Around here the storm that matters is wind. Whether to file for it is a money question and a records question, and both can be answered at the kitchen table before you call the carrier or sign anything for the person at the door.
Wind is the storm that matters here
Central New Jersey rarely sees hail. What it sees every year, mostly from October to April, are nor’easters with sustained winds of 40 to 60 mph and gusts past 70, plus summer thunderstorms and the remains of the occasional hurricane. On a roof, wind does two different things. Gusts in the 40 to 60 mph range lift and crease shingles whose seal strips have aged and let go, which is wind finding wear. Above about 60 mph, wind tears sound shingles, strips ridge caps and lifts flashing, which is damage in the sense the policy means.
What counts as damaging wind
The National Weather Service draws the line at 58 mph: that is the wind speed at which a thunderstorm is called severe. Its warnings go up a level at 70 mph, where the damage threat is called considerable, and again at 80 mph, where it is called destructive. Those are thunderstorm categories, but the physics is the same in a nor’easter, and adjusters think in the same numbers. Documented gusts at or above the severe line, on a date that matches your damage, are the strongest thing a wind claim can have.
Look up the wind on your street for that day
You do not have to guess. The Mount Holly forecast office of the National Weather Service covers Central New Jersey and publishes storm reports and past observations. The nearest recording stations to most of our towns are Somerset Airport in Bedminster and Trenton Mercer Airport. Find the date the damage appeared and read what the stations near you measured.
An adjuster reads the same records. If no station near you recorded a gust above 50 mph on your date, expect the claim to be argued and expect “wear” to be the word in the letter. If the stations show 60 or 70, you are describing the same event the carrier’s own weather data shows, and the conversation is about scope, not whether anything happened.
The deductible test
Before any repair decision, read the declarations page of your policy for two numbers. The first is the ordinary deductible, a flat dollar amount. The second, if you have one, is a separate wind or hurricane deductible written as a percentage of the dwelling coverage: on a $500,000 dwelling a 2 percent deductible is $10,000 before the policy pays a cent. Many New Jersey policies carry one, and many homeowners find out the day they file.
Then put the repair quote next to the deductible that applies.
- If the quote is under or near the deductible, filing gains you nothing and adds a claim to your record. Pay for the repair and keep the photos in case the same slope goes again.
- If the quote is several times the deductible, and the damage is dated storm damage with weather records behind it, filing is what the policy is for.
- If it is in between, the honest answer is that it depends on the roof, and that is where the inspection earns its keep: a roof with a few years left is repaired; a roof at the end after a real storm is a different conversation.
Wear is not a claim
Insurance is for sudden, identifiable damage: gusts that stripped shingles, a limb that came through, storm driven water. It is not for age, wear or deferred maintenance, and a claim filed for those tends to produce a denial rather than a check. A denied claim still goes on your record. That is why we inspect first and tell you plainly which one you have, and why we will not tell you that you have a claim when you do not.
The first 48 hours
- Stop the water. A tarp over the exposed area buys time; we do tarping and the tarp comes off when the repair goes on.
- Photograph everything with dates, from the ground and inside: the slopes you can see, shingles in the yard, any stain on a ceiling. Keep the shingles you find.
- Get the roof documented before it is patched. Once a slope is repaired there is nothing left for an adjuster to see, and a claim on a repaired roof is a hard claim.
- Do the deductible test with a written quote in front of you.
- If you file, file with a written scope and dated photos, and have your roofer there when the adjuster inspects, so everyone is discussing the same roof.
The knock on the door
After every storm the canvassers arrive, and the fifteenth one at your door will tell you the roof is a total loss without going up. Two rules. Do not sign anything on the spot, especially an assignment of benefits, which hands your claim to someone else. And walk away from anyone who offers to cover your deductible: absorbing it means the claim is being inflated to hide it, which is insurance fraud, and it is your name on the claim as well as theirs. A company you chose, with photos you keep, is the only second opinion worth having.