Class 4 Shingle Roof Replacement in Denver, CO

Project Capsule: Hail damaged a home on a tight central Denver lot, marking the shingle field, the low-slope section behind it, and the siding. CRC documented all three for the insurance claim, and once the claim was approved reroofed the home with a Class 4 impact-resistant shingle system rated to take the next storm better than the one it replaced.

Project Facts

The Challenge

Two things made this roof more involved than a straight shingle swap. The first is that it is not one roof but two: a steep-slope shingle field wrapping a hip and valley layout, and a low-slope section tucked behind it between two chimneys. Hail hits both, but it shows up differently on each, and an adjuster will not pay for damage that has not been proven on its own terms.

The second is the lot. This is central Denver, where houses sit close together and a brick apartment building looks straight down onto the roof. There is no room to stage materials across a wide yard and no margin for debris drifting where it should not.

Documenting the Damage

We inspected and marked the roof the way an adjuster does, circling individual impacts across each elevation and noting the hit count per slope so the damage could be read at a glance rather than argued about. Up close, the impacts show the pattern that matters: granules knocked loose and the mat bruised underneath, which is what separates a genuine hail strike from ordinary wear.

The siding mattered. Storm damage rarely stops at the roofline, and a claim that only covers shingles leaves the homeowner paying for the rest. We document the whole exterior, which is the same approach we take on any storm and hail damage job.

The Solution

Once the claim was approved, we tore the roof off to the deck and dried it in with a synthetic underlayment, with ice and water shield at the details most likely to leak. The photo below was taken mid-install, and it shows the working conditions as much as the material: a dried-in deck with the street, the neighbouring rooftops, and the downtown skyline all within a block.

The new system is a Class 4 impact-resistant architectural shingle, the highest impact rating available under the UL 2218 standard, with matching impact-resistant hip and ridge. The colour moved from the original gray to a weathered wood tone. Eight new roof louvers went in to replace the storm-beaten vents, along with a full flashing package and new drip edge around the perimeter.

The Result

The homeowner ended up with a roof rated to handle the next Front Range hail season rather than a like-for-like replacement of the one that just failed. Class 4 shingles also qualify for an insurance discount with many Colorado carriers, which is worth asking your own carrier about after a reroof. We cover how that works in our guide to Class 4 impact-resistant shingles in Colorado.

Insurance work takes the time it takes. On this job the damage was documented well before the materials were ordered, and the wait was the claim, not the roof. That is normal, and it is one reason to document thoroughly at the start: the file has to hold up months later.

Get a Free Hail Damage Inspection

If a storm has been through your neighbourhood, an inspection costs nothing and there is no obligation. Our Denver office covers the Denver Metro and Front Range. Call (720) 893-7663 or request an inspection online, and we will document what we find, including anything the storm did below the roofline. You can also read more about residential roof replacement and how we handle insurance claims.