Canutillo: Photograph Hail Marks Before a Roof Wash

After hail up to 1.00 inches was reported near Canutillo, photograph the marks and leave them in place before a wash, a sealant, or tear-off. This post walks through a ground-level photo pass to finish first.

By Marshall Smith, IAUA Certified Property Appraiser and Umpire (CPAU) · Published November 3, 2026 · 8 min read · Filed under Homeowner Tips

After the NOAA Storm Prediction Center reported hail up to 1.00 inches near Canutillo on October 24, 2026, photograph the marks and leave them in place before anyone washes, seals, or starts tear-off.

The NOAA Storm Prediction Center recorded one report of hail on 2026-10-24 in El Paso County, up to 1.00 inches near Canutillo.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center

Get the photos first. Leave the marks in place until that record exists. A wash, a sealant, or an early tear-off changes the surface, and faint marks can disappear. This post is only about that step. It does not promise a claim result. Any outcome depends on the facts and on your policy.

What to do with the Canutillo hail reading

The NOAA Storm Prediction Center reading is one report of hail up to 1.00 inches near Canutillo, in El Paso County, dated October 24, 2026. It does not measure your shingles, name your street, or say your roof was marked.

Hail can fall in a narrow path. One house can show marks. Another can look quiet. The report means a careful look is worth your time. Your photos show what is on your property. A report near town is not a measurement of your loss.

Keep a copy of the report with your photos. Treat it as a weather record. Do not add wind, a larger size, or damage the report does not state. The number is hail up to 1.00 inches. Write it as given. Do not round it up.

If you are near Canutillo, walk your own place. Look at roof edges you can see from the yard, and at metal lower than the roof. Write the date of the walk in a note. A neighbor's photo is a photo of their building, not of yours.

Why a wash or a coating can erase a faint mark

On a shingle, a hail mark is often faint. A strike can loosen granules. The spot may look like a small dark circle, a bruise, or a thinner place in the mineral surface. In flat light it is easy to miss. After the surface is wiped, the contrast can be gone.

A roof wash uses water, and often a brush or a cleaner. The work moves loose granules. It can also wipe the dust and the splash pattern around a mark. Someone looking later may see a clean slope and have no photo of what was there before the wash.

A sealant or a coating covers that surface. Bruises, small cracks, and bare spots can sit under the new film. The original shingle is no longer open to view. If someone wants to seal the roof before the marks are photographed, ask for the photos first.

Tear-off is a larger change. Once the shingles are off, the marked pieces are mixed in a pile. A photo of a bare deck is not a photo of the hail marks. If tear-off starts first, both the policyholder and the carrier lose the chance to see the same surface.

Photograph first. Leave the marks until the record exists. Then talk about washing, coating, or opening the roof. That is a rule about order. It is not a ban on every repair.

An active leak is a different problem from a dirty roof. If water is entering the house, protect the interior. A tarp or a bucket is not the same as scrubbing the slopes or pulling shingles. If you are unsure what your policy expects you to do to limit further damage, read the policy. For a legal question, ask a licensed attorney. This is not legal advice.

Finish this ground-level photo pass first

Stay on the ground. Do not climb a ladder for this pass. A fall is not worth a closer frame. You can record a great deal from the yard, the driveway, and the sidewalk.

Start wide. Take one photo of the front, one of the back, and one of each side. Include a corner so the sides can be matched later. Those frames show where the close shots belong.

Then move closer to marks you can see without climbing. Edges, drip metal, and the lower courses are often visible from the ground. For each mark, take a wider shot of the area and a closer shot of the spot. The wider shot shows location. The closer shot shows the mark.

Set a coin beside the mark for scale if you can do it without touching the shingle. Do not peel granules to make the spot look larger. Do not chalk a circle unless you also keep a photo of the same spot before the chalk. A plain photo of the mark, as it sits, is the one to keep.

Softer morning or late-day light can help a bruise show. If the sun is harsh, take the photos anyway. Do not wash the roof so the marks will show. Water is more likely to hide them.

Write the date, and the side of the building, in a note. "North eave, lower course, near the downspout" is enough. Make sure each photo is sharp before you move on. Take two frames of anything that matters.

Include the ground in the same pass. Loose granules near a gutter outlet, or on a patio, are part of the picture. Photograph them before you sweep. The broom can wait a few minutes.

If a slope looks unmarked from the ground, say so in the note. An honest record is more useful than a set that overstates what you found. Your notes should describe your property. They should not copy the weather report and call that an inspection.

Save the photos in two places. Email a set to yourself so one phone is not the only copy. Do not rely on a single device.

If the upper roof needs a closer look later, that look can happen without a wash and without tear-off. A drone roof inspection is one way to record slopes from the air while the surface is still untouched. That step is separate from the ground pass you can finish today. The ground pass still comes first. Soft metal and low edges are easier to see up close.

