I just lately previewed preliminary findings from the Insurance coverage Institute for Enterprise & House Security’s (IBHS) 10-12 months Asphalt Shingle Research in a put up, When Insurers’ Personal Science Reveals Small Hail Can Wreck Roofs. At the moment, the outcomes urged what many within the area have noticed first-hand: repeated publicity to small, “sub-severe” hailstones isn’t innocent. It could possibly speed up shingle getting older and go away roofs much more weak to later storms.
The peer-reviewed examine is now formally printed within the journal Frontiers in Supplies underneath the title Sub-severe Hail: The Lacking Piece in Assessing Asphalt Shingle Danger in North America. 1 Its conclusions are exhausting to disregard. IBHS researchers subjected shingles to excessive concentrations of sub-severe hail, stones measuring between 0.7 and 1 inch, mixed with pure weathering in out of doors situations. The outcomes confirmed that simply two years of this publicity prompted shingles to carry out extra like they have been a decade previous.
The numbers are putting. Shingles uncovered to each pure weathering and small hail grew to become roughly ten instances extra inclined to break from subsequent extreme hail in comparison with new merchandise. Granule loss specifically stood out: as soon as the protecting mineral floor was stripped away by repeated small hail, the underlying asphalt grew to become brittle and degraded shortly underneath UV gentle. When massive hail adopted, the weakened shingles skilled dramatically increased harm than management samples.
This analysis gives scientific backing for what many contractors, roofers, and public adjusters have been arguing within the area for years. “Minor” hailstorms, usually dismissed by carriers as merely beauty, in truth contribute to cumulative roof deterioration. The truth is that the majority hailstorms carry a mixture of sizes, with small hail much more widespread than the massive stones that seize headlines. Ignoring the affect of frequent sub-severe occasions overlooks the real-world course of by which roofs are broken and put on down.
The authors additionally acknowledge that this examine is just the start. They’re already increasing their testing to 9 further generally used asphalt shingle merchandise over the subsequent two years to evaluate the consistency of the outcomes throughout {the marketplace}. That dedication to ongoing testing is crucial as a result of it underscores how little consideration sub-severe hail has obtained in sturdiness requirements and threat assessments till now.
For these of us working within the hail claims area, the implications are pretty clear. This knowledge challenges long-standing opinions by insurance coverage firm specialists which have denied or minimized harm from small hail. If the science says these storms age shingles years forward of schedule and set the stage for catastrophic failure in later storms, then dismissing that harm on the claims desk is at odds with the proof.
Now that the examine has been printed following peer evaluation, the opinions about small hail inflicting harm needs to be stronger than ever. My prediction is that the talk over what qualifies as “harm” will solely intensify as IBHS continues its work.
From a long-term and societal perspective, this isn’t excellent news. Excellent news can be that our asphalt roofing merchandise don’t get broken and stand up to small hail occasions. It is much better that no harm happen, as a result of we now should face paying for dearer roofs and extra frequent roof losses. Insurance coverage premiums will go up except we are able to discover and place roof merchandise that higher stand up to the peril of hail.
I be part of with these within the insurance coverage business demanding extra fortified buildings and constructing merchandise that may stand up to the perils to property. A decrease frequency of loss and lowered severity of value when loss happens via mitigation efforts is one thing all of us ought to assist. That’s simple to say. So, the query is whether or not we now have the widespread will to do it?
Thought For The Day
Three Little Pigs… the ‘three little pigs demo.’
—Elon Musk’s shorthand for resilience/stress-testing in high-stakes tech reveals
1 Brenna Meisenzahl, Ian Giammanco, and Faraz Hedayati. Sub-severe hail: the lacking piece in assessing asphalt shingle threat in North America. Entrance Mater., Vol. 12 (2025).