How to Deal with Siding Repair After a Storm
3 pros!
Patience and diligence help when dealing with hail damage and its aftermath.
A summer hailstorm pummeled Tallmadge member Bob Bresky’s summer cottage in Marblehead, Ohio, leaving the exterior tattered with $22,000 worth of damage to the windows, a new awning, roof, gutters, doors and siding. The hail — some the size of golf balls — speckled three sides of siding with numerous holes of varying size.
“It looked like a war zone,” Bresky says. “All of a sudden you just drive from lush, beautiful green trees and flowers to utter devastation.”
Wind and hail most often cause damage to siding, says Gary Martinis, owner of highly rated Home Exteriors of Northfield. Indicators of hail damage include holes in vinyl siding or dents in aluminum siding, two of the most common materials used on the exterior of homes. Often the damage occurs to one side of a home’s exterior, leaving homeowners with the problem of matching replacement siding to the color and material of existing siding.
What to do after the storm
Call a reputable contractor to get an estimate of the damage before making an insurance claim, recommends Joseph Wagner, owner of highly rated Wagner Insurance Group in Olmsted Falls. Contractors and insurance companies often use the same software to determine the cost of the damage so the estimates should be similar, he says.
An insurance agent then likely will dispatch an adjuster to handle the claim if one is needed. Wagner stresses homeowners should contact their insurance agent to file a claim, not the insurance company. Let the agent decide if a claim should be filed, he says, as insurance companies may drop homeowners who file two claims within one to five years.
“Usually two claims is the kiss of death for an insurance carrier,” Wagner says.
Examine your insurance policy carefully
While insurance companies determine the scope of the work and cost, homeowners should ensure they get the best deal possible under their policy, Martinis says. If homeowners find no available options to match their home’s existing siding, they needn’t settle for an option that doesn’t match. Your policy could include an extra provision, known as an endorsement, for re-siding the whole house, even if only one area sustained damage.
“When it comes to siding, it’s pretty rare that you can’t get a close match,” Wagner says. “The adjuster may make an exception if the company went out of business. You always kind of err on the safe side. Read your policy and just assume that the insurance company is going to replace the damaged side, and if you get more, then you’re doing pretty good.”
A supplemental claim may cover the cost of re-siding the whole house if a color match isn’t available. Approval of a supplemental claim depends on the policy language and included endorsements, Wagner says.
Bresky’s insurance paid for re-siding three damaged sides of his home with white vinyl siding, and he chose to pay for the fourth so it would match. He says his insurance company treated him fairly, but the contractor from highly rated Wagner Home Improvement lobbied to get the least damaged side of the house re-sided and a few more windows replaced.
“He actually got more money out of the insurance company than they actually offered,” Bresky says.
Siding replacement options
Vinyl siding is most popular among homeowners, contractors say. Vinyl’s durability and affordability give it an edge over aluminum, says Mark Farley, owner of highly rated Ohio State Renovations in Twinsburg. Unlike aluminum, vinyl doesn’t dent, chip or rub off on your clothes because the color is solid throughout the material, not sprayed on.
“It’s about a third less the cost of aluminum,” Farley says. “One hundred square feet of aluminum could range from $140 to $160; vinyl could range from $80 to $100.”
Homeowners with aluminum siding have the option of switching to premium vinyl, Martinis says, because insurance companies must pay for the value of aluminum.
Aurora member Elaine Keeler returned home from winter in Florida to discover an ice dam caused water damage to wood underneath the siding in the front of her house and under the roof due to an incorrectly installed ice guard. The entire project totalled $1,600. She learned the siding company that manufactured it went out of business. Fortunately, the contractor handled the vinyl siding carefully, allowing him to reuse it, and saving Keeler the time of hunting for a match, she says.
“Everything looks like it hasn’t been touched.”
