Wind damage roof leads are owner-occupied homes inside the path of a hurricane, derecho or high-wind day whose roofs are old enough that the shingles were likely to lift — and the list is built around roof age first, because in wind, roof age is the best single predictor of which shingles let go.
The morning after a wind event looks nothing like the morning after hail. There are shingles in the yards, ridge caps in the gutters, blue tarps going up by noon, and homeowners who already know something is wrong. The roofing company’s problem is not persuading anyone a storm happened. It is deciding, across a swath that can be hundreds of miles long, which roofs actually let go — and which of those homeowners need a crew this week, a claim, or only a repair that costs less than their deductible.
This page is for the buyer of that list: the roofing owner or call center building a wind campaign. The general storm playbook is in storm damage leads; the list for hail, which is built differently, is in hail damage roof leads.
Nothing on this page is insurance or legal advice. Deductibles are set by each policy within state rules; the sources below are dated so they can be checked before a campaign.
What wind does to a roof
Wind does not push a roof down; it pulls it up. IBHS’s FORTIFIED program puts it simply: roof damage often begins when wind gets underneath the roof edge and begins ripping it away from the home (FORTIFIED Roof page, as of October 2026). In general roofing terms, what a crew finds after a wind event follows that order:
- Edges first. Eaves and rakes, where the starter course and the first shingles meet the wind. Lifted edges and peeled-back drip edge are the usual first sign.
- Unsealed and creased tabs. Self-sealing shingles are held down by an adhesive strip; IBHS wind testing found the strength of that seal the most important factor in high-wind performance (IBHS, “Wind Uplift of Asphalt Shingles”, January 2019). A tab that lifts and falls back can crease and stay unsealed while still looking in place from the street.
- Missing shingles and ridge caps. The hip and ridge caps are bent over the peak and catch wind from both sides; once a course goes, the next one is exposed.
- Exposed underlayment or deck. The point where a roof problem becomes a water problem. In IBHS’s derecho study, total losses rose by 4 to 7 times the mean claim when water intrusion was present (IBHS, July 2023).
Wind ratings on the shingle wrapper help less than buyers expect. IBHS’s Roof 101 page lists the fan test classes — ASTM D3161 Class A at 60 mph, Class D at 90 mph and Class F at 110 mph — and notes that the standardized wind tests do not account for weathering, temperature or aging (as of October 2026). The rating describes the shingle on the day it was made.
Which roofs fail first
The clearest public evidence comes from the IBHS report on the August 10–11, 2020 Midwest derecho, published July 2023, which examined 669 single-family homes in four areas of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, under estimated peak winds of 80 to 120 mph:
| Finding | What IBHS reported |
|---|---|
| Older vs newer asphalt shingle roofs | Roofs older than ten years had about a 25 percent probability of visible damage, against about 5 percent for roofs three to six years old. |
| Where the jump happens | The largest increase in damage came between the 7–8-year and 9–10-year age groups. |
| Why | Prior research found shingles in a southern climate stay well sealed for their first four to five years, after which the sealant declines and tabs unseal. |
| Hurricanes agree | The post-Hurricane Laura (2020) study it cites found a decline by five years of age, acceleration by seven, and roof age the best predictor of shingle performance. |
| Beyond the roof | Loss ratios were higher than in hailstorms because siding, garage doors, soffits and fascia contributed more of the loss. |
The practical reading for a list builder: the age line for a wind list sits lower than most roofers draw it for hail, and above ten years the roofs are the ones most likely to have let go, almost regardless of which street they are on. Exposure still matters — homes facing the peak winds over open ground took the worst of it — but age is the filter that does the most work. Estimating it per home is its own problem, covered in how to find homes with old roofs.
Wind and hurricane deductibles, in plain words
A setter never discusses a deductible. But the person building the list has to understand them, because they decide which wind-damaged homes become claims and which become cash repairs.
| Deductible | When it applies | How it is set |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane deductible | Only to hurricane or tropical-storm damage, under a trigger such as the National Weather Service naming the storm or issuing a watch or warning | Usually 1 to 5 percent of the home’s insured value; in effect in 19 states and DC (Triple-I, as of October 2026) |
| Florida hurricane deductible | All covered hurricane losses in a calendar year, applied once across the year | Insurers must offer $500, 2, 5 and 10 percent of dwelling limits (Fla. Stat. § 627.701, 2025 Florida Statutes) |
| Wind and hail deductible | Any wind damage, hurricane or not — a derecho or a straight-line wind day included | Often a percentage; Westfield Insurance gives 1 percent of a $300,000 home as a $3,000 deductible (July 2026) |
| All-other-perils deductible | Everything the two above do not cover, depending on the policy | The policy’s standard deductible, which the wind and hail deductible may differ from (Westfield, July 2026) |
The consequence is easiest to see in the example the Texas Office of Public Insurance Counsel gives (as of October 2026): a home insured for $200,000 takes $7,000 of storm damage. With a 1 percent deductible the homeowner pays $2,000 and the insurer $5,000; with 5 percent the homeowner pays all $7,000, because the percentage is of the insured amount, not the claim. A wind event that strips one slope and a run of ridge caps can easily land under that line. Those homes still need a roofer — as a repair the homeowner pays for. And the Texas Department of Insurance states that waiving a homeowner’s deductible is illegal under Texas law (updated December 2025), so the answer is never to “cover” it. How roof age shows up in the policy itself is covered in roof age and home insurance.
