12 Signs You Need a New Roof (and What Lake Wind and Hail Do to Windsor-Essex Homes)

Most Windsor-Essex roofs do not fail all at once. They fail a little at a time, and the signs are visible from the ground or the attic for years before water shows up on the ceiling. Knowing what to look for lets you plan a replacement on your schedule instead of after a storm has made the decision for you.

Here are the signs that matter, how to tell wind and hail damage from plain old age, and what to do about each.

Signs from the ground

1. Missing shingles or tabs. The most obvious sign after a windstorm. Windsor-Essex is flat and open, and gusts off Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie regularly top 90 km/h. Shingles on the windward edges and ridges go first. A few missing tabs on a roof under 12 years old is a repair; missing tabs scattered across a 20-year-old roof means the sealant strips have let go everywhere.

2. Curling or cupping edges. When shingle edges lift and curl, the asphalt has dried out and the shingle is no longer sealing to the one below it. Curled shingles tear off in the next big wind. This is end-of-life, not storm damage.

3. Bald patches and granules in the eavestroughs. Granules protect the asphalt from UV. When you see shiny black patches or a layer of grit in the eavestrough, the shingles are aging quickly. South- and west-facing slopes in our climate often wear out five years before the north side.

4. Cracked, split or blistered shingles. Thermal cycling does this. Windsor roofs see 30-plus freeze-thaw cycles a winter plus summer surface temperatures over 60 degrees Celsius.

5. Sagging roofline. A dip between rafters or along the ridge usually means the decking is soft or a structural member has failed. This is a priority call, not a wait-and-see.

6. Moss or algae streaks. Common on shaded north slopes in humid Windsor summers. Algae is cosmetic; moss holds moisture against the shingles and lifts them. Either is a sign the roof is in its second half of life.

7. Rusty, loose or lifted flashing. Around chimneys, walls, vents and skylights. Most leaks start at flashing, not in the field of the roof.

Signs from the attic and inside

8. Daylight through the roof boards. Go up on a sunny day and turn off the light. Pinholes of light mean missing shingles or nail holes.

9. Stains, damp insulation or a musty smell. Water does not always drip onto the ceiling right away. It soaks insulation first. Dark streaks on the underside of the decking are a leak that has been active for a while.

10. Ceiling stains or bubbling paint. By the time water shows on a ceiling, it has already been in the attic for weeks or months. Post-war bungalows in South Windsor and Forest Glade with low slopes and thin insulation are especially prone to ice-dam leaks that show up at the outer edge of ceilings in late winter.

11. Rising heating or cooling bills. Poor attic ventilation and wet insulation reduce the R-value. If your bills have crept up without a rate change, the attic is worth a look.

12. The roof is over 18 years old. In Windsor-Essex, architectural shingles realistically last 18 to 25 years, not the 30 on the bundle. If you do not know the roof’s age, look at your home inspection report or ask neighbours when the street was last reroofed; subdivisions in LaSalle, East Riverside and Tecumseh were often built in a two-year window and age together.

Wind damage vs. hail damage vs. age

Insurers care about the difference. So should you.

Wind damage looks like missing or creased shingles in a pattern that follows the wind direction, often on one or two slopes, with the exposed underlayment or decking visible. Creased shingles (bent back by wind, then dropped) look fine from the ground but have a horizontal crease line above the sealant strip that breaks the shingle. A roofer can spot these on the roof.

Hail damage looks like random dark circular bruises or dents where granules have been knocked off, scattered across all slopes with no pattern. You will usually also see dents on metal vents, eavestroughs, siding and air conditioner fins. Hail that is big enough to damage a roof shows up on every soft metal surface in the yard. Windsor-Essex gets a handful of hail events each summer, and one or two a decade are serious.

Age looks uniform: curling, granule loss and cracking spread evenly across the roof, worst on the sunny slopes, with no sudden pattern.

Sudden wind and hail damage is usually covered by a standard Ontario homeowner policy less your deductible. Age is not. If you suspect storm damage:

Take photos from the ground and of any debris in the yard, with the date.
Get a tarp on it to stop further damage ($350 to $900, typically reimbursed as emergency mitigation; keep the invoice).
Have a local roofer inspect and write up the damage before you call your insurer.
Be cautious of companies that appear after a storm offering to “cover your deductible.” Deductible waiving is a red flag, and in many cases is insurance fraud that can void your claim.

Repair or replace?

Situation	Usual answer
Roof under 12 years, a few missing tabs after a storm	Repair ($400 to $1,500)
Leak at a chimney, vent or skylight, roof otherwise sound	Repair the flashing ($400 to $4,000 depending on scope)
Roof 15 to 20 years, scattered curling and granule loss	Start getting replacement quotes; repair only to buy a season
Roof over 20 years, any leak	Replace
Two or more existing layers, any significant issue	Replace with full tear-off
Storm damage across multiple slopes, roof over 12 years	Replace; insurers often cover a full replacement if matching shingles are discontinued

A full asphalt replacement in Windsor-Essex runs about $7,500 to $13,500 for a bungalow and $12,000 to $22,000 for a two-storey in 2026. Metal is two to three times that and lasts two to three times longer.

A note on ice dams

If your leaks show up in late winter at the outside edges of ceilings, the problem is probably not the shingles. Warm air leaking into the attic melts snow, which refreezes at the cold eave and backs up under the shingles. The cure is attic insulation and air sealing plus balanced soffit and ridge ventilation. When you do reroof, have the roofer run ice and water shield well up from the eave, past the code minimum, on low-slope bungalows.

Get an inspection before the next storm

A roof inspection takes an hour and is usually free from a roofing contractor hoping for the eventual job. We match Windsor-Essex homeowners with insured, WSIB-covered local roofers who will tell you honestly whether you need a repair, a replacement or just another five years. Get a free roof inspection and quote.