After the storm: a roof checklist for Conroe homeowners

Montgomery County got two of these in eight weeks in 2024: the derecho of May 16 with 80-to-100-mph gusts on the north side of the metro, and Hurricane Beryl on July 8 with 69-mph gusts in Conroe and 51,000 Entergy customers without power. The next one is a question of when. This is what to do when it comes, in the order it matters.

First: safety

• If a tree is on the house, a line is down, or you smell gas — get out from under it and call 911 and Entergy before anyone else. Then call us.
• Don't go on the roof. Wet shingles and a steep pitch after a storm put people in the hospital every year. Everything below can be done from the ground.
• If water's coming through a ceiling, put a bucket under it and poke a small hole in the bulge to let it drain — it saves the drywall.

Second: photos and notes (same day)

• Photograph hail on the ground next to something for scale — a coin, a golf ball — with the time. Photograph the yard, the car, the patio furniture.
• Photograph every dent you can find on soft metals: gutters, downspouts, roof vents, the AC condenser fins, the mailbox, window screens, the grill. These prove hail size and direction.
• Photograph shingles, ridge cap or tabs in the yard, and any daylight or water you can see from the attic hatch.
• Write down the date and the time the storm hit. Your claim needs a date of loss.

Third: a ground-level damage check

Hail: look for a heavy dump of granules at the downspout outlets and in the gutters, dents on every soft metal, and (with binoculars) dark spots or bare patches on the shingles. Wind: look for missing tabs or ridge cap, shingles lifted at the edges, debris in the valleys, and a tarp-worthy hole. Trees: look for limbs on the roof, scrapes on the shingles where a limb slid off, and punctures at the gutters. If any of it is there, get the roof walked — free — before you call your insurer.

Fourth: tarp what's open

If the roof is open anywhere, it needs a tarp the same day — heavy, battened with furring strips and cap nails, not a blue sheet weighed down with bricks. Keep the invoice: emergency mitigation is a covered expense on nearly every Texas policy. We tarp any hour.

Fifth: read your policy, then decide about the claim

Find the wind/hail deductible (often 1–2 percent of the dwelling coverage), the roof coverage type (RCV, ACV or a schedule) and any cosmetic exclusion. Get a written inspection with hit counts and photos. Then decide, with the numbers in front of you, whether to file. The claim guide walks through it.

Sixth: the trucks in the morning

After every county-wide storm, out-of-state crews knock every door in Grand Central Park, Woodforest and Valley Ranch with a clipboard and a story. Don't sign anything on the porch — a 'free inspection form' is often a contingency agreement that binds you to them for the job. Ask any roofer for a Texas certificate of insurance (general liability and workers' comp), a local address that isn't a hotel, and references in the county. And walk away from anyone who offers to 'take care of' your deductible: it's illegal in Texas and it gets claims denied.

Seventh: the deadline

Most Texas policies give you one year from the date of loss to file, some less. Beryl was July 8, 2024; the derecho was May 16, 2024. If a roof went through either and hasn't been inspected, don't wait for a leak to find out.

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