Hail on Your Entry Door Glass and Sidelights: Check the Seals First

The front door takes hail more often than most homeowners expect. It sits under the roofline on the side of the house that faces the street, and its glass is often at eye level for anyone standing on the porch. When a storm passes through St. Louis, the roof usually gets the attention, but the entry door and the glass panels beside it can show damage that is easy to miss from the sidewalk. This page covers what to look for on the glass, the frame and the seals, and how to document it before you clean up or call anyone back.

If you are partway through deciding what to do after a storm, the door is one more item on the list. It does not have to wait for the roof. You can walk it today with a phone and a flashlight.

What hail does to entry glass

Most entry doors in St. Louis have one of three glass arrangements. Some have a single panel of glass in the door itself. Others have sidelights, which are fixed panels on one or both sides of the door. Some have a transom above the door. The glass in each may be ordinary annealed glass, tempered glass, or laminated glass with a plastic layer between two sheets. The type matters because each one breaks differently after an impact.

Annealed glass that is cracked by hail usually shows a single crack or a star pattern that starts at the point of impact. Tempered glass, which is common in entry doors because building codes require it near the floor and in doors, can shatter into small granular pieces when hit hard enough. If the glass is shattered, the damage is obvious. If it is only pitted or chipped, you need to look closer. Laminated glass often keeps its shape after a hit, with a crack that stays in the layer that was struck. That can make the damage look smaller than it is.

Look at the glass from several angles, including at an angle with the sun behind you. A crack can be visible only when light hits it correctly. Run a fingertip gently across the surface on the side that faces the weather. A chip or ridge that you can feel but not easily see is still damage worth photographing.

The seal is the part that fails later

Sidelights and many entry door panels are insulated glass units, which means two or more panes of glass sealed together around the edge with a spacer between them. The seal keeps the air or gas between the panes dry and clear. Hail can break the outer pane and leave the seal intact, or it can crack the seal without breaking the glass. The second case is the one people miss.

After a storm, look for fogging or moisture between the panes, especially when the sun is low. A film of haze, a line of condensation, or a patch of water droplets on the inside of the inner pane means the seal has failed. This is sometimes called a blown seal, and it will not clear on its own. It can also appear weeks or months after the hail, which is why a photo taken on the day of the storm matters. Without it, you may not be able to show when the seal first changed.

Freezing and thawing make small cracks grow. A chip that stays put through summer can open into a crack after the first hard freeze in January, when water gets into it and expands. The freeze-thaw cycle in St. Louis is not extreme, but it is frequent enough to move a damaged panel that has been left alone.

Photograph it before you clean it

Take the photos before you wipe the glass, vacuum the sill, or pick up pieces. Shattered glass on the porch looks like a cleanup job, but it is also evidence of what happened and when. Put a coin or a tape measure next to the damage so the size shows. Take one wide photo of the whole door, then close-ups of each cracked or chipped spot.

Shoot the frame as well. Look for dents in the metal skin of a steel door, cracked corners on a fiberglass door, or split caulk where the frame meets the brick or siding. A dent in the metal of a storm-facing door can show the hail's direction and size more clearly than the glass does. If the door has a storm door in front of it, photograph that too, because hail can damage the storm door glass and the entry door behind it.

Keep the originals on your phone with the date and time stamps intact. Do not send screenshots. Store the set in one folder, and write down the date of the storm and the address on a sheet so the file makes sense to someone who was not there.

What to check on the frame, threshold and hardware

Open and close the door several times and listen for a rub or a catch. A frame that has been struck hard can shift, and a door that no longer closes square can let in water and air. Check the weatherstripping along the top and sides for tears. Run a hand along the threshold and look for cracks at the joint where it meets the floor.

Look at the lockset and the hinges. A hard hit can bend a strike plate or loosen a screw that holds the lock in place. Do not force a door that does not close, because that can break the frame. Note what you saw and photograph it.

If the entry door sits under a porch roof or a small overhang, check the underside of that overhang too. Hail that bounced off the roof can strike the door from below the eave, which is a different angle from the damage on the roof surface.

How the insurance side works

Glass and doors are often covered under the homeowner's own policy, and the rules depend on the policy wording and whether the door is part of the dwelling or a separate item. Keys Roofing documents roof damage and can document other exterior damage you ask us to look at. We put a written scope with photos and measurements in your hands, and we can attend as the contractor while you deal with your own insurer.

Missouri law bars a roofing contractor from representing or negotiating a homeowner's insurance claim, and it also bars a roofer from saying anything about paying, waiving or covering a deductible. That rule is in RSMo 407.725, and it means a roofer cannot handle the claim for you or work the adjuster on your behalf. You keep the claim, the policy and the decisions about it. If the door needs a claim, file it with your own insurer and keep your own log of every call and letter.

What to ask a roofer about the door

If you already have a roofer looking at the roof, ask whether the door and sidelights are included in the walk. Some roofers only look at the roof and gutters. A written scope should say which exterior items were checked and which were not. If the door is not in the scope, ask who will look at it and when.

Ask for the photos in their original form, with dates, not a summary. Ask for a list of each glass panel, its type if known, and each crack or seal failure recorded. Ask whether the scope lists the frame and threshold separately from the glass. A line that says the door was inspected with no detail is not enough to work from.

If you want to call the office for a second set of eyes, Keys Roofing can be reached at (314) 220-2333. Ask what is included in the walk before you schedule it, and ask for the photos in writing.

The short version for your phone

Check the glass from more than one angle. Look between the panes for fog or moisture. Open and close the door and watch the frame. Photograph everything before the cleanup starts. Put the photos in one folder with the storm date. Then decide, with the photos in hand, what the door needs and who will look at it. If the seal has failed, the repair is usually the glass unit, not the whole door, but that depends on the door's construction and the glazing it uses.