by Roofer911.com |
Prior to 1997, hail resistant shingles were just a dream but in 1996 Underwriter's Laboratory (UL) teamed up with the Institute of Business and Home Safety (BHA) and property insurance specialists to develop hail resistance standards for roofing materials. This group came up with a hail resistance scale based on numbered classes with Class One being the least hail resistant and Class Four the most hail resistant.
Roofing manufacturers used these new guidelines to develop tougher, more durable shingles with asphalt shingles being the most improved in hail resistance. The though these new shingles are more expensive, they have proven their worth when it comes to less hail damage related roof repair.
With asphalt shingle roofs, most hail impact damage happens when the hail strikes the grainy outer shingle surface and loosens the grains to the point where the asphalt of the shingle is exposed. Once exposed, the sun and surface weather conditions eventually destroy the asphalt and that's when the roof leaks start. Anyone who has driven over a pitted asphalt surfaced road knows how fast it disintegrates. .While trucks and cars may not be driving over your head, hail, wind and snow are.
The only other thing to keep in mind is that no roofing material is hail proof. Hail resistant shingles get their classification based on average sized steel balls simulating hailstones being dropped on them in a lab but when Nature decides to switch from the standard marble size to softball sized hail stones, all bets are off.
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