Hail Hit Your Siding Too: The Damage Homeowners Never Check

Here's a pattern we see constantly in St. Louis: a hailstorm rolls through, a homeowner gets their roof inspected, files a claim, gets a new roof — and never once looks at their siding.

Two years later they're selling the house, the buyer's inspector flags cracked siding panels on the west wall, and the homeowner pays out of pocket to fix damage that their insurance would have covered — if anyone had checked when the claim was open.

Roofs get all the post-storm attention because roofers drive the inspection process. But hail doesn't fall only on roofs. The same storm that bruised your shingles hit your siding, your gutters, your window wraps, and your AC unit. Here's what hail does to siding, why it's the most under-claimed storm damage in the metro, and how to check your own house this week.

Why Siding Damage Gets Missed

Several reasons this damage goes unclaimed at scale:

Hail falls at an angle. Wind-driven hail strikes walls, not just roofs — but usually only one or two faces of the house, depending on the storm's wind direction. If the damaged side is the one you never walk past, you can miss it for years.

The damage can be subtle. Roof damage shows as obvious bruises and granule loss. Siding damage ranges from dramatic (holes punched through vinyl) to nearly invisible (hairline cracks that only show in raking light, or chalky impact marks on aluminum).

Nobody's looking. Roofing contractors inspect roofs. Homeowners look up, not sideways. Adjusters follow the claim as filed — if the claim says "roof," many adjusters scope the roof and leave.

It shows up later. Vinyl siding weakened by impacts can look fine in June and crack open with the first hard freeze in December, when thermal contraction finishes what the hailstone started. By then, connecting it to the storm takes documentation most homeowners don't have.

What Hail Damage Looks Like on Each Siding Type

Vinyl siding: The most common siding in the metro and the most hail-vulnerable. Look for: cracks radiating in a starburst or half-moon pattern from an impact point, actual holes (large hail punches straight through cold-brittle or aged vinyl), and chips along the bottom edges of panels. Fresh damage has sharp, clean crack edges. Check especially the north and west faces — and check in raking light (early morning or late evening sun across the wall surface) which reveals cracks that midday light hides.

Aluminum siding: Doesn't crack — it dents. Look for dimpling similar to what you'd see on a hail-hit car hood. Dents are cosmetic but claimable, and widespread denting typically triggers panel replacement in a claim. The challenge: matching 30-year-old discontinued aluminum profiles is impossible, which is why adjusters often approve full-wall or full-house replacement when matching fails.

Wood and engineered wood (LP SmartSide): Look for gouges, dented chips in the surface, cracked paint at impact points, and split boards on severe strikes. Engineered wood takes impact better than natural wood but shows crush marks from large stones. Damage that breaks the paint film matters even when it looks minor — it's a moisture entry point that becomes rot in two to three years.

Fiber cement (James Hardie): The most impact-resistant of the common options, but not immune. Large hail cracks or chips fiber cement, usually visible as chipped corners and crescent-shaped surface fractures. Damage is less common but very legitimate when present.

The Other Wall Items Hail Hits

While you're walking the house, hail claims commonly include these frequently-missed items:

• Window wraps and trim coil: aluminum cladding around windows dents readily and is a standard claim line item
• Window screens: torn or dented screens are claimable and cheap to verify
• Gutters and downspouts: dents on horizontal gutter surfaces are often the clearest hail evidence on the whole house — adjusters use them to confirm hail size
• AC condenser fins: crushed fins on the unit's coil are legitimate damage that affects performance, not just looks
• Exterior light fixtures, shutters, and mailboxes: small items, but they document the storm's intensity and belong in a complete claim
• Deck surfaces and railings: wood decks show fresh gouges; composite can show impact marks

A complete storm claim scopes the whole exterior envelope. A roof-only claim on a house with wall damage is money left with the insurance company.

The One-Claim Rule Most Homeowners Learn Too Late

Here's the part that makes checking siding urgent rather than optional: you generally get one claim per storm event. When your claim settles and closes, going back to add the siding you didn't notice is somewhere between difficult and impossible.

Supplements — additions to an open claim — are routine. Reopening a closed claim from eight months ago because you finally walked around the west side of your house is an uphill fight that usually fails.

This means the time to check siding is before or during the roof claim, not after. If you filed a roof claim this spring or summer and never had the walls inspected, and your claim is still open in any form, get the siding looked at this week. If a storm just hit, make sure whoever inspects your roof also walks all four walls and photographs everything — soft metals, screens, siding, the works.

