What to Do After a Hail Storm in Lawrence, KS

Do not climb on your roof after a hail storm. Hail-damaged shingles are slippery and structurally weakened. Wet surfaces after a storm compound the hazard. Every year, Kansas homeowners are injured falling from roofs while trying to assess storm damage themselves. A professional inspector has harnesses, proper footwear, and experience walking on compromised surfaces. Let us take that risk — not you.

Check for visible damage you can see from the ground. Walk around your property and look for dents in aluminum gutters and downspouts, dings in window screens, cracks in vinyl siding, dimples on air conditioning condenser units, and dents in vehicle hoods and roofs. If these soft metals show impact marks, your roof took the same hits — shingles just don't show it as obviously from ground level.

Collect a few hailstones and photograph them next to a ruler or coin. Insurance adjusters want to know hail size. A quarter is 1 inch, a golf ball is 1.75 inches, a tennis ball is 2.5 inches. If you can photograph hailstones in your yard before they melt, that documentation strengthens your claim. Note the time the storm hit and the approximate duration — this matches to National Weather Service storm reports.

Check interior spaces for immediate leaks. Walk through every room and check ceilings for water stains, drips, or damp spots. Check your attic if safely accessible. If you find active leaks, place buckets and move valuables — then photograph the interior damage. Interior water damage from a storm event is covered under the same claim and adds to the scope of documented loss.

Within 24-48 hours of a hail event, out-of-town crews will be knocking on doors across Lawrence. They show up in neighborhoods like Old West Lawrence, North Lawrence, Alvamar, and Winchester Estates with clipboards and free inspection offers. They're polite, they seem knowledgeable, and they're in a hurry for you to sign. That urgency is the red flag — legitimate contractors don't need you to sign today.

Never sign an Assignment of Benefits (AOB) form. An AOB transfers your insurance claim rights to the contractor, giving them direct control over your claim payout. In Kansas, this means the contractor — not you — negotiates with your insurer, approves the scope of work, and receives the check. If disputes arise, you've signed away your leverage. Keep control of your own insurance claim.

Any offer to "cover your deductible" is insurance fraud under Kansas law. Your deductible is your legal obligation under your insurance contract. When a contractor offers to waive it, they inflate the claim amount to absorb the cost — which constitutes fraud. If your insurer discovers this (and they investigate), your claim gets denied and your policy may be cancelled. No legitimate contractor makes this offer.

Kansas consumer protection law gives you 3 business days to cancel any home-solicited contract. If you've already signed something with a door-knocker, you can cancel within three business days by sending written notice to the address in the contract. Use certified mail with return receipt requested. Don't rely on a phone call or text — put it in writing with a delivery record.

Choose a roofing contractor with a physical Lawrence address — not a truck with out-of-state plates. A local contractor has a permanent stake in this community. We've been at 2500 W 31st St since 2018. We don't need to chase storms across three states to stay busy — Lawrence and Douglas County generate enough roofing work to sustain a local operation year-round.

A proper storm damage inspection documents every impact point with photos and measurements. We photograph hail strikes on shingles (showing fractured granule layers and exposed asphalt mat), damaged flashing, dented ridge caps, and compromised pipe boots. Each damage point is mapped to a roof diagram. This documentation matches the format insurance adjusters use to evaluate claims — which speeds up approval.

Your contractor should attend the adjuster inspection with you. Having a knowledgeable contractor present during the adjuster's visit ensures nothing gets missed. Adjusters inspect many roofs per day — a contractor familiar with your specific roof can point out damage the adjuster might not catch in a 30-minute visit. This is standard practice, not adversarial — we're helping ensure the adjuster's assessment is complete and accurate.

If the initial claim is underpaid, supplemental claims add what was missed. Insurance adjusters sometimes undervalue the scope of work needed — using lower-cost materials than what was installed, missing code-upgrade requirements (ice and water shield, drip edge), or underestimating decking replacement needs. We file supplemental claims with additional documentation to close the gap between what the adjuster approved and what the repair actually requires.