Hail Damage Eavestrough Inspection & Replacement in Airdrie

The Problem It Solves

On 13 June 2020 a hailstorm hit northeast Calgary, Airdrie and Rocky View County hardest and left more than a billion dollars in insured damage behind it. At the time it was the costliest hailstorm in Canadian history, with hail reported as big as tennis balls shredding vinyl siding. Most people remember the siding, the shingles and the smashed windshields. Far fewer remember to look up at the eavestroughs, soffit and fascia, which take the same beating from the same angle, from hail and from the high winds that often travel with it, and are often the last item anyone checks once the obvious repairs are underway.

Hail damage on a gutter is rarely dramatic. A thin .027" aluminum trough takes a row of shallow dents along its front face and top lip, a downspout gets crushed at an elbow, and a corner mitre that was already stiff with age takes one hard strike and cracks its sealant. From the ground the system still looks like an eavestrough. The trouble shows up later: water sits in dented low spots, freezes, and adds weight; a flattened downspout backs up and overflows at the outlet; a split corner starts dripping onto the same patch of fascia every time it rains.

The second problem is timing. Hail claims have documentation requirements and time expectations that sit in your policy, and damage that nobody recorded right after a storm is harder to connect to that storm months later. Meanwhile the Calgary–Airdrie corridor is one of the most hail-prone areas in Canada, so a house can be hit again the next summer. When eavestroughs are replaced in a rush without anyone asking why they dented so easily, homeowners often end up with the same light coil that failed the first time, waiting for the next June.

How It Works

We start with evidence, not a sales pitch. A hail inspection covers every run from the roof edge and the ladder, not just from the lawn, because the dents that matter are on the top lip and the inside face where you cannot see them. We check each corner mitre, end cap and outlet, look at every downspout for crushing and kinks, and note damage to vinyl soffit and aluminum fascia capping at the same time, because hail rarely hits one component of the roof edge and spares the one beside it.

Then we write it down in a form an adjuster can read. You get dated photos organized by elevation, the location of dented sections, run lengths, corner and downspout counts, and plain notes on what is cosmetic and what affects how water moves. That record is yours to send to your insurer. We are clear about our role: the insurer and adjuster decide what your policy covers and how much. We do not promise coverage, we do not tell you what a claim will pay, and we never describe any of this work as costing you nothing.

When replacement of hail- or wind-damaged eavestroughs, soffit or fascia goes ahead, we do not simply copy what was there. Troughs are roll-formed on site from pre-painted coil into one continuous length per run, and on most hail jobs we recommend stepping up from .027" to .032" heavy-gauge aluminum, which resists denting from hail, ladders and snow load noticeably better. We check whether the roof really needs 5" or 6" troughs, hang the new system on hidden hangers 12–18" apart into solid wood, and re-set the downspouts so the water still leaves the foundation the way the City of Airdrie expects.

What Decides the Specification

Coil thickness is the decision that matters most on a hail job. Standard .027" aluminum is perfectly serviceable on a sheltered house, but it dents readily under large stones. Heavy-gauge .032" is stiffer, holds its shape under hail and ladder weight better, and carries winter ice load with less flex at the hangers. It will not make an eavestrough hail-proof; very large hail can still mark it. It does move the line at which a storm turns into a replacement. Colour is baked on at the coil stage, so we match your fascia and soffit, or you can use the replacement as the moment to change it.

Size and layout come next. Many homes had 5" troughs installed as a default, and that suits most roofs. If a large or steep roof, a long run or a valley dumping into one corner was overflowing before the storm, a replacement is the sensible time to move to 6" troughs with 3x4" downspouts rather than rebuilding a system that was already undersized. Guards are a separate choice: stiff perforated aluminum covers stand up to hail better than soft screens, and we can talk through that option once the replacement is specified.

Around Airdrie

The 2020 storm hit northeast Calgary, Airdrie and Rocky View County hardest. Coopers Crossing and Bayside, largely built through the 2000s and 2010s, are typical of housing that commonly went up with vinyl soffit and standard-gauge seamless eavestroughs, a sensible package in ordinary weather and a vulnerable one in large hail. After a big storm it is common to find a house that had its siding and shingles redone after a storm while the dented troughs above were left in place, still holding water in the low spots and dripping at corners that cracked the same day.

The exposure is not limited to one storm or one town. Hail season runs roughly June to August through the whole corridor, and the open prairie around Balzac, Crossfield, Irricana and the acreages of Rocky View County gives storms nothing to slow them down. The same pattern holds in north Calgary: it is common for the elevations facing into a storm to be dented while the sheltered side is untouched. That is why our inspection records each elevation separately, and why we lean toward .032" coil for replacements in this part of Alberta.