Twice a year, before hail season ramps up in spring and again after the worst of the summer heat breaks, it's worth walking your own property with a critical eye. This checklist is built specifically for the conditions that actually damage homes in Fort Worth, Arlington, and the rest of Tarrant County — not the generic "check your gutters" advice written for a different climate. Use it as a starting point, not a substitute for a trained eye when something looks questionable.
North Texas sits inside what meteorologists sometimes call hail alley — the corridor of the central and southern Plains that sees some of the highest hail frequency in the country. Tarrant County gets hit by damaging hail almost every spring, and stones large enough to bruise asphalt shingles, dent metal flashing, and crack window screens are not a rare event here; they're a recurring maintenance reality. Straight-line wind from spring and summer thunderstorm complexes, including the occasional derecho-style outbreak, adds a second layer of risk — wind doesn't just rattle shingles, it can peel them off entirely or drive debris into siding and fascia.
Then there's the heat. Fort Worth regularly sees weeks of 100-plus-degree days, and the daily swing between a hot afternoon and a cooler night puts exterior materials through constant expansion and contraction. That thermal cycling is hard on caulk joints, vinyl and fiber cement siding, roof flagpoint sealants, and window frames — it's a slower, quieter kind of damage than a hailstorm, but it adds up year over year.
Tarrant County's soil is another piece most homeowners underestimate. Much of the area sits on expansive clay that swells when it's wet and shrinks when it's dry. Texas summers routinely put that soil through a hard drought-then-downpour cycle, and the resulting ground movement can telegraph up into the house as foundation cracks, sticking doors, and gaps around trim — problems that look cosmetic on the exterior but often start below grade.
Finally, insurance matters here in a way it doesn't in every state. Most Texas homeowners policies, including ones written well inland from the coast, carry a separate percentage-based wind/hail deductible rather than a flat dollar amount — often 1% to 5% of your dwelling coverage. That means a hail claim can carry a meaningfully larger out-of-pocket cost than people expect, and insurers increasingly scrutinize roof age and condition before renewal. Catching damage early, and documenting it well, genuinely affects what a claim looks like later.
Not every item on this list is an emergency, and it's worth being honest about that. A little chalking on 12-year-old siding or a hairline foundation crack that hasn't changed in years is normal wear, not a crisis. The response should match the severity.
For anything involving active water intrusion — a stain spreading on a ceiling, water actively dripping, or a clearly open gap in flashing or siding — treat it as urgent. Get a tarp or temporary cover on an active roof leak if it's safe to do so, and don't wait on scheduling a repair. Water damage in North Texas humidity turns into mold and rot faster than most people expect.
For hail or wind damage you find after a specific storm, photograph it right away, from multiple angles and with something for scale, before you clean up debris or do any repairs yourself. If you plan to file an insurance claim, that documentation matters more than almost anything else in the process, and Texas's percentage-based wind/hail deductibles make it worth having a clear record of exactly what was damaged and when.
For foundation-related signs — new cracks, sticking doors, gapping trim — don't panic, but do start tracking them. Take dated photos, and if the movement continues or accelerates over a few months rather than stabilizing with the seasons, that's worth a call to a foundation specialist rather than an exterior contractor, since foundation repair and exterior repair are genuinely different trades.
For cosmetic issues like fading, minor caulk cracking, or light granule loss, the honest answer is that routine maintenance — recaulking, a wash, or normal replacement on schedule — is usually all that's needed. Not everything on this checklist requires a contractor visit, and a company that tells you otherwise on every small item isn't doing you any favors.
Some of what's on this checklist is genuinely hard to judge accurately from the ground, and getting it wrong in either direction costs you — missing real hail damage means a smaller insurance payout or a future leak, while over-reporting normal wear can waste everyone's time. A few situations where it's worth having someone experienced take a closer look:
Alpine Exteriors works roofing, siding, and window inspections across Fort Worth, Arlington, and the rest of Tarrant County, and can walk a property in person to sort out what's cosmetic, what's maintenance, and what actually needs attention before it becomes a bigger repair. A second opinion on a borderline call costs you far less than guessing wrong.
Twice a year is a reasonable baseline for most Tarrant County homes — once in early spring before hail season and once in fall after the worst summer heat. Add an extra check any time a specific storm with hail or high wind passes directly over your neighborhood, since damage from a discrete event is easiest to document while it's fresh.
You can do a reasonable ground-level and binocular check yourself, but climbing onto the roof isn't necessary and isn't always safe, especially on steeper pitches or after a storm has left debris around. If you see anything questionable from the ground, that's the point to bring in someone who inspects roofs professionally rather than climbing up to look closer yourself.
Yes, and this is one of the more counterintuitive parts of hail damage. Bruised shingles or cracked siding can look fine and still not leak for months or years, but the protective layer has already been compromised, and the next storm or the next summer's heat cycling tends to be what finally opens it up. Catching it early, while it's easy to document, is usually cheaper than waiting for an active leak.
No, and it's worth understanding the difference. Hurricane deductibles apply along the Texas coast under windstorm insurance programs that don't extend to Tarrant County. What applies here is a separate percentage-based wind/hail deductible built into most standard Texas homeowners policies, inland included, because of the state's overall hail frequency. It's still worth checking your specific policy, since the percentage and what triggers it vary by carrier.
A checklist gets you most of the way there, but some calls — how much is a genuine hail claim versus normal wear, whether a sticking door means the foundation or just humidity — are easier to make with someone who looks at North Texas homes for a living. If your walk-through turned up anything on this list that gave you pause, Alpine Exteriors offers exterior inspections for homeowners across Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Denton, Irving, and the rest of the DFW area, and can help you figure out what's actually worth acting on before the next storm rolls through.