This is also, frankly, a test of your contractor. An inspector who only looks at the roof after a hail event is either inexperienced or lazy. A complete inspection covers the full exterior, documents everything with photos whether or not it looks claimable, and lets the adjuster make the calls with full information.

Partial Damage and the Matching Problem

Siding claims have a wrinkle roofs mostly don't: the matching question.

Say hail damaged twelve panels on your west wall. The insurer's first instinct is to pay for twelve panels. But your siding is fifteen years old, its color has faded, and the manufacturer discontinued the profile a decade ago. Twelve new panels will not match — your west wall becomes a checkerboard.

Missouri handles matching through a "reasonably uniform appearance" lens, and outcomes vary by policy language and negotiation. In practice: when damaged siding can't be matched, claims frequently escalate from spot repair to full elevation (one whole wall) or full house replacement. This is a negotiation your contractor should understand and document properly — panel discontinuation evidence, fade comparison photos, and manufacturer verification letters all move this decision in your favor.

This matters financially because the difference between "twelve panels" and "full replacement" can be the difference between an $800 repair and a $25,000 re-side — on the same claim, from the same storm, determined by how well the matching argument gets made.

Two honest caveats. First, policy language on matching varies, and some newer policies contain explicit matching limitations — read yours or ask your agent. Second, this is a documentation-and-negotiation issue, not a guarantee; anyone promising you a full re-side before the adjuster has been on site is overpromising, and per our storm chaser warnings, that's a signal worth heeding.

What to Do This Week

The practical sequence:

1. Walk all four walls of your house in raking light. Early morning or late evening, when sun angles across (not onto) each wall. Cracks and dents pop in raking light that are invisible at noon. Five minutes per wall.

2. Photograph anything questionable. Wide shot to locate it on the house, close shot to show the damage. Include something for scale (a coin works) on close-ups.

3. Check your claim status if you filed one this year. Open claims can be supplemented. If wall damage exists and the claim is closed, talk to your contractor about options before assuming it's hopeless — but temper expectations.

4. Get a full-exterior inspection if a storm hit your area this season. Whether or not you've filed anything. The inspection is free, the documentation protects you either way, and the one-claim rule makes completeness matter.

5. If damage is found, follow the claim sequence from our July posts: contractor documentation first, storm date verified against NOAA data, policy reviewed, then file — complete, once, with everything included.

Frequently Asked Questions

My vinyl siding has cracks but I don't remember a specific hailstorm. Can I still claim it?

Claims need a date of loss. A contractor can often narrow the likely event by damage pattern and cross-reference NOAA storm records for your address. If a documentable event within your policy's filing window matches, you may have a claim. Random cracking from age or sun exposure, honestly, is not storm damage — and a good inspector will tell you which one you have.

Will insurance pay to re-side my whole house over one damaged wall?

Sometimes, when matching genuinely fails and the policy supports uniform appearance — see the matching section above. It's case-by-case and documentation-driven. Nobody can promise it in advance, and anyone who does is a red flag.

Does hail damage to siding cause leaks like roof damage does?

Less urgently, but yes over time. Cracked panels and broken paint films let water reach the weather barrier and sheathing. The failure timeline is years rather than weeks — which is exactly why it gets ignored, and why the eventual rot repair costs more than the siding fix would have.

My siding is dented but the wall doesn't leak. Is it really worth claiming?

Dented aluminum or cracked vinyl is diminished property whether or not it leaks yet — that's what insurance covers. It also surfaces at resale, when the buyer's inspector finds it and the repair comes out of your proceeds. Claim it while the storm connection is documentable.

Should I file a siding-only claim if my roof turned out fine?

If the siding damage is real and exceeds your deductible meaningfully, yes — wall damage is claimable independent of roof damage. Run the deductible math first: a $3,000 repair against a $2,500 deductible isn't worth a claim on your record. Your contractor's estimate tells you which side of that line you're on.

Get the Whole House Checked, Not Just the Roof

If hail has hit your neighborhood this year, your roof inspection was only half an inspection. We check the full exterior — roof, siding, gutters, wraps, screens, everything — and document all of it properly, whether it leads to a claim or not.

Covenant Contracting inspects and replaces siding across the St. Louis metro — Fenton, Wildwood, Ballwin, Chesterfield, St. Peters, Grover, Valley Park, and surrounding areas. Free full-exterior inspections, honest answers about what's claimable and what isn't.

Request Your Free Exterior Inspection →

Or call (314) 282-1991.