Storm Damage Roof Repair, St. Louis

After a storm the roof either lost material or it did not, and the only way to know is for somebody to get on it and photograph what is up there.

This is not a mild market. NOAA's Storm Events Database logged 125 hail events in St. Louis County between 2020-2025, with stones measured up to 2.5 inches and averaging 1.32 inches. That count is of reported events, not of insured losses, and reporting density tracks population, so a busy county logs more reports than an empty one. Even read conservatively it means a roof in this area takes repeated impact.

What hail actually does to a roof

Hail damage is rarely a hole. On asphalt shingles it shows as bruising, where the impact fractures the mat under the surface and knocks granules loose. Those granules are the shingle's sunscreen. Once they are gone the asphalt underneath starts breaking down, and a roof that looked fine from the driveway begins failing three or four years later. That delay is exactly why storm damage gets missed.

The places to look are not always the field of the roof. Soft metal takes the clearest impressions, so gutters, downspouts, vents, flashing and the top of an air conditioner condenser often show the story before the shingles do. If the soft metal on a house is dimpled, the roof above it took the same strike.

The line the law draws, and why it matters to you

Missouri bars roofing contractors from acting on your insurance claim. RSMo 407.725 says a contractor shall not represent or negotiate, or offer or advertise to represent or negotiate, on a homeowner's claim for roof work. It is worth knowing because the promise is common in this market and the promise itself is the warning sign.

Documentation is where a roofer earns their place. Photographs of the actual condition, measurements, a written scope, and a technical presence when your adjuster walks the property. That gives you evidence. It does not give anyone authority over your policy, and no roofing company should be asking for that.

Two frequently repeated errors: Missouri does not require insurers to match undamaged slopes, because no such statute or regulation exists here and it comes down to your policy wording. And if you do want representation, a public adjuster is the licensed route, separate from the contractor and prohibited from doing the repair.

Scope of work

Roofing, gutters, downspouts. Nothing else, on purpose. Atlas and Malarkey shingles.

• Roof replacement and tear-off, including decking that has gone soft underneath
• Repair work: pipe boots, step flashing, valley metal, nail pops
• Inspections that end in photographs and a written scope
• On-site formed seamless gutter, guards, realignment and repair
• Downspout extensions, reroutes and underground drainage away from the house

The drainage end of that list is genuinely uncommon for a roofing company in this market, and it is the part that decides whether a well-drained roof ends up protecting the foundation or undermining it.

Getting it looked at

An inspection is a person on a ladder with a camera, not a sales appointment with a clipboard. You get the photographs and the written scope whether or not there is anything worth doing. If the roof is fine, being told so in writing is worth having.

Call Keys Roofing at (314) 220-2333

Straight through to the office. Roofing, gutters and downspouts only, across greater St. Louis.

Get the roof looked at

Send this and someone calls you back to book the inspection.

The questions worth asking

Not the price first. Ask who is physically doing the work, employees or subcontracted crews. Ask for the scope in writing, including the per-sheet cost of replacing decking that turns out to be rotten, because that is the number that moves after work starts. Ask who honours the workmanship warranty and for how long, separately from whatever the manufacturer covers on the shingle itself. Ask for proof of insurance covering the people on the roof.

And be wary of urgency. A roof that has lasted through the storm will last through the week it takes to get a second opinion.

Questions people actually ask

How long after a storm should I get the roof looked at?

Sooner is better, mostly for evidence. Damage does not repair itself and a fresh set of dated photographs is far more useful than one taken next spring, by which point the weather has moved on and so has the question of what caused what.

Can hail damage a roof without me seeing anything from the ground?

Routinely. Bruising fractures the shingle mat under the surface and knocks granules loose, and neither is visible from a driveway. That is exactly why it gets missed until the roof starts failing years later.

Does a metal roof need checking after hail too?

Yes, though for a different reason. Metal rarely leaks after hail, but large stones dent it, and dents are a cosmetic loss that some policies specifically exclude.