Missing or Lifted Shingles After a Chicago Windstorm? What to Do Next

The safest first inspection happens with both feet on the ground. Walk the full perimeter of your house in daylight, once it is safe to be outside, and look at the roof from several angles. Binoculars help a lot. A phone camera with the zoom turned up also works, and it gives you photos to show your roofer later.



Scan each slope row by row. Shingles are installed in neat, overlapping courses, so anything out of pattern stands out. Look for a patch that is darker or lighter than the rest, which often means a shingle has blown off and exposed the underlayment or the layer beneath. Look for tabs that stick up, curl, or hang at an angle. Check the ridge line at the peak and the edges along the eaves and rakes, since those areas take the most wind.

Then look at the ground. Shingle pieces in the lawn, on the driveway, or caught in the gutters tell you how much was lost and which side of the house took the hit. A walk around the yard also shows you whether anything else came down, such as a gutter section, a vent cap, or a branch that may have struck the roof.

Tip: Take photos of each slope from the ground before anything is cleaned up, and write down the date of the storm. Having a clear record of what the roof looked like right after the wind helps your roofer pinpoint where the damage started.

It helps to know what wind actually does to a roof. Asphalt shingles are held down by a strip of factory adhesive along each shingle, plus nails. When wind rushes across a roof, it creates a pressure difference between the top of the shingle and the space underneath it. If that pull is stronger than the adhesive can hold, the bottom edge of the tab lifts.



That is where the trouble snowballs. Once a tab lifts, more of its surface is exposed, and the wind pushes on it harder. The tab flutters, bends back, and folds. Repeated flapping creates creases across the shingle, and eventually the tab tears or breaks off and sails downwind. Roofing researchers have noted that the damage tends to start in the highest wind zones of a roof, which means the edges, the corners, the hips, and the ridge. Failure often begins near the top of the exposed section of a shingle, just under the edge of the shingle above it.

This is why a roof can look fine from the street after a storm and still be hurting. A tab that lifted and settled back down may be creased in a way you cannot see from the yard. And a shingle that lifted once is more likely to lift again, because the seal that held it is already broken.

Not every wind problem looks the same, and the difference tells you how urgent it is.

Missing Shingles

A bare spot indicates the water-shedding layer is missing. Although underlayment may temporarily prevent leaks, it is not designed for prolonged exposure. Schedule repairs promptly and cover the area if necessary.

Creased Or Torn Shingles

A shingle with a visible fold line or partial tear is damaged, even when lying flat. Creases indicate wind flexing and weakening the material, increasing the likelihood of failure during the next storm.

Lifted But Undamaged Shingles

A loose, raised shingle without tears or creases may have lost its seal. Roofers examine surrounding patterns to distinguish wind damage near exposed edges from diagonal patterns caused by aging or installation issues.

Either way, a loose tab should not be left alone. Even if it is not damaged, it has lost its grip and will catch the next gust.

Water does not always announce itself right away, so a second inspection belongs indoors. Go up to the attic if you have safe access and look at the underside of the roof deck near the area where shingles are missing. You are looking for damp wood, dark stains, or insulation that looks matted or wet. Shine a flashlight along the rafters and around any vents or chimneys that pass through the roof.



Then check the ceilings and upper walls in the rooms below that part of the roof. A faint yellow or brown ring, a bubble in the paint, or a spot that feels soft are all early warnings. In the Chicago area, where a windstorm can be followed by rain within a day or two, it is worth looking again after the next wet weather as well. Small leaks often show up a day or two after the rain, not during it.

If you find moisture, move buckets or towels into place, and let your roofer know right away. That detail changes how quickly the roof needs to be covered.

Sometimes a repair cannot happen the same day. Roofers get busy after a big storm, and a few days of waiting is common across the western and southwest suburbs. In the meantime, the goal is to keep water out of the exposed area.



The best approach is to ask the roofer who inspects the roof to install a temporary tarp. A properly secured tarp is fastened in a way that does not create new holes in places where water will run, and it is anchored so the wind cannot get under it and make things worse. It is a job for a pro, because it means working on a sloped surface that may be wet and damaged.

Homeowners are often tempted to climb up and handle it themselves. Resist that urge. A roof that has just been hit by wind may have loose granules, weakened shingles, and hidden damaged decking, and walking on it can crack more shingles or lead to a fall. Cold, damp mornings in the fall and winter add slick surfaces to the risk.

A small repair becomes a bigger one when the weather keeps coming. Here in northern Illinois, rain gets behind exposed underlayment, and then temperatures drop below freezing. Water trapped under shingles freezes and expands, lifting the edges even more and loosening the surrounding shingles. When snow piles up on a roof with a damaged section, meltwater finds the opening, and the freeze and thaw cycle that follows can push the damage outward from the original spot.



There is also the matter of the shingles around the damage. Once a few have gone, the ones next to them have lost the overlap that helped hold them down. A repair that covers only the missing pieces and leaves the weakened neighbors behind may not last. That is why a proper inspection looks at the whole slope and the edges near the damage, not just the bare spot.

Warning: Do not walk on a roof that has lost shingles, even for a quick look. The exposed areas can be slick, the decking beneath may be wet or soft, and the surface can shift under your weight. Use binoculars from the ground and leave the climbing to a trained crew.

When a roofer comes out, the visit should be more than a glance at the missing spots. A thorough inspection covers every slope, with special attention to the ridge, hips, eaves, and rakes. The roofer should look for creased or torn tabs, popped or exposed nails, damaged flashing around chimneys and vents, and any soft spots that point to damage in the decking underneath.

It should also include the gutters and the edge of the roof, since wind can loosen drip edge and fascia along with the shingles. Ask the roofer to show you photos of what they find, explain which areas need repair and which need only monitoring, and describe the plan in plain language. A good contractor will also tell you honestly if the damage is limited or whether the age of the roof and the number of damaged shingles suggest a larger conversation about replacement.



Matching is another point worth raising. If your roof has weathered for years, new shingles may not match the faded color of the old ones exactly. A roofer can tell you what is available and how the repair will blend in.

For a roof in good condition with a small area of damage, a targeted repair is often the right call. The damaged shingles are removed, the underlayment is checked and patched, and new shingles are sealed and nailed in. That is a modest job when the rest of the roof is sound.



The picture changes when the roof is already near the end of its life, when wind has damaged shingles across several slopes, or when you have had repeated repairs in the last few years. In those cases, patching can turn into a cycle, with each storm pulling off another section. A roofer can walk you through the age and condition of your roof and help you decide whether a larger repair or a replacement makes more sense. The inspection is the moment to ask that question, before more weather arrives.

Wind damage is far easier to deal with when you catch it early, and a few missing or lifted shingles do not have to turn into a bigger project if the roof gets attention before the next storm rolls in. Staying on the ground, documenting what you see with photos, and getting the exposed area protected are the three steps that matter most. A loose tab or a bare patch is really an open invitation for the next rain or snowmelt to reach your attic.

That is why the days right after a storm count more than the hours. The underlayment can hold for a while, but it was never meant to be the outer surface through weeks of northern Illinois weather and freeze and thaw cycles. Homeowners in Oswego, IL have leaned on A&D Exteriors and Remodeling for 10 years to inspect each slope, read the damage honestly, and keep the water out so a small repair never grows into stained ceilings and soft decking.