Oklahoma is one of the most hail-prone areas in the United States.  The average life span of a roof in Oklahoma is about 9 years – not because they are worn out, but due to hail and wind damage.  It would make sense, then, if you are replacing your roof after a hailstorm, to consider shingles that will withstand 90% of the hail events that occur here in Oklahoma.  Not all impact-resistant shingles are created equal, however. The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety has tested various impact-resistant shingles in a real-world scenario and categorized their performances. The test results can be found at https://ibhs.org/hail/shingle-performance-ratings/.

The area you should pay particular attention to is the dents/ridges rating.

This is where most of the storm-related roof damage occurs.  If the shingle does not perform well in that category, it would likely fail and be damaged by golf ball-size hail.

Many insurance companies give large discounts if a homeowner uses impact-resistant shingles.  The savings can be very significant and pay for the cost of upgrading in about 3 years or so, if the roofing contractor is giving an honest material upgrade cost for the shingle.

However, many roofers have chosen to significantly increase the bid beyond the additional material cost when a homeowner requests a bid for impact-resistant shingles.  For example, the average additional material cost paid for a Class 4 impact-resistant shingle is approximately $25 more per square than a regular architectural shingle. But, some roofers will charge $50 or more per square, which may discourage you from making the upgrade. So why would roofers do that? The answer is pretty simple. They believe that installing shingles that will hold up to most hailstorms will hurt their business. If everyone utilized well-designed and effective impact-resistant shingles, it would likely double the lifespan of roofs here in Oklahoma and reduce demand and future claims.

Here are just a few of the many benefits of upgrading to an Impact-Resistant Roof:

• May reduce premiums on your homeowner’s insurance policy
• May reduce the frequency of roof system replacement, especially in high-risk hail areas (saving deductibles and the hassle associated with roof replacement)
• Gives your home a distinguishable advantage in a competitive real estate market (increases the resale marketability of your home)
• Can help stabilize future insurance costs, which have increased substantially over the past few years
• May decrease risk of water damage (water less likely to penetrate)
• Environmentally friendly, with a reduction in the frequency of tear-offs and reduced landfill waste

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