Building the list for wind, not hail
| Question | Hail list | Wind list |
|---|---|---|
| What decides the house | Hail size and roof age, read together | Roof age first, then exposure to the peak winds |
| Shape of the swath | Bands; neighbouring streets can have had different storms | Broad — a derecho runs at least 250 miles by the Storm Prediction Center’s definition (updated April 2026) — with damage patchy inside it |
| Does the homeowner know? | Often not; hail damage is hard to see from the ground | Often yes — shingles in the yard, a tarp next door |
| First lane | Inspection and claim | Emergency repair and dry-in, then inspection |
| Scope | Roof, soft metals | Roof plus siding, gutters, fascia and garage doors |
| Deductible | Wind and hail or all-perils | Hurricane deductible on named storms; many small claims fall under it |
Three practical rules follow. Split the list into two lanes on day one: homes past ten years at the core of the swath, worked as replacement inspections, and everything else as a repair lane that sells dry-in and a fix fast, before water turns a small job into a large one. Put the event date on every row and, in Florida, know that for a hurricane the date of loss in the claim-notice statute is the landfall date (Fla. Stat. § 627.70132, 2025). And in a hurricane season, keep the repair lane: a home that took a patch in August is older and weaker when the next storm arrives.
Where Scout Data fits
Disclosure: Scout Data is our product. Scout Data builds lists of homes by roof age and roof condition in your territory, with homes that were already re-roofed taken out — one live mobile per home, matched by name to the owner on title and DNC-scrubbed before delivery. Ask for a free sample from the tens of thousands of roofs we have already read.
On the phone and after the first week
The wind call opens differently from the hail call because the homeowner usually already knows. “We’re working homes on your street after the storm on the [date] — have you found any shingles in the yard, or is anything letting water in?” is a question they can answer, and it routes the call to the right lane. The phone never says what a policy will pay or which deductible applies; those boundaries are the first design decision in the roofing cold call script, and once a claim is open the process is in insurance restoration sales process.
After the first week, the wind list changes shape rather than going stale. The tarped roofs are the clearest follow-up list a roofing company will ever get: the homeowner has already admitted the problem and is waiting on someone. The patched roofs past ten years are next season’s replacements. And the homes that were fine this time are the ones whose roofs will cross the seven-year line before the next storm does — which is why a wind campaign is worth keeping, sorted by age, long after the trucks from out of state have gone home. Re-run the scrub before each new pass; DNC scrubbing for roofing and HVAC covers the checks.
Frequently asked questions
How strong does wind have to be to damage a roof?
The National Weather Service treats winds of 58 mph or more as damaging, and the Storm Prediction Center calls 75 mph or more significant (SPC definitions page, last modified March 2026). But on asphalt shingles the roof’s age matters as much as the gust. In an IBHS study of 669 homes after the August 2020 derecho in Cedar Rapids, published July 2023, roofs older than ten years showed visible damage about five times as often as roofs three to six years old under the same storm.
What is a hurricane deductible?
A separate deductible that applies only to hurricane or named-storm damage and is usually a percentage of the home’s insured value rather than a flat dollar amount. The Insurance Information Institute says they typically run from 1 to 5 percent and are in effect in 19 states and the District of Columbia (as of October 2026). On a home insured for $300,000, a 5 percent hurricane deductible means the homeowner pays the first $15,000 of the claim.
How is a wind damage lead list different from a hail list?
On a hail list the storm’s size class and the roof’s age decide the house together. On a wind list roof age carries more of the weight: research after Hurricane Laura found it the best single predictor of shingle performance, and the 2020 derecho study confirmed it. Wind damage is also more often visible from the ground, more urgent once water can get in, and more often below a percentage deductible — so a wind list splits into an emergency repair lane and a replacement lane rather than one claim conversation.
How old does a roof have to be to belong on a wind damage list?
Younger than many roofers assume. IBHS reports that asphalt shingle wind performance declined by about five years of age and accelerated by seven in the post-Hurricane Laura study, and that the sharpest jump in the 2020 derecho came between roofs seven to eight and nine to ten years old (IBHS, July 2023). A roof past seven years inside a damaging-wind swath belongs on the list; a roof past ten belongs near the top.