Wind Damage Repair

Tabs lift on the windward slope. As wind passes over the roof it accelerates and drops pressure on the leeward side (Bernoulli effect). That pressure difference yanks shingles upward — most aggressively at the corners and ridge of the windward slope. Tabs without a fully sealed thermal-adhesive strip lift first. Once one tab releases, the next storm catches the same shingle and tears it free.

Ridge caps blow off. The ridge cap shingles are the most exposed shingles on the roof and they take the brunt of perpendicular wind across the ridge line. After any 60+ mph event we typically find 2-8 ridge cap shingles lifted or completely gone.

Flashing pulls free at exposed terminations. Counter flashing at chimneys, drip edge at rakes, and skylight head flashing are the points where wind can catch a metal edge and bend it back. We see this regularly on roofs older than 15 years where original fasteners have corroded.

Soft metals dent. Roof vents, gutter aprons, and fascia trim show wind-debris damage — twigs, branches, granules. The dent pattern itself is documentation for the claim.

Underlayment damage on a stripped slope. If wind tore enough shingles to expose underlayment, the underlayment itself usually has wind tears within hours of the breach. The repair scope grows from shingle replacement to shingle + underlayment.

Slope-by-slope photo grid. Each slope gets a fixed-perspective photo from the same angle, then close-up shots of every damage point. The grid lets the adjuster see the damage pattern at a glance.

Lifted-tab probe with marker tape. We mark each lifted tab with a piece of blue painter's tape and photograph the count per slope. Many adjusters need this in writing — 'windward slope had 18 lifted tabs across 4 courses' tells a clear story.

Ridge cap inventory. We count missing, lifted, and damaged ridge caps. Many wind claims get approved on ridge cap damage alone because each ridge cap shingle costs the same to replace whether it's one or ten.

Soft-metal dent map. We photograph every dented vent cap, gutter section, and downspout. Soft metals are the secondary damage marker adjusters use to verify a wind event affected the property — denting on multiple sides of the house corroborates wind direction.

Code-upgrade items the adjuster might miss. Drip edge (NJ code R905.2.8.5), ice & water shield (R905.1.2), and proper ventilation are mandatory on any reroof. If the wind damage triggers replacement, these items must be in the scope — we make sure they are.

6-nail high-wind nailing pattern. We replace any wind-lifted or damaged shingle with the high-wind 6-nail pattern (the spec required for GAF, CertainTeed, and Owens Corning installs above 110 mph wind class), not the 4-nail standard pattern. Two extra nails per shingle, ten extra years of holding power.

Polyurethane tab-spot sealing. Each replacement shingle gets hand-sealed with Sika 1A polyurethane at the tab-spot points so wind can't catch it before the thermal-seal strip activates. Standard practice on all our shingle repairs, especially critical on wind rebuilds.

Surrounding-tab reactivation. We re-seal the tabs immediately above the repair area — those tabs lifted slightly when we accessed the underlayment and need to be re-bonded before the next storm.

Ridge cap replacement to full course. If any ridge cap shingles failed, we replace the entire ridge course on that face — partial replacement leaves a visible color line and a weak seam between old and new ridge caps.

Drip-edge integrity check. Wind that lifts shingles often pulls the drip edge with it. We re-fasten or replace drip edge as part of the rebuild — NJ code R905.2.8.5 requires drip edge at eaves and rakes.