The one rule
Sudden is covered. Wear is not.
Every roof claim in Ohio comes down to one distinction: did an event damage the roof, or did the roof wear out? A limb through the decking is an event. Twenty-two-year-old shingles finally leaking is maintenance. Insurers pay for the first and decline the second — and they employ people who are good at telling them apart.
The deductible surprise
Most Ohio policies now carry a separate wind and hail deductible of 1–2% of your dwelling coverage — not the flat $1,000 you might remember. On a $300,000 dwelling limit, that's $3,000–$6,000 before the insurer pays a cent. Two consequences:
- A $900 flashing repair is entirely yours no matter how it happened. Filing accomplishes nothing except adding a claim to your CLUE record.
- A $15,000 wind-damage replacement clears the deductible easily — that's what the coverage is for.
When filing costs you
Claims live on your record for years and factor into pricing and renewal decisions. Filing a claim that gets denied — or that pays out less than the premium impact — is a real loss. This is why we do the assessment first: if the damage won't clear your deductible or reads as wear, you want to know that before your insurer does.
If you do file — the sequence
- Document before anything is touched. Dated photos of the roof, the yard debris, the gutters, the interior damage.
- Stop active water (tarping is expected and generally reimbursable — keep the receipt).
- Get an independent written scope from a contractor before the adjuster visit, so you're comparing their scope against something.
- Be present for the adjuster, with your contractor if possible — two sets of eyes on the same planes.
- Compare scopes, not totals. A lower number that omits half a plane isn't a lower price; it's a smaller job.
The deductible "discount" is fraud. Any contractor offering to waive, absorb, or rebate your deductible is proposing insurance fraud under Ohio law — with you as a participant. It's also the most reliable storm-chaser tell there is.
This page is general information for Ohio homeowners, not legal or insurance advice. Your policy's language controls; when in doubt, ask your agent to point at the paragraph.
Know where you stand before you file
A documented assessment tells you whether the damage clears your deductible and whether it reads as sudden or wear — before a claim is on your record.