I not too long ago previewed preliminary findings from the Insurance coverage Institute for Enterprise & House Security’s (IBHS) 10-12 months Asphalt Shingle Research in a submit, When Insurers’ Personal Science Exhibits Small Hail Can Wreck Roofs. At the moment, the outcomes recommended what many within the discipline have noticed first-hand: repeated publicity to small, “sub-severe” hailstones isn’t innocent. It may well speed up shingle getting older and go away roofs much more susceptible to later storms.
The peer-reviewed examine is now formally printed within the journal Frontiers in Supplies underneath the title Sub-severe Hail: The Lacking Piece in Assessing Asphalt Shingle Danger in North America. 1 Its conclusions are laborious to disregard. IBHS researchers subjected shingles to excessive concentrations of sub-severe hail, stones measuring between 0.7 and 1 inch, mixed with pure weathering in out of doors situations. The outcomes confirmed that simply two years of this publicity brought on shingles to carry out extra like they have been a decade outdated.
The numbers are putting. Shingles uncovered to each pure weathering and small hail grew to become roughly ten occasions extra prone to break from subsequent extreme hail in comparison with new merchandise. Granule loss specifically stood out: as soon as the protecting mineral floor was stripped away by repeated small hail, the underlying asphalt grew to become brittle and degraded shortly underneath UV gentle. When giant hail adopted, the weakened shingles skilled dramatically larger injury than management samples.
This analysis gives scientific backing for what many contractors, roofers, and public adjusters have been arguing within the discipline for years. “Minor” hailstorms, usually dismissed by carriers as merely beauty, in reality contribute to cumulative roof deterioration. The truth is that the majority hailstorms deliver a mixture of sizes, with small hail much more frequent than the massive stones that seize headlines. Ignoring the affect of frequent sub-severe occasions overlooks the real-world course of by which roofs are broken and put on down.
The authors additionally acknowledge that this examine is only the start. They’re already increasing their testing to 9 extra generally used asphalt shingle merchandise over the following two years to evaluate the consistency of the outcomes throughout {the marketplace}. That dedication to ongoing testing is crucial as a result of it underscores how little consideration sub-severe hail has acquired in sturdiness requirements and threat assessments till now.
For these of us working within the hail claims enviornment, the implications are pretty clear. This knowledge challenges long-standing opinions by insurance coverage firm consultants which have denied or minimized injury from small hail. If the science says these storms age shingles years forward of schedule and set the stage for catastrophic failure in later storms, then dismissing that injury on the claims desk is at odds with the proof.
Now that the examine has been printed following peer assessment, the opinions about small hail inflicting injury must be stronger than ever. My prediction is that the controversy over what qualifies as “injury” will solely intensify as IBHS continues its work.
From a long-term and societal perspective, this isn’t excellent news. Excellent news can be that our asphalt roofing merchandise don’t get broken and stand up to small hail occasions. It is much better that no injury happen, as a result of we now must face paying for costlier roofs and extra frequent roof losses. Insurance coverage premiums will go up except we are able to discover and place roof merchandise that higher stand up to the peril of hail.
I be part of with these within the insurance coverage business demanding extra fortified buildings and constructing merchandise that may stand up to the perils to property. A decrease frequency of loss and lowered severity of value when loss happens by way of mitigation efforts is one thing all of us ought to help. That’s straightforward to say. So, the query is whether or not we’ve the frequent will to do it?
Thought For The Day
Three Little Pigs… the ‘three little pigs demo.’
—Elon Musk’s shorthand for resilience/stress-testing in high-stakes tech reveals
1 Brenna Meisenzahl, Ian Giammanco, and Faraz Hedayati. Sub-severe hail: the lacking piece in assessing asphalt shingle threat in North America. Entrance Mater., Vol. 12 (2025).
