Missing shingles
The obvious form. Urgent, because the underlayment beneath was never intended for prolonged direct exposure to sun and rain.
Beyond The Missing Shingles
Wind Damage Roof Repair in Metro Atlanta
The shingles wind takes are the easy part. The ones it unsticks and drops back into place are the ones that leak next spring.
The Hidden Failure
Broken seals look like nothing at all
Every asphalt shingle bonds to the course below it with a strip of adhesive activated by the sun. That seal, more than the nails, is what keeps water from being driven up underneath the shingle.
Wind works by getting beneath an edge and lifting. If the gust is strong enough to break that adhesive bond but not to tear the shingle free, the shingle drops back down and lies flat. From the ground, and often from a photograph, the roof is untouched. In reality a section of it is now unsealed, and wind-driven rain has a direct path underneath.
This is the most commonly missed category of storm damage, and it is only findable by hand — someone on the roof lifting shingles to test the bond. It is a standard part of our inspection after any significant wind event, and it is why we do not assess wind damage from photographs alone.
What wind damage looks like
Creased shingles
A shingle lifted and folded back carries a horizontal fracture line across the mat. It looks flat again afterwards and it will fail along that crease.
Ridge and edge damage
Ridge caps and perimeter courses take the highest uplift pressure, so wind damage concentrates there and along whichever slope faced the storm.
Georgia Wind
It is not only tornadoes
Most wind damage we see in the metro has nothing to do with a tornado. It comes from straight-line winds along the leading edge of a thunderstorm, which arrive in a short violent burst and can reach speeds comparable to a weak tornado across a much wider area.
Because these events are brief and common, they rarely make the news, and homeowners often do not connect a ceiling stain in March to a squall line in November. But the storm date matters enormously to a claim, so it is worth noting when significant wind passes over your house even if nothing appears wrong.
The other Georgia factor is trees. The metro is heavily wooded, and wind damage here frequently arrives as impact from a limb rather than as uplift on a shingle. That is a different repair, and if the deck is punctured it is an emergency rather than a scheduled job.
Immediately After
What to record while the storm is fresh
Wind claims are won and lost on the link between damage and a specific dated event, and that link is far easier to establish in the days after than in the months after.
Walk the perimeter of the house and photograph the ground. Shingle fragments, granule accumulation at downspout outlets, pieces of ridge cap in the garden — all of it is evidence, and all of it gets tidied away or blown off before anyone thinks to record it.
Photograph the roof from the ground on every elevation, even the ones that look undamaged. A wide shot showing an intact slope alongside a damaged one helps establish the directional pattern that distinguishes genuine wind damage from general wear.
Note the date and, if you can, the reported wind speeds in your area. Local weather records are straightforward to retrieve later, but knowing which storm you are pointing at saves considerable time when the claim is assessed.
Common questions
How fast does wind need to be to damage a roof?
Lower than people expect. Gusts in the 45 to 60 mph range routinely break seals and lift shingles, particularly on roofs that already have some age on them.
Can you tell how old the wind damage is?
Roughly. Creasing, seal condition and the weathering of exposed areas all give indications. Tying damage to a specific storm date gets harder the longer you leave it.
Is wind damage covered by insurance?
Sudden wind damage generally is, including broken seals when they are documented properly. Gradual deterioration is not.
Do I need a full replacement after wind damage?
Often not. Wind damage tends to concentrate on the slope facing the storm, so a partial repair is frequently appropriate. If seals are broken across the whole roof, that is a different conversation.
Can wind damage a new roof?
Yes. Shingles are most vulnerable in the first weeks before the adhesive strips have fully sealed in the sun, so a storm shortly after installation can lift shingles that would hold a year later.
Why is only one side of my roof damaged?
That is the normal signature of wind damage, and it is a useful one. Uplift concentrates on the slope facing the storm and along the ridge, so damage on every slope usually points to something other than a single wind event.
Get a free roof inspection
Storm damage isn’t always visible from the ground. We’ll document what we find, walk you through the report, and tell you honestly whether you need a repair, a replacement, or nothing at all.