How hail hurts your commercial building

 It’s storm season in Oklahoma, and that means hail. Hail doesn’t just leave dimples on your car and broken shingles on your roof—it can cause surprising damage to your commercial building as well. It’s a powerful destructive force.

When a storm rolls through, here’s what you need to keep an eye out for.

The obvious damage

Hail has some fairly obvious effects, especially if it’s large-diameter hail. It can break windows and skylights, tear down signs, and hammer exterior masonry.

Outside of obvious repairs, your exterior masonry may need a look to determine whether or not it needs some remedial care. If it’s been neglected prior to the hailstorm, it may have brought some issues with cracked or spalling masonry to a head that need to be taken care of now to avoid further damage. Damaged outer masonry surfaces can lead to structural damage if left unrepaired, as water can begin to infiltrate through the previously-impervious outer skin.

Roofs can also be affected. This is most often the case with residential roofs, but can occasionally cause issues on a commercial roof too. Some commercial systems have more give to them (for example, EPDM), which allows them to bounce back under hail better than harder residential systems. Hail can still damage or destroy roof caps or vents or cause cosmetic damage to metal roofing, though, which can be a problem for commercial buildings.

Hard-to-detect damage

One of the areas you need to have checked is stucco or EIFS, which can have less-obvious damage that affects its integrity. Surfaces can be compromised even without outward signs of damage, and often need to be checked by a professional. The damage may not be apparent until after serious issues have arisen.

If a serious hailstorm has come through recently, it’s probably a good idea to get someone who knows what they’re looking at to come take a look. Better to be safe than sorry. If you think you might have damage, contact JK Industries and we’ll come take a look for you.