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Every Oklahoma Home owner knows the sinking feeling of hearing the hail start and wondering what kind of mess you will have to clean up when the clouds part. Knowing that you insurance company has got your back may relieve financial worries, but it doesn’t fix the fact that nobody wants the noise and mess of having to have a roof replaced!

Stone Coated Steel Roofing from Decra can make that sinking feeling virtually a thing of the past. This revolutionary new product combines the strength of steel with the weather resistant ruggedness of stone.

Since most of you are not roofing experts, we thought the specs would be less useful than a few frequently asked questions, but we could not resist mentioning that when tested for wind resistance, this product out performed every available wind tunnel. That’s right! They cannot manufacture a wind strong enough to gauge just how strong it is!

On to the FAQ: Many potential customers worry about noise with a metal roof. This is one of the benefits of adding a stone coating. Customers report that the roof deadens rain and hail noise effectively.

You might assume that a metal roof would transfer heat into the home, but the exact opposite is actually the case. The roof acts as a solar barrier, and most home owners report lower energy consumption for heating and cooling!

Decra roofing also: poses no threat due to lightning, can be walked on, and may save you money on your home owners insurance.

Now for the biggie, cost! Yes, Decra roofing is one of the most expensive products to initially install, however, it is also one of the only to offer a class 4 hail rating, the highest available, saving you money on your insurance in most cases. In addition, the warranty of 50 years is the longest in the industry, with a 20 year materials and labor “replacement” warranty. It is guaranteed against winds up to 120 mph, and penetration against ANY size of hail. Those factors, combined with energy savings make Decra the best value on the market over the life of the roof. Plus, you may never have to see a roofer again.

So, if you would like to get an assessment on your property for Decra, or any of our other fine roofing products, contact Greg at 405-923-3879

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Summer Fires Wreak Havoc

by Greg CannonAugust 11, 2012no comment

When we talk about weather here at Hail and Wind, it tends to be of the severe variety. But, one type of severe weather that Oklahoma has that may not get as much attention is the heat. This Summer is no exception. In fact, it is one of the hottest in recent history and a long dry spell has contributed to cause high risk of fire. Many have sprung up and many families have lost their homes. We work closely with Caliber roofing and will be taking donations to help families effected by the fire. Here is one news story that captures some of the devestation!

Alex Williams, manager of the Jiffy Trip convenience store in Mannford, Okla., west of Tulsa, said light rain Saturday helped, but visibility remained poor. “The last couple of days, it’s just been a massive cloud of smoke,” he said. At one point, Williams said, flames were visible about a half-mile from the gas station.

The fires have caused widespread power outages and destroyed dozens of homes. “Everyone knows someone who’s lost something in this, so it’s really kind of been tragic,” Williams said. “There’s not a whole lot you can do other than grab what you can and get out — everyone that I’ve talked to pretty much has what’s in their car or on their back.”

The fires even surprised Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, who was touring the state by car Sunday and came across “a huge grass fire” west of Tulsa. Fallin watched as firefighters struggled to extinguish the blaze, which threatened a home. Last week, she declared a state of emergency statewide.

Reached Sunday by telephone, she said, “We’re going to pull out ever single resource we can to help our local communities, help those who have lost their homes.”

As of midday Sunday, no deaths were reported statewide. One fire near Oklahoma City had claimed at least 56 structures, and the total was expected to grow. Authorities suspect that fire may have been intentionally set: The Oklahoma County sheriff’s department was looking for someone in a black pickup truck seen throwing newspapers out a window after setting them ablaze.

Vaccaro of the weather service said “constant heat and dryness” this summer in the region — and elsewhere in the west — has helped spawn wildfires. More than 60% of the USA is experiencing some degree of drought, and dried grassland, forest and brush are “the fuel that can help feed and keep these wildfires going,” he said.

This year so far is on record as one of the most destructive wildfire years in the past decade: More than 4.4 million acres have burned. Full-year totals for the past 10 years average about 4.3 million acres.

The nation has seen somewhat fewer fires than usual, said Roberta D’Amico of the National Interagency Fire Center, but we’ve had “some significantly large fires this year.”

Forecasters said wildfires potentially could develop next in Northern California, Nevada and parts of Oregon, Idaho and Washington state.

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Giant tornadoes on the Sun, like it wasn’t hot enough

by Greg CannonJune 29, 2012no comment

We here in Oklahoma are no strangers to some very extreme weather, but nothing compared with a recent discovery! Solar tornadoes, the size of the Continental US may be responsible for a condition that makes the sun’s atmosphere over 300 times hotter than its surface.

