Hail damage roof repair in Denver means finding every bruised, cracked or punctured shingle (or broken tile), deciding whether the roof can be repaired or needs replacing, and doing the work to the City and County of Denver’s roofing rules. Integrity Roofing and Painting inspects for free, photographs each hit, and gives you a written scope from our Denver-area office at 13275 E Fremont Pl in Centennial. If a storm caused more than hail, start with our Denver storm damage repair overview.
Where recent Denver hail has hit
Hail here does not fall evenly. National Weather Service records for the metro show how narrow, and how costly, a single storm track can be:
- May 30, 2024. A storm that formed near Niwot tracked southeast between about 9:30 and 11 p.m., from northeast Broomfield across Thornton and Northglenn into Commerce City, then out through Green Valley Ranch and northern Aurora. NWS Boulder logged a swath of 1 to 2 inch hail, baseball-size stones in the Northfield area, and a second storm with large hail reaching downtown. Its early damage estimate ran to hundreds of millions of dollars.
- June 18 and 19, 2018. NWS reported 3-inch hailstones in Louisville, and the two days together caused about $276 million in damage across the metro.
- May 8, 2017. The supercell crossed Golden, Wheat Ridge, Lakewood and Arvada, with stones up to 2.75 inches reported in Edgewater. Insured losses came to about $2.3 billion, including some 50,000 homeowner claims. Our May 8, 2017 storm write-up has the detail.
If you live in Broomfield, Aurora, Lakewood or Louisville, you are on one of those tracks. For the bigger picture, including which roofs hold up best, read how bad Denver hail gets. Our storm archive has the NOAA record for major metro storms since 2010, including the May 30, 2024 storm, the June 18 and 19, 2018 storms, the September 29, 2014 storm, the June 6, 2020 derecho and the June 21 and 22, 2023 storms at Red Rocks and Highlands Ranch, plus the May 26, 2010 and July 13, 2011 storms in the northeast metro.
What hail does to each kind of Denver roof
- Asphalt shingles. Bruises that feel soft when pressed, cracked tabs, and round spots where granules were knocked off. The roof may not leak for months, but the shingle ages years early.
- Concrete and clay tile. Cracked, chipped or broken tiles. Broken pieces let sun and water reach the underlayment. See our Denver tile roofing page.
- Metal and vents. Dents in drip edge, gutters, roof vents and flue caps. Dented metal at ground level is the easiest way to judge stone size.
- Low-slope sections. Porches and additions with membrane roofs take hail straight on, and a puncture leaks faster than a bruised shingle.
Denver rules that shape a hail repair
The city’s Roofing Guide and Checklist (updated April 11, 2024) sets limits that decide how a hail job is scoped:
- Permit threshold. On a house, a repair larger than 10 percent of the roof or two roofing squares, whichever is smaller, needs a permit. Every replacement needs one.
- No partial slopes. A partial roof is allowed under a permit only when it ends at a natural edge. A patch that stops halfway up a hail-damaged plane does not pass.
- Tile can be reused, flashing cannot. Undamaged tile may go back on; rusted or damaged flashing must be replaced, and the inspector checks underlayment, battens and flashing at a mid-roof inspection before 30 percent of the tile is installed. A failed inspection costs a $100 reinspection fee.
- Two layers means a tear-off. Where two or more roof coverings exist, everything comes off to the deck, and no board gap may exceed half an inch.
- Wind-rated replacements. New shingles must carry the ASTM D7158 (or D3161) rating for your zone: 115 mph east of Federal Blvd, 125 mph from Federal to Sheridan, 140 mph from Sheridan to Kipling.
Repair or replace
Scattered hits on one or two slopes, on shingles that are still pliable and still made, usually mean a repair. Hits across most slopes, brittle shingles, or a repair that would leave a partial slope usually mean replacement. If you are replacing anyway, it is the cheapest time to move to an impact-rated shingle; our Class 4 shingle comparison explains the ratings, and the Colorado Division of Insurance suggests asking your insurer what discount or deductible savings a hail-resistant roof earns. In the foothills, replacing 25 percent or more of a roof on a mapped wildfire lot can trigger the state wildfire code; see our Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code guide, and for siding hit by the same storm, our WUI siding and decks guide.
Your claim stays yours
If you file, the claim is between you and your insurer. Our part is documentation: dated photos of every hit, a written scope, and making sure nothing gets missed in the scope. Read our Denver roof insurance claim help guide for the Colorado rules before you call, or book a Denver roof inspection if you just want to know what the last storm did.
Who inspects your roof
We are veteran-owned and family-run since 1990, an Owens Corning Platinum Preferred contractor, with 650+ Google reviews. Call (303) 209-0152 or request a free Denver roof inspection, and we will reach out the same business day. If the scope runs past what insurance pays, ask about financing.
Sources: NWS Boulder, May 2024 Climate Summary; NWS, Summer 2018 hailstorms; NWS Boulder, May 8, 2017 hailstorm; City and County of Denver, Roofing Guide and Checklist (updated 4/11/2024); Colorado Division of Insurance, consumer advisory after the May 30, 2024 metro hailstorm.
Hail history near Denver
The 4 storms with the biggest hail that reached Denver County, from NOAA and insurance-industry records. Each size is the storm's largest report, which may have fallen in a neighboring county, and insured losses cover every area the storm hit.
- July 13, 2011: hail to 4.5 in. (softball), $164.8M insured (2011 dollars). Source: Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association (RMIIA, now RMIA)
- June 2, 2005: hail to 4 in. (grapefruit). Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
- June 6, 2009: hail to 3 in. (teacup), $353.3M insured (2009 dollars). Source: RMIIA
- June 13, 1984: hail to 3 in. (teacup), $276.7M insured (1984 dollars). Source: Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association (RMIIA, now RMIA)
