Mother Nature - Colorado and Hail

Colorado's Front Range is located in the heart of "Hail Alley," which receives the highest frequency of large hail in the U.S. and most of the world. Colorado typically sees about 250 million dollars in insurance claims alone, you can only imagine what the real cost must look like.


Your roof may look fine from the ground, but hail, even small pea sized hail, can cause damage to your shingles and other parts of your roof that you may not 'see' from inside your home.

Your roof is more than just your shingles or shakes, it is also all of your vents, and the flashing used to seal it against water leaks, as well as your HVAC, which also has flashing to protect against water intrusions.  Your gutters may have debris in them, which will cause a back up of water should we see another storm on top of this one.

The only way to know if you have damage, or potential water leaks, is to have your roof inspected by someone you can trust.  Your Realtor or Insurance Agent should be able to direct you to someone they know to be reputable.

But just in case someone knocks on your door trying to scare you or offer you something for nothing, here are a few tips:

• Only accept bids from local licensed contractors. Colorado requires a business license, but contractors must obtain their contractors licenses in the towns and counties they work in. 
• Check, are they a member in good standing of the BBB? 
• Only accept bids with price, scope of work and materials written on them.
• Homeowners have a 72-hour rescission/cancellation period. Typically contracts for insurance claims will have 2 cancellation clauses. The 1st gives you, the homeowner, 72 hours to change your mind and cancel. The 2nd states that should your insurance claim be denied you have 72 hours to cancel the contract.  These two clauses are to protect you!
• Never sign anything that has a cancellation fee!
• Request 5 local references that the Estimator personally worked with.
• Go online, check Yelp, Bing, Google, Facebook, do they have reviews? 
• Ask for copies of the roofers Workmen’s Comp. & General Liability insurance.
• Make sure the name on the insurance certificate matches the name of the roofer.
• Make sure the roofer pulls a building permit and has the new roof inspected.
• It is illegal for a contractor to offer to pay, waive or rebate your deductible. There is no way around this, if  your insurance company believes that the roofer has offered, induced, or found a coupon that will waive your deductible, than the insurance company may decide to not pay your claim, UNLESS you find a new roofer and pay your deductible.
• Never turn over insurance checks or pay any money until the job is complete, unless you need to make a small down-payment for materials when they are delivered.
• Do not pay for materials in advance. At best, when materials are delivered make a down-payment that does NOT exceed the cost of materials. 

Here in Colorado Roof Brokers has been offering unbiased roof inspections since 1992. We are accredidated by the BBB, in fact they've even awarded us the Longevity Award. We're also members of the Colorado Roofing Association, and the Aurora Chamber of Commerce.  Check out our website as well as our Facebook, we always welcome comments and feedback on how we are doing.

If you have any questions or if we can help you in any way, just let us know.

Do you have the right Homeowners Insurance coverage?

Let's talk about your homeowners insurance. As a roof inspection company all too often we meet people who just do not have enough coverage when a catastrophe hits. Your homeowners insurance is something you just don't think about, until you need it. 

I bring this up, because recently I received a notice that my mortgage payment was going up to cover the increased cost of my 'hazard insurance'. Hazard insurance? What is that?

Apparently Hazard insurance is NOT the same as homeowners insurance. 

Hazard insurance covers my home from just that, hazards; things like fire, flood, hail, or vandalism. Now hazard insurance can cover more, so it seems I need to find out from my agent exactly what kind of coverage I have. 

Another issue people face is what kind of coverage they have. Most policies are for Actual Cash Value, (ACV), which are less expensive to the insured, (you the homeowner) and preferred by your insurer, (your insurance company).  Whereas a Replacement Cost Value, (RCV), policy costs more it also covers more. 

What is ACV? Well that is the actual cash value of the specific item, less depreciation. Perfect example, we all know that as soon as you buy a new car, it is worth 3k to 5k less as soon as you drive it off the car lot. Well that is depreciation! Just like a car, the roof on your home depreciates.  The insurance company may value your roof at $10,000, minus depreciation you could conceivably only receive 40% to 60% of that amount, plus your deductible is subtracted as well.

Obviously, the older something is, the less value it has, so ACV = replacement cost - depreciation. Every insurance company has its own formula for depreciation.

RCV is the cost to replace the property on the same premises with other property of comparable material and quality used for the same purpose.  So if you have a roof that will cost $10,000 to replace, your insurance company is responsible for the entire cost, minus your deductible. 

