How hail damages vinyl, fiber cement and aluminum siding differently
Vinyl gets brittle with age and sun. On a cool spring morning, a wind-driven hailstone can punch a clean hole or leave a crescent-shaped crack along the lower lip of a course. Darker colors and older, thinner vinyl on 1990s homes take the worst of it, and cracks often aren't obvious until you look at the wall at an angle.
Fiber cement is harder, so hail chips the painted face or cracks a board near a nail. The danger is that bare fiber cement absorbs water and swells at the cracks. Even small chips should be sealed and painted, and split boards replaced. Aluminum siding and trim don't crack, but they dent, and the dents catch light so they're easy to see across a whole wall. Painted wood trim, window wraps, gutters, downspouts and AC fins take hits too. We note every item on the wall, not just the siding, because adjusters build their estimate from what's documented.
Which walls take the worst of a storm?
Hail in San Antonio usually rides in on strong northwest or west winds, especially in the spring season from March to June. Walls facing that direction take direct, angled strikes, while the opposite walls may come through untouched. That's why siding claims are usually written per elevation, meaning per wall face, rather than for the whole house.
The April 12, 2016 storm showed this clearly on the north and west sides of town, where some homes needed new siding on two walls and nothing on the others. We walk every side, photograph each elevation with a marked scale, and record the spatter on soft metals like window screens and AC units that shows storm direction.
Filing siding damage on the same claim as the roof
Homeowners policies generally cover hail damage to the whole dwelling, so roof and siding go on one claim with one deductible. Filing them separately can mean paying the deductible twice. If you're already dealing with roof damage, our help with the roof claim includes walking the walls with your adjuster so nothing gets missed.
Texas law bars roofing contractors from acting as public adjusters and from waiving or rebating your deductible. What we can do is provide photos, measurements and a line-item repair scope, then meet the adjuster at the house to point out damage. Our step by step guide to Texas claims explains the timeline from filing to final payment. If you haven't called your insurer yet and aren't sure the damage is worth a claim, start with a post-storm walkaround of the roof and walls. We'll tell you what we see before you decide.
Can new siding match the profile you already have?
Matching is the hardest part of siding repair. Vinyl profiles change, colors fade, and manufacturers discontinue lines every few years. A brand-new piece of the same color can look noticeably darker than ten-year-old siding next to it. We pull a sample from a hidden spot and match profile, exposure height, texture and color as closely as current products allow.
When an exact match isn't available, adjusters may agree to replace the whole elevation so the wall looks consistent. Some policies cover matching across adjacent walls and some don't, so read your matching language. Fiber cement is easier because we prime and paint it, and the new boards can be painted to match the existing wall. For aluminum siding from the 1960s and 1970s, replacement panels are scarce. We'll show you options: salvaged pieces from a garage wall, a closely matching profile on the damaged side only, or a full elevation in a different material.
What happens behind the siding during a repair?
Once damaged siding comes off, we look at the house wrap, sheathing and window flashing underneath. Hail holes that sat open for weeks can let water reach the sheathing, especially below windows. Any wet or rotted wood gets replaced, and torn wrap is patched and lapped correctly, before new siding goes on.
We also check where the siding meets the roof. Step flashing, kick-out flashing at the bottom of roof-to-wall joints and the trim boards along the eaves all get looked at. Rotten eave boards and torn soffit screens are handled through our fascia and eave board repair work so the whole wall is right before we finish.
