Our Services

Storm Damage Repair and Emergency Tarping in NJ - Wind and Coastal Storm Response

Family-owned, Brick Township-based. Owner Charles Kearns has been in construction since 1978. The storm line answers 24/7 at (732) 770-3867.

Call (732) 770-3867

Quality Roof Pros repairs wind, hail, and coastal storm damage across Ocean, Monmouth, Middlesex, and Atlantic Counties. The order of operations is fixed: stop the water first with an emergency tarp, then assess whether the roof needs a repair or a full replacement. Quality Roof Pros is a family-owned roofing contractor based in Brick Township. Owner Charles Kearns has been in construction since 1978. Every storm visit produces a free written photo report you can hand to your insurance adjuster - we help document the claim with photos and a written report. We don't negotiate the claim with your adjuster; that's regulated work in NJ. Storm repair work carries a 30-year Quality Roof Pros labor warranty. Call (732) 770-3867 - day, night, or mid-storm.

Wind Damage

What Wind Actually Does to Architectural Shingles

Most storm damage on the Jersey Shore is wind damage, and most wind damage doesn't look like anything from the ground. Here's what wind actually does to an architectural shingle roof, in the order it usually happens.

Lifted tabs. Wind gets under the shingle edge and breaks the factory sealant bond that glues each course to the one below. The tab drops back down and looks normal from the driveway. The seal doesn't reset. The next storm lifts it further.
Creased shingles. A tab that folds back in a gust hinges against the course above it. The fold line fractures the fiberglass mat inside. That shingle is broken from that day forward, even though it's still nailed to the roof.
Granule loss. Wind-driven rain and hail scour granules off the asphalt. The granules are the UV shield. A stripe of bare asphalt ages years faster than the field around it.
Ridge cap and flashing damage. The ridge takes the highest wind loads on the roof. Cap shingles, pipe boots, and chimney flashing are usually the first things we find torn on a post-storm climb.

Architectural shingles hold onto the roof two ways: nails through the reinforced nailing strip, and a factory sealant strip that bonds each shingle to the course below once the sun heats it. Wind attacks the sealant bond, not the nails. On a newer roof with an intact bond and the six-nail coastal pattern, premium architectural shingles resist wind up to 130 mph. On a 15-year-old roof where the sealant has dried out, tabs start lifting at far lower speeds - which is why the same nor'easter strips one street and skips the next. A lifted tab that settles back down photographs like a healthy shingle from the driveway. From the roof, we can see the broken bond, the crease line, and the exposed nail heads. That gap between what the ground shows and what the roof shows is the reason every storm call gets a free inspection with a written photo report.

The Response

Tarp First, Assess Second - How We Handle a Storm Call

One call starts the whole sequence. Nothing gets skipped and nothing gets sold before the roof has been climbed.

The Call

You tell us what happened and what you can see - shingles in the yard, a ceiling stain, a visible hole. We answer 24/7. If water is coming in, we treat it as an emergency and dispatch once wind drops to safe-climb levels.

Emergency Tarping

Stop the water before anything else. We install weight-rated tarps over the damaged section - not a hardware-store tarp with bricks on the corners. If the storm is still active, tarping is booked for first light.

Full Damage Assessment

Once the roof is stable, we climb all of it, not just the obvious hit. Wind damage scatters. We photograph every lifted tab, crease, and granule stripe, and check the flashing, ridge caps, and gutters.

Repair or Replace

You get a written recommendation with photos: repair the damaged section, or replace the system if the storm ended a roof that was already near the end. We tell you which one and why, in plain terms.

If water is coming into the house right now, start with our emergency roof repair page - it covers what to do in the first hour, before we arrive.

Storm + Insurance

Documenting the Damage for Your Insurance Claim

A storm claim runs on documentation, and the best documentation is gathered before anything gets moved, tarped over, or repaired. When we tarp ahead of the adjuster's visit, we photograph first and tarp second - the record shows what the storm did, not what the tarp covers.

Every storm-response visit produces the full package before we leave the property: time-stamped, geo-tagged photographs from multiple angles, a written condition report that describes the damage in plain English plus the roofing terms an adjuster recognizes - creased tabs, fractured mats, displaced granules - and a line-item estimate for the permanent repair.

Our role stops at documentation. We help document the claim with photos and a written report. We don't negotiate the claim with your adjuster - that's regulated work in NJ, and anyone who tells you otherwise is skating on thin ice. Whether to file at all is a decision you make with your agent; our report gives you the evidence to make it an informed one.

