Hail Damage and Roofs in Calgary: A Guide for Buying a House

Hail is a normal part of buying a house in Calgary and the roof is the first place to look. Two storms in four years, June 2020 and August 2024, produced billions of dollars of insured damage across the city. A buyer does not need to avoid every house that has seen hail. A buyer needs to know the roof’s age and material, whether there was a claim, whether the work was done properly and what the insurer will say about it. This guide gives a way to find out before conditions come off.

Derek Bryer worked in residential construction for more than 20 years before real estate and he walks a house the way a builder does. He is not a home inspector, a roofer, an engineer or an insurance adjuster and nothing here replaces a licensed home inspector, a roofing contractor or an insurance broker. Derek points out what he sees and tells you which professional should look. Insurance, inspection and construction points on this page are general information to confirm with the right professional.

The 2020 and 2024 hailstorms

The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) published figures for both storms, based on estimates from CatIQ, a catastrophe data firm.

Storm	Date	Insured damage	Source detail
Calgary, Airdrie and Rocky View County	June 13, 2020	Almost $1.2 billion	IBC, July 8, 2020, per CatIQ
Calgary	August 5, 2024	Nearly $2.8 billion, first estimate	IBC, September 11, 2024, per CatIQ
Calgary (final estimate)	August 5, 2024	CAD 3.349 billion	CatIQ final estimate, August 5, 2026

For August 2024, IBC reported over 130,000 claims and said almost one in five homes in Calgary was affected. The release describes reports of hailstones the size of chicken eggs and notes an earlier Calgary storm in 2021 with $700 million in insured damage. CatIQ’s final estimate says more than 95 percent of reported claims had been resolved two years after the storm.

Two practical points follow. First, a large share of Calgary roofs have been claimed on, repaired or replaced since 2020. A house with a new roof is not unusual and a house with an old roof is not necessarily at risk. Second, claim volume means contractors have been busy, so ask who did the work and when.

What hail does to a house

Hail damages the surfaces that face up and out. The pattern depends on the size and speed of the stones, the wind direction and the material hit. This is general building knowledge and a roofer or an adjuster is the one who decides what counts as damage on a particular house.

Asphalt shingles

Most Calgary houses have asphalt shingles. A hail strike can knock granules off the surface, leaving a dark, bare spot. It can also bruise the shingle, which means the mat underneath cracks even when the surface looks only dented. Bruising is hard to see from the ground and often found by pressing on the spot or looking at the pattern across a slope. Granules also collect in eavestroughs and at downspout outlets, which is a sign of wear whatever the cause.

Siding

Vinyl siding can crack or split and aluminum and steel siding can dent. Stucco can chip or crack. Look at the faces of the house that took the weather. On a street where several houses show the same pattern, damage is likely to be from the same storm.

Eavestroughs, flashing and vents

Soft metal dents easily and dents on eavestroughs, downspouts, roof vents and flashing are one of the first visible signs of hail. These dents are often cosmetic, but they show that the roof surface above them took hits as well. Dented soft metal on the roof is a prompt to look closer at the shingles.

Windows, skylights and screens

Hail can crack window glass and skylights, tear screens and damage the seals of a sealed unit, which show up later as fogging between the panes. Check every face of the house and ask whether windows were replaced.

Decks, fences and outdoor items

Painted and stained wood can show pitting and bruising. These items are cosmetic in most cases and they help show which side of the house took the storm.

Cosmetic or functional

Insurers and roofers separate cosmetic damage, which changes the look, from functional damage, which affects how the roof sheds water and how long it lasts. Whether a given dent counts as one or the other is a matter for the adjuster and for the policy wording. That is a question for your broker before you buy, not after.

Reading a roof’s age and material

You can learn a lot from the ground and from the paperwork before anyone goes on the roof. Do not walk a roof yourself and do not let anyone untrained do it for you.

Look at the material

Material	What to look for	Question to ask
Asphalt shingle	Bare patches, curling, cracked or lifted edges, patched areas, mismatched colour	Year installed, brand and product line, any warranty that transfers
Metal	Dents, loose or missing fasteners, scratched coating, sealed seams	Gauge, coating warranty, installer
Cedar shake	Splitting, moss, uneven courses	Age, treatment, last maintenance
Concrete or clay tile	Cracked or slipped tiles, broken ridge pieces	Underlayment condition, who repaired it
Flat or low-slope membrane	Ponding water, blisters, seam gaps	Membrane type, age, drainage

Look for age and repair clues

• Two different shingle colours or textures on the same slope suggest a repair.
• A roof that looks new on one side and worn on the other may have been partly replaced.
• Gutters full of granules point to a roof that is shedding its surface.
• New flashing and old shingles or the reverse, mean someone worked on it.
• Check the attic if you can: look for staining on the underside of the roof deck, damp insulation and daylight where there should be none. The home inspector will do this properly.

Age is a range, not a number

The listing may give the year the house was built and that is not the age of the roof. Ask for the date the roof was last replaced, then ask for the invoice. How long a roof lasts depends on the material, the product, the quality of installation, the ventilation and the weather it has taken. A roofer can give an opinion of remaining life and that opinion belongs in the file.

Impact ratings and what they mean

You may hear a roof described as Class 4 or as impact-resistant. The City of Calgary used the phrase “certified Class 4 impact-resistant product” in its rebate program and it did not define the term on the page.

UL 2218 is a published standard and it is the test often cited for impact resistance. Its scope is steep slope roof covering materials and it uses a laboratory impact test. The standard itself states that there is no currently established direct correlation between how roof materials perform under hailstones and under steel balls. In plain terms, a rating is a way to compare products under a test and it does not guarantee that a roof will not be damaged by hail.

