When rain turns into solid ice balls within clouds, it falls as hail rather than snow. Hail is a common type of precipitation and usually falls a handful of times per year in short bursts, as opposed to the more consistent rain, sleet, or snow that you see falling for hours on end.
Some hailstorms are particularly strong, casting large balls of ice onto your home and your vehicle and leaving both damaged. In this piece, we’ll look at what you can do to protect your vehicle and your property from hail, and what to do if they become damaged in a hailstorm.
Strong Windows
The most costly impact of a hailstorm is broken windows. Hail only rarely falls in a sideways fashion, so it’s most likely that household windows that are positioned towards the sky will be impacted by hail stones. Skylights and conservatories or funhouses are thus vulnerable to cracks or even smashing from hail stones. Stronger, double-glazed windows will help you guard against hail stones damaging your home.
Of course, your vehicle is also at risk from the very same phenomenon: the windshield and taillights in particular will risk damage in powerful hailstorms. There’s little you can do to reinforce your glass, but you can park your car under cover where possible — even next to a wall that blocks wind will help — so that the force of the hailstones is diminished. A garage is the perfect place to park your vehicle during a hail storm.
Other Damage
Other hail damage is usually cosmetic. Your car’s bodywork is most likely to display damage in the immediate aftermath of a hail storm, with dents and bumps across your hood and the other flat panels of your car. These look ugly and can be difficult to repair, so once again, the advice is to try to park your car in a covered area whenever possible.
Meanwhile, your home’s roof tiles are at risk from the larger-sized hail stones which will threaten to dislodge tiles that are weak, or cracked tiles which are old. A particularly large hail storm might cause a good deal of damage to your roof, and those homes with poor tiling might see holes punched in the other materials of their roof, too. Make sure your tiling is modern and well-maintained to avoid this eventuality.
Repairing Your Car
If your car is stuck in a hail storm which you were unable to predict or protect it from, you may experience damage to your vehicle. This can range from hundreds of small dents on your car’s hood, roof, and even on the doors, cracked windshield, mirrors, lights, and scratch marks and paint damage.
To repair your car in the aftermath of a hail storm, look to an auto hail repair service near you, which will both look after the insurance side of your hail damage and will send professionals out to look at and repair your car for you. This takes the stress out of heading to a garage and talking to your insurers as the whole process is dealt with by hail damage specialists.
Repairing Your Home
Smashed windows or damaged roofs are dangerous for your home. They’ll let the elements into your building, which will threaten the health and safety of its occupants. But holes in your roof and window smashes are also threatening to the structural integrity of your home, and damp or other damage can quickly result if you don’t get your home repaired as quickly as possible.
The advice here is simple: get your roof and windows repaired as soon as possible after the storm. If your previous windows were particularly vulnerable to a heavy hail storm, it might be worth changing a number of windows across your home to reinforce them for the future. And if your roof sustained a lot of damage in the hail storm, it’s likewise worth considering retiling it, in order to reinforce it against the elements in the future.
Costs
Your auto insurance should cover any damage that your car sustains in a hail storm, if you have comprehensive coverage. Check with your provider today whether they cover acts of nature such as this and consider getting a new policy if your insurer refuses to cover this relatively common source of damage. Your home insurance will certainly cover hail damage and it’s well worth getting a policy if you don’t have one already.
Use these tips to protect your home and your vehicle in the aftermath of a damaging hail storm in your area.
