By Christine Mwangi
As the mild winter fades away, I always look forward to longer sun shinny days, flowers blooming, and the vegetation that springs back to life. I look forward to early morning and evening walks and jogs. Spring showers give life to flowers, they also bring storms with them, and in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that could mean heavy rain, hail, and even tornadoes.
A few weeks ago, the weather forecast predicted heavy storms coming to several counties in North Texas, including Denton and Collin (where my family and I live.) That evening, the sirens in Frisco and McKinney started to go off. We sat in the living room following the forecast on our phones as we wondered if it was yet another false alarm.
This time, it wasn’t. The hail came down fast and furious. We huddled in a closet with the kids as the frightful sound of hail came pounding on our windows and the siding to our home. At this point, I was sure that the windows were going to break. Thankfully, they didn’t. It was over soon enough, and we walked out of the closet cautiously to examine the damage that had taken place.
To my untrained eye, there was no visible damage to the windows, or the siding. We obviously could not get onto the roof. With the days that followed, we were overwhelmed by roofing company representatives and Hail dent specialists’ door knocking and offering free evaluations. We eventually decided to have a roof contractor inspect our roof. He confirmed that we needed to have the whole roof replaced. What followed next was, phone calls to our insurance company to schedule an inspection with their adjuster. The adjuster is currently working with the roof contractor to coordinate the roof replacement.
After a heavy storm rolls through, it is advisable to have a licensed and bonded specialist inspect your home for any damage. We assumed that there may have been slight damage to our roof, but the insurance adjuster recommended a complete replacement of our roof! You’re better off safe than sorry.
Here are a few tips that came in handy;
- Have a copy of your policy handy. It may help to have a soft copy saved to your email for easy access.
- Call early to avoid the long hold times.
- It is advisable to work with a local insured and bonded contractors, with a good track record. Ask your family and friends for referrals. Do your research on the people you will entrust to perform repairs your home.
If you have any questions about home ownership please feel free to reach out to me.
Christine Mwangi is a licensed REALTOR® in Texas and Certified Home Marketing Specialist.
Phone: 469-471-7597 | Email: [email protected] | Web: http://christinem.kw.com/
