What does roof insurance cover?
Roof insurance is a part of your homeowners insurance that offers coverage for damage to your roof by a specific list of hazards, usually limited to wind and hail storms.
Imagine your home was struck by a severe hailstorm and took roof damage while your policy was still in effect. You’d have the opportunity to file a claim and receive a payout that will be used to complete the needed repairs.
What’s excluded from your coverage?
Think about your home insurance policy. Do you remember which ‘perils’ are listed as part of your coverage? There may also be exclusions that are not covered under any circumstance.
Relevant exclusions from home roof insurance coverage:
- Earthquakes
- Lack of maintenance
- Pests, insect or rodent
- Mold
- Wear and tear
- Intentional damage
- War or terroristic violence
If you’re unclear on what your policy actually covers, it could be a good opportunity to contact your local insurance agent and ask a few questions.
- Are wind and hail coverage included in my policy?
- How much are the deductibles for my policy?
- When does my policy renew?
- Will the price go up when that happens?
How much does roof insurance cost?
Home insurance coverage for your roof is typically included as part of your homeowners policy. But when you start to ask questions about how that coverage is priced for different types of storm damage, you’ll soon learn that not all claims are the same.
How do I pay for roof coverage?
Most insurance is paid for in two parts: the premium and the deductible. Understanding these two parts of your insurance bill is one of the most important lessons a policyholder can learn.
Roof Insurance Premium - This is your monthly (or yearly) bill that must be paid to maintain your coverage.
Example: The Smith family owns a home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The home is valued at $325,000. The monthly premium for homeowners insurance would cost around $540/month. The premium for a Tulsa home is higher than for an equivalent home in other states because of Oklahoma’s higher level of risk of extreme weather.
Insurance Deductible - This is a payment that is only required if you make a claim on the policy. In that case, you’ll owe the first part of the payment to start repairs on your property. This amount will be deducted from your total payout from the insurance company. Once this deductible has been paid, the insurer will release the remainder of the payout to cover the needed repairs.
Deductibles are worth discussing further; they’re one of the more complicated parts of using an insurance policy. Your policy as a whole will carry a deductible, generally priced as a flat fee, with $500, $1,000 or $2,000 being popular options.
Insurance laws vary from state to state. In most of them, insurance companies have the option to assign a separate, percentage-priced deductible to the coverage for a specific peril, usually wind and hail storms. The percentage deductible for a home in Texas might be as high as 5% of the property’s total insured value.
Example: The Jones family owns a home in Richardson, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The home is valued at and insured for $475,000, which is around the average home price in the area. Their homeowners policy’s main deductible is $2,000, and if the home was damaged by fire, they’d pay the $2k deductible and their insurer would cover the rest.
If the damage was caused by a severe hailstorm, the family would owe a different deductible. This one is set at 3% of the home’s insured value, totaling $14,250, a significant leap from the $2,000 that every other peril would require. From this example you can see how the deductible specific to your roof insurance is the biggest part of your home insurance costs.
Percentage deductibles like this allow insurers to pass on more of the financial risk of a policy to the customer while still offering coverage that protects them from the most common perils.
If your home insurance policy includes a high wind and hail roof deductible, consider the addition of a deductible assistance policy. An add-on policy like Sola’s Wind and Hail Insurance can help eliminate the financial stress that comes with storm damage and the claims process that follows.
Sources:
“How Your Roof Influences Your Home and Business Insurance”, Insurance Information Institute, https://www.iii.org/article/how-your-roof-influences-your-home-and-business-insurance
Fitzpatrick, Mark. “Average Home Insurance Cost in Oklahoma”, Moneygeek, Oct. 29, 2026, https://www.moneygeek.com/insurance/homeowners/average-cost-home-insurance-oklahoma/
Beirne, Amy. “Let's talk roofs and home insurance”, Liberty Mutual, Oct. 28, 2026, https://www.libertymutual.com/insurance-resources/property/roofs-and-home-insurance
Gray is the Senior Content Specialist at Sola Insurance, working with the Sales and Marketing teams to provide helpful, valuable content for homeowners and agents. Gray has worked previously in finance, logistics, and advertising.
