Hail in Burbank: Rare but Real — Homeowner Checklist
What to do about storm damage in the Valley in the first forty-eight hours, and why the order matters.
After a storm the useful work happens in the first two days, and most of it is documentation rather than repair. This is what to do about storm damage in the San Fernando Valley once the wind drops.
What actually matters
Wind does not usually take a whole roof. It finds one lifted edge, one poorly fixed ridge or one loose flashing, and works from there. That is why post-storm damage so often looks minor from the ground and turns out not to be.
What to do in the first forty-eight hours
Document before you touch anything: wide photographs to establish the property, then close photographs of each item of damage, all dated. Temporary protection has to be done in a way that does not cause its own damage. A tarp fixed through a sound part of the covering creates new holes in a roof that did not have them. A tarp fixed through sound covering creates damage that was not there before.
How the San Fernando Valley changes the answer
Summer is the problem here. The Valley runs ten to fifteen degrees hotter than the coast and holds it for weeks, so a roof surface that reads 90 degrees in Santa Monica is well past 160 in Van Nuys by mid-afternoon. Everything on the roof expands into that heat and contracts again overnight, and it is that daily movement, not the peak temperature, that opens laps and backs fasteners out. Most of the housing went up between 1950 and 1975, which means original decking, undersized ventilation and at least one previous layer that somebody roofed straight over rather than tearing off.
What we look at on an inspection
- Displaced, lifted or missing units, slope by slope
- Seal integrity on the windward elevation, checked by hand
- Ridge, hip and perimeter fixing after wind loading
- Impact marks, splits and any debris strike on the surface
- Flashing displacement at walls, chimneys and penetrations
- Gutters and downpipes for detachment and blockage
- Interior and attic inspection for water entry already in progress
Common questions
The damage looks minor. Is it?
Possibly not. Wind damage frequently looks trivial from the ground and turns out to have broken the seal across an entire elevation.
Should I get a tarp on it straight away?
Only once it is photographed, and only if it can be fixed without putting new holes through sound covering. A badly fixed tarp creates damage that was not there before.
The honest summary
Get it documented, get it protected without adding damage, then get it assessed properly. Those three things in that order account for most good storm outcomes. In the San Fernando Valley the thing to watch is attic temperature and intake ventilation, because a Valley attic that cannot breathe cooks the underside of the roof as hard as the sun cooks the top.
Free inspection, drone photography where access is difficult, and a written estimate with deck repair priced per sheet. No obligation.