Hail Damage and Alabama Insurance

One of the risks of
living or conducting business in Alabama is that of hail damage to your
property. While you may have Alabama
insurance policies to help you
recover financially from losses due to hail damage, there are steps you can
take to protect your property from its effects – one of the most effective
being to choose a good roofing material that carries a high resistance to hail
damage.

A number of research
studies have been done to determine the best type of roofing material for
hail-resistance. However according to the Insurance Institute for Business and
Home Safety (IBHS), so far these have been based on size and mass of hailstones
and none have been conducted to date on the hardness of hailstones.

The IBHS is presently
conducting research on the damaging effect of hailstones due to their hardness.
Researchers believe that gathering this data will help to fill a gap in
hailstone-damage research. In the meantime however, the IBHS recommends
installing a roof cover with Class 3 or 4 hail protection properties, and high
wind-resistance to match wind-speeds in your region (Class F to Class H). In
addition, such a roof cover may also provide good fire-resistance qualities.

Installing a
resilient roof on your property may help not only protect your building but
also could reduce the need to file claims on your Alabama insurance. You can find out more about the IBHS’s hail
research here. For more information on insurance in Alabama,
contact our office.