Ridge and Hip Caps Need Their Own Hail Count

Most storm roof talk stops at the field of the roof, the large planes of shingle that catch the eye from the street. The ridge and hip caps get a sentence, if they get that much. On a steep St. Louis roof, though, the caps are the pieces that sit highest and turn the most weather, and they are often missing from a written count. If you are deciding what to do next after a hit, the caps belong on their own line in your file.

Why the caps read differently

A ridge cap is a shingle bent or cut to sit over the peak, and a hip cap does the same job where two slopes meet at an outside corner. Each piece is small and exposed on both sides, so hail that lands on a cap can strike the granule surface at a different angle than it strikes the field. Many caps show granule loss, a bruised mat or a crease at the point where the cap bends, while the shingles just below them look untouched from the ground. A cap that looks fine from the sidewalk may still have a soft spot you can only see up close.

The reverse also happens. A cap can look scuffed from the street and still be sound once someone handles it, because a bit of loose granule on a ridge is not the same thing as a split mat. That is why the count has to be made on the roof, with the pieces within reach of a camera and a tape, not from a drive-by photo taken with a phone held at the eave.

Storm and hail

Start the cap count after the field slopes are walked, not before. The order matters because the windward slope is usually where the heaviest hits land, and you want the field photos sorted by slope first. Then move to the ridge line and work one section at a time. Photograph each run of caps with a tape or a known object for scale, and note which side of the house the run faces, which slope it sits above and how far it is from the nearest gable end. A run on the storm-facing side may show more damage than the run on the far side of the same ridge, and the notes should say so in plain terms.

Write down how many caps you counted in each run and how many show damage you can point to. A simple list in your notes is enough. "Ridge, north run, 14 caps, 6 with granule loss at the bend" tells a roofer or your insurer far more than a general statement that the ridge looks hit. Keep the same format for the hip caps, and keep the hip count separate from the ridge count so the two do not blur together later.

The attic side of the ridge needs a check too, especially before the next heavy rain. Go up with a flashlight and look at the underside of the ridge board and the top of the roof sheathing near the peak. Daylight showing at the ridge, wet or darkened wood, or a stain that runs along the board are all worth photographing with a date beside them. Those marks do not tell you which cap was hit, but they tell you whether water is already getting past the ridge line, and that changes how quickly the caps need attention.

Keys documents what it finds on the roof and puts a written scope with photos and measurements in the homeowner's hands. The cap count is one part of that scope. It does not decide a claim, and it does not decide by itself whether a cap is repaired or replaced. Those questions are answered in the written scope, and the homeowner takes the scope to their own insurer.

What it costs

The cost of cap work depends on how many linear feet of cap runs need attention and whether the caps can be lifted and reset or must be replaced with new cap shingles. A ridge that shows only a few creases may be cheaper to repair in sections than to strip and redo. A ridge that has lost granule along most of its length often has to be replaced, because the cap is the piece that sheds water at the peak, and a cap that is split at the bend will let water in along the ridge line.

Ask for caps to be priced as their own line, with the linear feet and the material written out. A single lump sum for roof repair can hide the caps inside the field square count, and then nobody can see what the caps cost or whether they were included at all. If the caps are going to be replaced in a shingle that differs from the field in color or profile, that difference should be named in writing before anyone orders material. Keys installs Atlas and Malarkey shingles, and the cap product should match the field line wherever the spec allows it. If it cannot match, the scope should say so and show the reason.

Ask whether the crew will reset the caps on a new starter course or only swap the cap pieces. On many ridges the ridge vent sits underneath the caps, so pulling the caps means lifting the vent, and that work belongs in the scope rather than in a catch-all line that says misc. A vent that is lifted and not reset properly can start a leak that looks like a cap problem, so the vent should be named in the same paragraph as the caps.

What to ask

Before you agree to anything, ask the roofer these questions about the caps:

• How many cap runs did you count, and on which slopes?
• Which caps are shown as damaged in the photos, and which are being resealed rather than replaced?
• Is the ridge vent being lifted, and is the vent material listed in the scope?
• Will the cap shingles match the field shingle line, and if they do not, what is the difference?
• Is the cap work priced as its own line with linear feet shown?
• Who keeps the dated photos of each cap run, and in what file?

Those questions are about the work itself. Missouri law bars a roofing contractor from representing or negotiating a homeowner's insurance claim, and RSMo 407.725 forbids a contractor from saying anything about paying, waiving or covering a deductible. Keys can give you the written scope and the photos, and attend as the contractor while you deal with your own insurer.