If a seller says the roof is impact-resistant:

• Ask for the product name and the manufacturer’s literature.
• Ask for the rating certificate and the standard it refers to.
• Ask whether the insurer gave a discount and for the policy document that shows it.
• Ask your own broker whether your insurer recognizes the rating.

What to ask the seller

These are requests for information. A seller is not always able to provide all of it and what they cannot provide is also useful information. Derek can send these through the listing agent and they work best in writing.

Roof

• Year installed, by whom and what material.
• The invoice, including the product and the scope of work.
• The manufacturer’s or installer’s warranty and whether it transfers to a buyer.
• Whether a permit was taken out for the work. If not, ask why and confirm with the City of Calgary whether one applied.

Hail and insurance claims

• Whether there has been a hail claim since 2020 and for which storm.
• Whether the claim was paid and whether the roof was then replaced. A claim paid as cash without a replacement means the damage may still be there.
• The adjuster’s report, the scope of repair and any photographs from before and after.
• Whether other parts were claimed on, such as siding, eavestroughs, windows or fences.
• The current policy declaration page, which shows deductibles and the insurer.

Other exterior work

• Siding, windows and eavestrough replacement dates and invoices.
• Any water leak or ice damming since the seller bought the house and what was done.
• Any mould or moisture history in the attic or top-floor ceilings.

If the seller has few records, Derek will say so plainly in his advice and suggest the inspections and the contract conditions that match the gap.

What to ask an insurance broker before removing conditions

Put these questions to a licensed insurance broker with the address in hand, before your conditions are removed. An insurer’s willingness to cover a house is the buyer’s concern, not the seller’s. IBC states that hail and wind damage are covered by standard home insurance. Coverage terms, deductibles and limits vary, so the answers are the broker’s to give.

1. Will an insurer offer coverage on this house at this address and when can I get the quote in writing?
2. What is the hail or wind deductible and is it a flat amount or a percentage?
3. How does the age of the roof affect what the policy pays after a claim? Is it paid at replacement cost or at actual cash value?
4. Does the policy exclude cosmetic damage to roofing or metal items?
5. Does the insurer need a roof inspection, photographs or roof records before it binds the policy?
6. Does the insurer see a prior claim on this property and does it affect the price or the offer?
7. Does the quote differ if the roof is impact-rated? Ask for it in writing.
8. What is the process and who is the contact if a hail claim is needed?

For questions about a claim, IBC lists its Consumer Information Centre at 1-844-2ask-IBC. Keep the broker’s answers with the offer documents.

Writing the answers into the contract

Conditions can include a satisfactory home inspection, a satisfactory review of the roof records and confirmation of insurance on terms acceptable to the buyer. Derek writes these with the buyer’s needs in view. A lawyer reviews the contract and the buyers page covers the wider steps.

The City’s Resilient Roofing Rebate

The City of Calgary launched the Resilient Roofing Rebate Program in June 2021. It offered a $3,000 rebate to eligible homeowners who installed a certified Class 4 impact-resistant product. The City’s page of January 2022 set the end of the first year as May 31, 2022 or when funding was fully allocated and said 513 rebates had been awarded by December 15, 2021. The City’s newsroom places the end of the program in May 2022.

The program has ended and no new round turned up in the research for this site. If a seller or a listing refers to the rebate, it applied to work done earlier and a buyer cannot claim it. Check calgary.ca for any current program before relying on this page.

Flood maps

Hail is not the only weather question on a Calgary house. Alberta publishes flood hazard maps at floods.alberta.ca, showing the floodway and the flood fringe for the 1:100 design flood, which is a flood with a 1 percent chance of being equalled or exceeded in any year. Look up the address on the map and ask your broker how the insurer treats overland water and sewer backup, since those are separate from hail. A house on a ridge or hill can still have drainage concerns on its own lot, which the inspector will check.

A buyer’s checklist

Stage	Action
Before viewing	Ask the listing agent for roof age, material, claim history and invoices
At the viewing	Look at roof, eavestroughs, siding, windows and ceilings; note anything unusual for the inspector
Before an offer	Request records in writing; ask your broker about coverage
In the offer	Add conditions for inspection, roof records and insurance
During conditions	Book a licensed home inspector; get the broker’s quote in writing; check the flood map
Before removal	Review everything, ask Derek or your lawyer about open points, then decide

Where this applies in newer communities

Newer communities have newer roofs, but a new house is not a hail-proof house. A house built under a recent permit carries the Alberta new home warranty for a stated period: the minimum is five years on the building envelope and ten years on major structural components, with limits that apply. Alberta.ca has a registry to check a property and a builder. The warranty has terms and exclusions, so read it. See the new construction guide for the details. Community pages such as Tuscany, Evanston, Cranston and Sage Hill describe each area’s housing and they say whether a hail history was verified. Where it was not, this site does not guess.

If you are weighing a condo, the board and the reserve fund study decide when the roof is replaced and the condo buying guide covers what to request. If you are selling and wonder how a roof affects the price, the sellers page and the home valuation page explain how Derek prices a house from comparable sales.

Next step

Derek Bryer is a real estate associate with EXP Realty of Canada Inc. O/A eXp Realty and a member of the Justin Havre Real Estate Team. He will look at a roof with you, tell you what he sees and name the professional who should assess it. Call 587-325-2992 or use the contact page. The services page lists what he does for buyers and sellers.