Austin Roofing Contractor for Hail Repair, Replacement & Metal Roofs

Hail can crack the fiberglass mat under a shingle and knock off its protective granules without leaving anything you'd notice from the ground. The bruised spots then break down faster under UV and heat, and they often start leaking a season or two later.

Central Texas is among the most hail-prone regions in the country, and Travis, Williamson and Hays counties have taken golf-ball-size or larger stones many times. Spring storms between March and June can hit one subdivision and miss the next. Bruised shingles look fine from the curb, and insurance claims have filing deadlines, so a lot of homeowners miss their window. After that, our summer heat bakes the exposed asphalt and the damage spreads quickly.

• Granules piling up in gutters or at downspout outlets
• Dark, soft spots on shingles that look like bruises
• Dented gutters, vents, AC fins or mailboxes
• Cracked or chipped clay or concrete tiles
• Dings on metal ridge caps or flashing
• Neighbors filing hail claims after the same storm

Hail usually comes through in bands, and in recent seasons we've seen damage spread across Circle C Ranch, Avery Ranch, Pflugerville's Falcon Pointe and Blackhawk, and newer Del Valle subdivisions. Roofs over ten years old with original builder-grade shingles generally hold up the worst.

We do a close-up inspection, photograph each impact, mark test squares and write up the findings so you can file a claim. Then we repair the damaged slopes or replace the roof, depending on how widespread the damage is.

A falling limb can crack shingles, punch through the decking or break rafters. The roof is then open to rain and pests, and the opening often keeps growing until it's tarped and repaired.

Austin's mature live oak, pecan and cedar trees hang over a lot of roofs, especially in older central neighborhoods and the western hills. In the February 2023 ice storm, huge numbers of heavy limbs came down on roofs all over the metro. Thunderstorm downbursts and spring winds bring down more every year. Overhanging branches also scrape shingles and give rodents and squirrels a way onto the roof and into the attic.

• A limb lying on the roof or caught in the gutters
• Daylight coming through the attic decking
• A new leak right after a storm
• Cracked or missing shingles under overhanging branches
• Sagging decking where a limb hit
• Scratching sounds from animals in the attic

We get the most limb calls from Travis Heights, Tarrytown, Allandale and Barton Hills, where big live oaks shade the houses, and from West Lake Hills and Rollingwood under heavy cedar and oak cover. After an ice storm, call volume jumps right away.

We do an emergency tarp the same visit if we can, then remove the debris, replace the broken decking and framing, and restore the roof system with matching materials.

Flashing is the metal that seals the joints where the roof meets chimneys, skylights, walls and vents. If it pulls loose, corrodes or loses its sealant, a hard rain gets pushed right through the gap.

Austin's rain comes in heavy bursts, and a few inches in an hour will find any weak joint. Heat cycles from 40°F winter mornings to 150°F summer afternoons make the metal expand and contract until the sealant cracks. East of I-35, Blackland clay soils shrink and swell, the house shifts slightly, and step and counter flashing gets pulled apart. Older homes also tend to have caulk-only repairs from previous owners that don't last.

• Water stains on the ceiling next to a chimney or skylight
• Water dripping during heavy rain but not light rain
• Rusted, bent or lifted flashing metal
• Cracked caulk or mortar along the chimney
• Rot at the joint where the roof meets siding or masonite
• Condensation or staining around the skylight frame

We see this a lot on chimneys in Hyde Park and Bouldin Creek bungalows, on skylights in Shady Hollow and Wells Branch, and at roof-to-wall joints on two-story homes in Manor and Pflugerville, where clay soil movement keeps working the flashing loose.

We remove the failed flashing, check the decking underneath for rot, then install new step, counter and apron flashing with proper underlayment instead of just adding more caulk.

If an attic can't move hot air out, temperatures inside can climb well above 150°F. The shingles get cooked from underneath as well as from the sun on top, so they curl, crack and age years early. Cooling bills go up at the same time.

Summers here bring weeks of triple-digit heat, and many 1970s–1990s homes were built with too little soffit intake and too little ridge exhaust. Some have mixed exhaust types that work against each other. Shingles on those houses fail early, and the extra attic heat makes the AC work harder. That's the reason Austin Energy programs encourage better ventilation and reflective roofing.

