Roofing experts offer advice to be better prepared for severe storms this spring
Hail, tornadoes, and flooding have caused severe damage all over the Chicago area so far this spring, and this could be just the beginning.
Roofing experts said they are already seeing a 200% increase in calls and expect more to come.
Streets in south suburban Steger looked more like a lake on Tuesday afternoon, with some water levels going up to the door of one home, and a car submerged in a flooded culvert off the road.
While Chicagoans have already seen their fair share of water, many in the southwestern suburbs near Joliet have been hit with multiple hailstorms.
John Sterba is one of the owners at Great Roofing in Joliet. They repair roofs, siding, doors, and anything outside of a home.
He showed their weather tracking system, which shows them where the hail was the most extreme on Tuesday. Some measured the size of a golf ball.
The neighborhood in New Lenox was one of the spots hit the hardest by hail on Tuesday. There was some ponding and not much damage, but experts at Great Roofing said some of the most severe damage may not be visible to the naked eye.
"You have to have someone with an eye for these things," Sterba said.
The dent in a chalked-up circle is even hard to see now, but that is the example of the hail damage Sterba is talking about.
"It knocks the granules loose, and that means the sun can eat at the shingles that much faster," he said.
If a roofing company comes to assess your roof, Sterba said, know your insurance policy, as many give you a year from the damage date to file a claim.
What happens if they don't get that checked out?
"What happens is this roof is going to prematurely fail," Sterba said.
He said homeowners should never climb their roof, but instead call a roofing company.
Sterba also advises getting your roof checked twice a year, in the spring and fall, to be proactive. If you do call a roofing company, call a local, registered, and licensed one.