Sheet S-701 · Damage survey

Storm & hail damage: survey first, document everything, then decide

Atlanta hail and wind events crack vinyl, bruise fiber cement finishes, lift courses, and drive rain into places calm weather never reaches. The hours after a storm are for safety and documentation — not for signing the first contract offered at the door.

The survey, elevation by elevation

Photograph every elevation wide, then close: cracks, chips, holes, lifted or missing courses, dented trim and soft metals (vents, flashing) that record hail size.
Note the storm date and keep weather corroboration — your insurer will ask, and hail claims turn on the event date.
Check interiors under the damaged walls for fresh staining after the next rain.
Make temporary weather-tight repairs (tarp, seal a punctured course) and keep receipts — policies generally expect mitigation.
Do not climb on a wet roof or pull siding to inspect; ground-level documentation plus a contractor's ladder survey is enough to open a claim.

Material-by-material reading

Vinyl cracks and holes, worse when aged and brittle — look on the shaded, cooler elevations where panels are stiffest. Fiber cement resists hail better but can chip paint and fracture at edges and corners under large stones. Engineered and real wood dent and split; check for opened joints that now admit water. Stucco spalls and cracks at impacts, and each crack is a new water entry to seal promptly.

The insurance conversation, honestly

File with photographs, the event date, and a contractor's written damage map — elevation by elevation, matching your survey. An adjuster inspects; matching and repair-ability rules affect whether a slope, an elevation, or a whole house is in scope, and those rules are policy- and state-specific. This book will not promise you a covered replacement, and you should distrust anyone who does before reading your policy. Hail-damaged siding that is only cosmetically marked may be an honest repair; functional damage that admits water is a different file. If the claim proceeds, the job sequence and ledger help you read the scope like an adult.

How this site works — stated plainly This is a guide and connection service, not a contractor. Reading here costs nothing. If you use the request form, your project summary is shared with one vetted local siding contractor serving metro Atlanta, who contacts you to arrange an in-person assessment. No contractor pays to change anything written in this book, and no page here claims this site installs siding.

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