Some policies have different deductibles for regular coverage and catastrophe coverage. For instance, my policy has a regular deductible of $500, but for hail or wind damage to my roof, the deductible is $1000.  That might save me a few bucks a year, but if I don't have a $1000 than I can't get my roof fixed.  

(We'll cover scammers offering to pay your deductible next week)

Another coverage people often do without; code upgrades.  In the last few years many of Colorado municipalities have re-written their building codes. What does that mean for you? If your roof does not have metal at the eaves and rakes and it is required by building code; the roofer must install it and you must pay for it. There are more code upgrades and all of them will increase the cost of your roof repair or replacement. 

The economy has made it tough, many folks have chosen to reduce their monthly homeowners insurance by reducing their coverage not understanding exactly what it will mean in the long run. 

Talk to your agent and have them explain what coverage you have and how it will affect you should a catastrophe occur. 

Colorado Hail Storms and how they damage your roof.

Colorado is part of what people call Hail Alley. What that means is that we typically receive more hail, as well as larger hail at greater velocities than other areas. Hail causes an estimated $1 Billion dollars a year in damage, and in Colorado, approximately $25 million.  The spring storms also bring out storm chaser. The last few years the news has been filled with homeowners being cheated by out of state 'roofers'.

In response insurance companies are trying to be more careful, often telling people that if they file too many claims their insurance could go up, or be cancelled.  The 'Door Knockers' will try and tell you this is not true. But it is true, however, that does not mean you should not file a claim. 

When should you file a claim? I was reading this interesting article by Keith Wainauski he says "“Insurance is something that should be used on things that are going to ruin your life not your day“.  That seems like a great rule of thumb to follow, almost.


Most wind claims can be repaired for less than $200. Depending on your deductible, you could and should pay that out of pocket.  That doesn't mean you don't make a claim, because your insurance company wants to know that you are paying attention to and taking care of storm related damage.

I am always saying, have you had your annual roof inspection? Well here are a few reasons why:

1. Regular inspections equals regular maintenance, which maximizes the life of your roof. It is just like regular oil changes for your vehicle, it extends its life as well as pointing out possible future problems so you can be prepared.

2. Regular inspections means you have clear, authoritative evidence about your roof's condition should you receive hail or other storm related damage. It also will tell you things you can do to protect your roof, like trimming back branches that could rub or crash down.

3. Inspection after a severe storm - What might start out as an inexpensive repair, can turn very costly if missed. Even pea sized hail if driven by very strong winds can damage older asphalt shingles, as well as the flashing around the penetrations in a roof. This can allow water to penetrate and cause even more damage.

If hail tore branches off the trees in your yard, dents on your car, cracks in windows, just imagine what it did to your roof?  Also when water does penetrate, where you may see evidence of it inside your home, doesn't always correlate to where the leak is on your roof.  Most people believe that the hail has to be huge to cause damage, that is just not true. While size is a factor, wind and the density of the hail also plays a role.

Hail damage can occur to your roof, siding, windows, screens, decks, etc. Call a licensed roofing contractor to inspect for damage. Check out the Colorado Roofing Association or the Better Business Bureau, both have listings for local roofers. 

Roof Top Gardens

Recently we have been asked to inspect a couple of roofs where the customer had just added planters on top of pallets to their flat roof, watering the plants caused a small leak. We recommend having your roof inspected before setting up your garden. Typically an EPDM or TPO roof will hold water better than a modified flat roof.

Do not call in a hail claim just because a stranger knocking at your doors tells you to. Ask a local real estate agent or your insurance agent for a referral to a local, reliable roof company.

 Roof Brokers is NOT a contractor and will check your roof for free for wind and hail damage. Roof Brokers is referred by many insurance and real estate agents in the Denver Metro Area.

The most common places for roofs to leak are at roof penetrations such as pipe jacks also called plumbing vent boots, roof vents, the base of the chimney and skylights.

 Loose step flashing can channel water into a wall and also leftover mounting holes from an antenna or satellite dish that has been removed can also cause leaks.

We recommend having annual inspections but if you do get a roof leak it is good to have on hand plastic sheeting material to protect contents inside your home in addition to containers to collect the water in until the roof can be repaired.

To much snow to look at roofs today. Composition shingle roofs usually dry quicker than wood shake roofs. Real Estate agents if needed please do extend/amend for any pending certification roof inspections.