When a bad storm passes over your house, you may be worried about your roof when the weather clears. While it's good to check your roof yourself in a safe manner, you may want to call in a roofer if your area experienced a lot of damage. If the gutters or siding on your home have obvious storm damage, then your roof may be beat up too. Finding damage so it can be repaired is important for preventing roof leaks and water damage in your home. Here are some common storm damage roof repairs.

Wind Damage

Strong wind can lift shingles. Shingles are held down with a strip of adhesive along the bottom, but if strong wind hits the shingles just right, they might be peeled up and lifted. Once the adhesive no longer holds a shingle, it can lift every time the wind blows. The top of the shingle is held in place with nails, so the shingle may not fly off, but if it lifts, rain can be driven under the shingle. This leads to water damage and roof rot.

Wind might also damage the chimney and cause it to drop bricks on the roof that puncture shingles. Wind can even cause debris to accumulate on the roof from falling branches and limbs that scrape off granules as they blow across the roof. When a roofer inspects your roof to see if it needs storm damage roof repairs, they'll look for all of the signs of wind damage and replace shingles that have been affected if they need it.

Hail Damage

Hail damage is another possibility with a bad storm. Small hail may not affect your roof, but large hail can do a lot of damage to all kinds of roofing materials. If a storm has a lot of large hail, your asphalt shingle roof could need to be replaced. If the damage is scattered, the roofer may only need to replace a few shingles. They'll look for bruises or dents on shingles and replace the shingles affected so they don't start leaking later. They'll also check flashing since large hail might damage flashing too and eventually cause a roof leak.

Water Damage

A big storm can dump a lot of water on your roof. If the gutters get clogged with debris or if drainage is blocked on your roof by debris, the deck of the roof might get wet. An asphalt shingle roof has a waterproof barrier under the shingles in the form of underlayment. As long as the underlayment is still in good shape, the rain may not soak all the way down to the deck.

If your roof is old and the underlayment is deteriorated or torn, the deck of your roof could sustain water damage and begin to rot. Water should never pool on your roof no matter what type of roofing you have, but it's especially bad for shingle roofs since the water can back up under the shingles and ruin the deck of the roof. This storm damage roof repair might entail replacing part of the roof deck.