Fins, caps, and downspouts count too

Hail often shows on soft metal before it shows clearly on shingles. Include that metal in the same walk, before anyone power-washes the house or paints over trim.

Air-conditioner fins are thin. A strike can fold a fin. Photograph the unit from a few feet away, then closer, so the dents have a location. Do not comb the fins flat before the photo. Straightening them erases the mark.

Leave vent caps, flue caps, and pipe jacks you can see from the ground in place until they are photographed. A replaced cap has no dent to show. Downspouts and gutter lips dent too. Photograph the run, then the dent, and include the joint so the location is clear. Splash blocks belong in the same frames if they show chips.

Screens, light fixtures, and a mailbox are not the roof. They can still show that hail reached that side of the building. A photo of a dented screen can support a location note. It does not, by itself, show what happened on the shingles. Say only what that frame shows.

Do not swap these pieces yet. If something is loose and could fall, make it safe. Photograph it first only if you can do that without risk. Safety comes before the photo. A cosmetic rinse can wait.

Ask these questions before the work starts

Before anyone washes, coats, seals, or opens the roof, ask a few plain questions.

Have the marks been photographed on every side you can see from the ground? Who keeps the photos, and will you get a copy the same day? Will the work remove granules, cover bruises, or replace soft metal? Is this appearance work, or protection for an active leak? If shingles will come off, can that wait until the marked slopes are recorded?

A careful contractor can answer those questions. The point is not to block help. It is to keep the surface intact until it is recorded. Both the policyholder and the carrier are better served when the marks can still be seen.

If someone says the marks must be washed off before they can be documented, slow down. A photo does not need a scrubbed roof. You can say, "Please wait. I am recording the marks first."

Put that answer in a text or an email. A short note is easier to keep with the photos than a talk in the driveway. "We will wait on the wash until the photos are done" is enough.

Read your policy before you authorize large work. Most policies speak to reasonable care of the property. That duty is not the same thing as washing marks away before they are recorded. If you have a legal question about what your policy requires, ask a licensed attorney.

The marks stay until the photos exist

The record is done when you have clear photos, a note of location, the date, and a copy stored off the phone. Until then, do not wash the marks, seal over them, or start tear-off.

If someone is coming to look at the property, leave the marks for that visit when you can. A photo is one record. An in-person look is another. Washing the night before removes what that person came to see. You do not need to stage the property. You do need to avoid changing the surface.

If you already washed one area, stop there. Photograph what is left. Note what was washed, and when. Do not try to recreate a mark. An honest note about a washed spot is better than a guess.

You can control the hose, the brush, the coating, and the tear-off crew. Keep the storm report with the photos. The NOAA Storm Prediction Center report records hail on October 24, 2026 in El Paso County, up to 1.00 inches near Canutillo. Your photos are about your property. Together they are clearer than either item alone. Neither one decides a claim.

Where those photos fit if the amount is disputed

People can see the same property and still disagree on the amount of the loss. That dispute is separate from today's photo step. The photos still matter, because they show the surface before a wash, a coating, or tear-off changed it.

If your policy contains an appraisal clause, appraisal is a structured way to resolve a dispute about the amount of loss. An appraisal clause is the policy wording that allows that amount dispute to go to appraisal. Check your own policy. The wording is not the same in every form.

Each side selects its own independent appraiser. The policyholder chooses one. The carrier chooses one. Each appraiser reviews the property, the photos, and the other records, and writes a position. A position is that appraiser's statement of the amount of loss.

The two appraisers compare positions and try to agree. A neutral umpire decides the items they cannot agree on. An umpire is the neutral person who decides only those disagreed items. The umpire is not there to favor either side.

The written result is an award. An award is the decision on the amount of loss for the items in front of the panel. Photos taken before any wash can be part of what is reviewed. The award states an amount. It does not state whether the loss is covered.

Appraisal determines the amount of loss only. Whether a loss is covered at all is a separate determination under the policy, made by the carrier and, where the parties disagree, resolved by a court — never by the appraisers or the umpire. If your question is about coverage, read the policy and speak with the carrier. For a legal question, ask a licensed attorney.

Marshall Services is independent. It can serve as the appointed party appraiser or as the neutral umpire, and in both roles the work rests on the evidence. For a property near Canutillo, Texas insurance appraisal is that amount-of-loss process when the policy provides for it. How hail losses are approached in appraisal is described on the hail damage insurance appraisal page. None of that replaces the photos you take before a wash.

A report of hail up to 1.00 inches near Canutillo is not an award, and it is not a coverage decision. Any amount depends on the property, the facts, and the policy.

What to do before the hose comes out

Photograph the marks you can see from the ground. Include fins, caps, and downspouts. Write the date. Save the photos with the storm report. Leave the marks in place. Ask anyone who wants to wash, seal, or open the roof to wait until that record is done.

If you want to talk through how appraisal works, Marshall Services offers a free consultation. Call 972-322-0752. Thank you.