Hail on Your Gutter Guards: Check Them Before You Trust Them

A gutter guard sits on top of the gutter, so the hail that hits the roof often hits the guard too. After a storm, most homeowners look at the shingles and the downspouts and never lift the guard. That is the step to add. A guard can dent, crack along its front edge, bend at a joint or lift off its clips, and any of those can change how water leaves the eave the next time it rains.

Gutters and guards: what hail does to a guard

Aluminum guards dent. A screen or micro-mesh panel can bow where a stone lands and hold that bow for good. Perforated metal shows hail as a flattened area around the holes, with the edge sometimes kinked where the panel meets the trough. Vinyl or plastic guards are more likely to crack than dent, and a crack along a snap-in edge often looks like a thin white line that catches the light at an angle.

The part people miss is the clip. Hail hitting the top of a guard can pop the front lip up enough that the panel no longer sits flat on the trough. Once that happens, leaves and grit slide under the edge instead of over it, and the gutter starts collecting debris the guard was supposed to keep out. A guard that looks fine from the ground can be standing a fraction of an inch proud of the gutter along a whole run.

St. Louis storms usually push hail from the west and southwest, so start the walk on the windward side. Check the west and south eaves first, then the front-facing slope of the house. Hail that reaches the house at a slant hits the guards on that side harder, and the damage often stops at the corner where the run turns. Check the corners and end caps on every side. The end caps are where a guard panel is cut, and a cut edge is weaker than a rolled one.

What to photograph, and how

Photograph the guard before you touch it. Stand back far enough to get the whole run in one frame, then move in until the dent or crack fills the frame. Put a tape measure or a coin next to each mark so the size can be read later. Shoot in flat light, early morning or an overcast afternoon, because low sun across a dent can make it disappear in the picture. Turn the phone so the guard's surface shows its shine and the dent shows its shadow.

Take each photo as an original file from the phone camera, not a screenshot or a copy sent through a messaging app, because the original keeps the date and location data. Write the storm date in a note on the phone or in a paper log. If the guard lifted at a hanger, photograph the clip and the gap between the guard lip and the trough with the tape across it. A gap you can measure is more useful than a gap you describe from memory.

Do not pull the guard off to see what is under it. Removing a panel can bend the clips further, and it can pull a fastener out of the fascia. If the guard needs to come off to be checked properly, let the roofer or gutter contractor do that with you watching and photographing the steps.

What it costs

The cost of hail damage to a guard depends on how many feet of guard are affected and whether the panels can be reseated or must be replaced. A guard that only needs its clips adjusted is a different job from a guard that has to be cut out and rebuilt section by section. Ask the estimator to split the figure into the guard panels, the clips or hangers, the end caps and any gutter section that is bent along with the guard. A single lump number for guards and gutters together hides which part is actually damaged.

Keep the estimate with the photos. If a line item says replace the run, the photos should show the run that is being replaced. If the estimate names a guard model, save the model name from the box, the product sheet or the old panel, so the replacement can be matched to what was there. Gutter guard quotes that do not name the product are hard to compare later.

What to ask

Ask the roofer whether the storm damage to the guard is listed separately from the roof damage. A guard that was dented in the same hailstorm as the shingles belongs in the same written record, not in a separate estimate that nobody reads. Ask which pages or photos show the guard, and ask for the photo log to be sent to you as a set of original files.

Ask how the guard will be reattached after any repair. A guard that is reset onto old clips may sit fine for one season and lift in the next freeze. Ask whether the clips will be replaced or only tightened, and whether the gutter hangers will be checked where the guard meets them.

Ask who will be on site when the work happens and whether the same person will walk the gutter line with you when it is finished. A walk with you at the end is the simplest check that the lip sits flat and the run drains.

Keys Roofing documents hail damage to the roof and the parts around it, including gutter guards. Keys puts a written scope with photos and measurements in your hands and attends as the contractor while you deal with your own insurer. Missouri law bars a roofing contractor from representing or negotiating a homeowner's insurance claim, and that restriction is not something a roofer can waive or work around, so the claim stays with you. Keys will not file, argue or manage the claim on your behalf, and any roofer who offers to is describing a practice the statute forbids.

If the storm left a guard bent or a run pulled loose and you want the damage walked with you, call the office at (314) 220-2333.