Filing or not filing is not our call, and we don't pretend it is. What we control is the quality of the record. A wind-damage claim with ground-level phone photos taken three weeks after the storm reads very differently from one with same-week rooftop photography, a contractor's written condition report, and a repair estimate attached. Homeowners can help their own case in the first day: photograph interior stains as they appear, keep the shingles that land in the yard instead of throwing them out, and hold onto receipts for anything bought to control the water. We keep any damaged shingles we remove during tarping so the physical evidence stays available for inspection. None of that is claim negotiation - it's just an honest record, assembled while the damage is fresh.

The Decision

Repair or Replace After the Storm

Storm damage doesn't automatically mean a new roof. The honest answer usually depends on what the roof looked like the day before the storm.

A storm-damage repair is the right call when:

The damage is confined to one slope or one section - a band of lifted tabs, a handful of creased shingles - and the surrounding field still holds granules and lies flat.
The roof is under 15 years old and this is its first real damage event.
The damage is in the details - ridge cap, pipe boots, a run of flashing - with the shingle field itself intact.

Replacement is the better call when:

The storm took whole sections down to underlayment or bare deck. Patching at that scale approaches replacement cost fast.
Creases and lifted tabs show up across multiple slopes on a roof already past 20 years. The storm didn't damage a good roof - it finished an old one.
This is the second or third wind-damage event on the same field. Repeated lifting means the sealant bonds are failing across the board, not just where the storm hit.

When replacement is the answer, the rebuilt roof goes on stronger than the one the storm took: premium architectural shingles with a reinforced nailing strip rated for 130 mph wind, six nails per shingle on coastal jobs instead of four. Cost ranges, timelines, and warranty terms are on our roof replacement page. Financing is available for storm work that insurance doesn't fully cover.

FAQs

Storm Damage FAQ

How do I know if my roof has wind damage when no shingles are missing?

You usually can't tell from the ground. Lifted tabs settle back down and creased shingles stay nailed in place - both look normal from the driveway, and both are real damage. If a named storm or a strong nor'easter came through your area, get the roof climbed. Our inspection is free and comes with a written photo report either way.

Is a creased shingle actually damaged if it's still attached?

Yes. The crease line fractures the fiberglass mat inside the shingle, and the sealant bond is already broken. It holds until the next serious wind event, then fails. A creased shingle is a broken shingle that hasn't finished breaking.

What should I do in the first 24 hours after storm damage?

Photograph everything you can see safely - interior stains, shingles in the yard, damage visible from the ground. Move belongings out from under any active leak. Don't climb the roof. Then call (732) 770-3867. We answer 24/7 and dispatch for tarping once conditions allow a safe climb.

Should I tarp the roof myself before you arrive?

No. A wet, damaged roof is dangerous footing, and a loose tarp in wind acts like a sail. Most homeowner policies expect reasonable steps to prevent further damage - calling a contractor for emergency tarping is exactly that step. If you buy plastic sheeting or buckets for the interior, keep the receipts for your claim.

How long can an emergency tarp stay on the roof?

A properly installed weight-rated tarp buys you weeks, not months. It's a bridge to the permanent repair, not a substitute for one - sun and wind work on every tarp from the day it goes down. We schedule the permanent repair before we leave the tarping visit, so there's a date on the calendar instead of an open question.

What does the insurance adjuster actually look for on the roof?

Physical evidence tied to the storm: creased and torn shingles, lifted tabs with broken sealant, displaced granules, and impact marks from hail or debris. Our report hands the adjuster that evidence - time-stamped, geo-tagged photos plus a written description in roofing terms. We help document the claim. We don't negotiate the claim with your adjuster - that's regulated work in NJ.

Is granule loss after a storm a big deal?

Depends on how much. A light scatter in the gutters after heavy rain is normal, especially on a newer roof shedding factory-excess granules. Bare or shiny patches on the shingle face are not - the granules are the shingle's UV shield, and exposed asphalt ages fast. We photograph and note it in the inspection report.

My neighbor lost shingles but my roof looks fine. Should I still get it checked?

Yes. The same wind crossed both roofs. Whether shingles came off often comes down to the age of the sealant bonds, not the strength of the storm - your roof may be carrying lifted tabs and creases that just haven't let go yet. The inspection is free, and if the roof genuinely came through clean, the report says so and you're done.

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