I’ve given up all hope of trying to assess hail damage to asphalt shingle roofs during home inspections. It’s a game. I’ve looked at dozens of roofs that were in fantastic condition, only to have roofing salespeople come behind me and insist that the roof had hail damage.
When I find damage to a roof during a home inspection, I report it. But I don’t go around with a microscope trying to determine what may or may not qualify for an insurance claim.
I remember receiving a callback many years ago from a homeowner who complained that we missed hail damage. A roofing salesperson had visited her home, offered a free inspection, and told her she had obvious hail damage throughout her roof.
I came out to see what we missed, and what I observed was a perfectly good roof. I crawled that roof on my hands and knees looking for hail damage, and I could find nothing.
While I was at the home I got the rest of the story from the owner. She told me the roofing salesperson and an insurance adjuster had actually spent close to two hours on the roof together, even getting into a shouting match over the supposed hail damage.