• Shingles curling, cupping or cracking on south and west slopes
• Upstairs rooms that stay hot in the evening
• Summer electric bills climbing year over year
• Blistered shingles or brittle tabs
• Soffit vents painted over or blocked by insulation
• A musty or very hot attic

This is common in Jollyville, Wells Branch, Anderson Mill and South Austin ranch neighborhoods, where homes often have their original vent layout. Low-pitch roofs in Crestview and Brentwood with wide eaves and only a few intake vents run especially hot.

We calculate the attic's required net free vent area, then add or balance soffit and ridge vents. When it's time to re-roof, we can recommend reflective cool-roof shingles.

Sections with a pitch under about 3:12 drain slowly. If they're covered in shingles or old roll roofing, water sits on them, works into the seams and leaks into porches, carports and the walls they attach to.

Many post-war Austin ranch homes later got flat-roof carports, enclosed porches or sunrooms. Most were roofed with whatever material was cheapest, not with a real membrane. With Flash Flood Alley rainfall, water stays on those sections long after a storm. Summer heat then makes old roll roofing and tar patches split, and every leak repair adds another layer of patching.

• Puddles that are still there 48 hours after rain
• Bubbles, splits or open seams in roll roofing
• Sagging or stained ceilings on the porch or carport
• Algae or a line of debris where water collects
• Leaks where the addition meets the main roof
• Several layers of tar patches

We fix a lot of these in Zilker, Barton Hills, Crestview and Allandale ranch homes, and on low-slope sections of modern infill homes in Mueller and central Austin, where TPO or modified bitumen meets standing-seam metal.

We remove the failed material, correct the slope with tapered insulation where we can, and install a fully adhered TPO or EPDM membrane with properly terminated edges.

When the soil under a house shrinks and swells, the foundation moves, and that movement travels up through the walls to the roof framing. Ridgelines start to dip, decking gaps open and flashing tears. People often blame the shingles, but the cause is the structure underneath.

East of I-35 the ground is expansive Blackland clay. It swells in wet springs and shrinks hard during Austin's long dry summers, so the foundation moves every season. In Del Valle, Manor, Webberville and Pflugerville, that movement shows up as a wavy roofline and as cracked flashing that keeps leaking after it's been resealed. Replacing shingles without understanding the cause just means paying for the same failure twice.

• A ridgeline that dips or looks wavy
• Doors and windows that stick
• Diagonal drywall cracks near the ceiling
• Gaps opening at roof-to-wall flashing
• Uneven, rippled shingle rows
• Cracks in brick veneer below the eaves

We see this most in older homes and early subdivisions in Del Valle, Manor and Webberville, and on acreage farmhouses in Garfield and Creedmoor. Some 1980s–90s Pflugerville homes on clay lots show it as well.

We assess the framing and decking, recommend a foundation evaluation if we think it's needed, then sister or brace the framing and reflash using details that allow for movement.

Straight-line winds from thunderstorm downbursts can break the seal strip on a shingle and fold the tab back. Even if the tab settles back down, the seal is gone. The next storm can tear it off and leave the underlayment exposed.

Spring and early-summer storms here often bring downburst winds strong enough to lift tabs, especially on aging 3-tab shingles whose sealant has dried out in the heat. Ridge caps catch the most wind and tend to go first. If you catch it early, it's an inexpensive repair. If you leave it, it turns into a leak.

• Shingles or ridge caps lying in the yard after a storm
• Creased or folded tabs visible from the street
• Shingle tabs that flap or don't lie flat
• Bare spots showing black underlayment
• Nail heads backing out along the ridge

Builder-grade 3-tab roofs in Shady Hollow, Wells Branch and Jollyville lose tabs often. So do exposed ridges in open subdivisions near Buda and Mustang Ridge, where there's no tree cover to slow the wind.

We hand-seal the lifted tabs, replace any creased shingles and ridge caps with matching material, and check the surrounding area for broken seals before they start to leak.