent in the same way, and no assessment is worth a second night of water coming in.
Photograph and date everything before anything moves
Wide shots that show the slope and the address, close shots of lifted tabs, torn flashing, broken seals and debris strike marks, and the interior staining. Once a repair is made, the evidence is gone.
Read before you sign, especially at the door
New York requires a written signed contract on home improvement work over five hundred dollars, containing a mechanic's lien notice in conspicuous bold type and a notice of your right to cancel within three business days. A storm week is exactly when that window exists to be used.
Establish the real extent
The whole roof is walked and the seal strips checked, not only the slope that lost shingles, because uplift damage is often invisible from the ground.
Decide repair, slope or replacement
Set against the age, the layer count and the deck condition. A partial slope on a young roof is a repair; the same damage on a roof at the end of its life is the moment the replacement conversation starts honestly.
Stage the payments
Tied to completed stages rather than paid up front, with progress payments held in escrow for your project or covered by bond insurance, which is what the Attorney General states is required.
When you may not need this at all
- A few missing tabs and some ridge caps on an otherwise sound roof is a small repair. It may be worth less than the deductible on any claim, and treating it as a repair is the cheaper and simpler road.
- If nothing is currently getting into the house, nothing has to be signed today. The three business day cancellation right exists precisely for pressure signings, and not signing at all is always available.
- If your roof was near the end of its life before the storm, a wind event may simply be the trigger for the replacement you were already facing, and that is a different conversation from a repair.
- If somebody at your door is leading with hail, weigh it against the county plan's own scoring, which puts hail and tornado in the low band and winter weather, thunderstorm and wind in the high band.
- If the damage is to gutters, fascia or trim rather than to the covering, the roof may not need work at all.
What is out of scope
- Tree removal, limb cutting and stump work, which is an arborist's trade.
- Communicating with your insurer on your behalf, or telling you what your policy covers. The contractor documents the condition of the roof; the claim stays yours.
- Interior water damage, drying and restoration.
- Structural shoring, window board-up and other non-roof emergency work.
- Any promise about how quickly a crew reaches a property.
- Mold that has already established inside, which New York regulates as a separate trade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to sign something today?
No. New York requires a home improvement contract over five hundred dollars to be in writing and to carry a notice of your right to cancel the transaction within three business days, along with a mechanic's lien notice in conspicuous bold type. If the roof is temporarily covered and nothing is coming in, there is time to read the document, check the insurance certificate and compare it against another one.
Is my damage from hail?
It is possible, and in this county it is not the likely answer. The Town of DeWitt's annex to the 2025 county hazard mitigation plan scores hail at 21 and tornado at 20 in the plan's low band, against 67 for winter weather, 61 for severe thunderstorm and 57 for strong or damaging winds. Wind uplift, blow-off, limb strikes and ice loading are what usually takes a roof apart here. Ask to be shown the actual strike marks on the roof and on soft metal such as vents and flashing.
The shingles blew up and settled back down. Is that damage?
Often yes, even though it looks fine from the ground. The seal strip that bonds one course to the next is what resists uplift, and once it has broken it rarely rebonds properly. That is why the assessment covers the whole roof rather than the slope with the visible loss.
Can just one slope be replaced?
Technically yes, and it is often sensible on a younger roof where the loss is confined. Two things to weigh: current shingles will rarely match weathered ones exactly, and if the roof already carries two coverings, the code does not permit a recover, so anything beyond a repair means a tear-off.
Will my insurance pay for it?
That is between you and your insurer, and nobody on a roof can tell you what your policy covers. What helps your case is dated photographs taken before repairs, a written scope naming materials by make and model as the statute requires, and a record of the temporary work done to prevent further damage.
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