Here is an explanation from an article published on Huffington Post.

While comparing images from the Swedish Solar Telescope with others taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, an international team of scientists noticed bright points on the sun’s surface and atmosphere that corresponded with swirls in the so-called chromospheres, a region that is sandwiched between the two layers. The finding indicates that the solar tornadoes stretched through all three layers of the sun.

The scientists went on to identify 14 solar super-tornadoes occurring within an hour of each other. By using a three dimensional simulation, the team then found that the swirls could play a role in elevating the sun’s outer layer.

A sun ‘super-tornado’ is born

Unlike tornadoes on Earth, which are powered by differences in temperature and humidity, the twisters on the sun are a combination of hot flowing gas and tangled magnetic field lines, ultimately driven by nuclear reactions in the solar core.

At the surface, or photosphere, cooled plasma sinks toward the interior like water running down the bathtub drain, creating vortexes that magnetic field lines are forced to follow. The lines stretch upward into the chromosphere, where they continue to spiral.

But while the hot gas at the surface drives the movement of the magnetic field, in the chromosphere it is the field lines that force the hot gas to spiral, creating the swirls that appear similar to tornadoes on Earth.

“The resulting funnel is narrow at the bottom and widens with height in the atmosphere,” lead scientist Sven Wedemeyer-Böhm, of the University of Oslo in Norway, told SPACE.com by email.

Spinning at thousands of miles per hour, the tornadoes vary in size, with diameters ranging from 930 to 3,500 miles (1,500 to 5,550 kilometers). Some of these giant solar twisters extend all the up in to the lower portion of the sun’s upper atmosphere (called the corona, the researchers said.

Wow, can you imagine the damage those suckers could cause? You think Garry and Mike get excited now!

So, now you know, that tornadoes can not only tear your house apart, but may also be responsible for your high Summer cooling bills! Darn tornadoes! If your house is hit by a terrestrial tornado, or you want a consult on what can be done to insulate you from tornadoes on the sun, call Greg (Google Voice number)

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Owens Corning TruDefinition Duration

by Greg CannonJune 27, 2012no comment

New Owens Corning Duration Shingles represent one of the only true innovations recently introduced by a major roofing manufacturer. Their innovation comes in the new Sure Nail technology, featuring a Woven engineered reinforcing fabric along the nailing area of the shingle that provides critical reinforcement to the mechanical interface zone an area that takes a lot of abuse during nailing. This fabric gives the brittle asphalt more flexibility, while the woven fibers help to prevent nailing through the shingle, and help it hold even under severe conditions.

The Sure Nail design

The Sure Nail design is patented and only available in Owens Corning’s brand Duration shingles. In addition to added strength, this strip serves as a highly visible guide for proper nail placement, which is critical to shingle performance over the long haul. In fact, proper nailing is one of the factors in Wind Warranty claims. An improper nailing pattern can void your wind warranty.

True three layer lamination

This fabric strip also makes the Duration shingle the only shingle in the industry with a true three layer lamination, since the Sure Nail woven fabric strip takes the place of the traditional thin adhesive tape. This overlap area, normally featuring only two layers, is known as the common bond area. In addition to the fabric overlay, Owen’s Corning has also increased the overlap to create a wider common bond. In a survey of contractors 87% of those asked described the Duration shingle as “clearly better” in regards to nail pull through and wind resistance.

Improved wind resistance

The bottom of every asphalt shingle has a strip of adhesive that lays on top of the nailing strip to seal the nail holes. Enhancements have also been made to Duration’s True Bond sealant. In combination with the new Sure Nail fabric strip, this improves the seal and attachment of the Duration shingle even more. This combination has improved the wind resistance of the Duration shingle to the point that Owens Corning offers a 130 mph wind resistance warranty, even with only four nails per shingle.

With every manufacturer giving their utmost to produce long lasting, highly durable roofing these days, we believe that Owens Corning has truly outdone themselves with the improvements available in the newest generation of Duration shingles. Call Greg Cannon at 405-494-0799 for free certified roof inspections in the Central Oklahoma area, or for more information on Duration roofing and other quality Owen’s Corning products.

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Damage from Texas hail storms could top $400 million

by Greg CannonJune 14, 2012no comment

Oklahomans are not strangers to severe weather, but our neighbors just to the south took a beating last night, of epic proportions. Here is the story as posted by Reuters news service!

By Marice Richter

DALLAS | Thu Jun 14, 2012 3:27pm EDT

(Reuters) – Several strong thunderstorms cut a swath through North Texas late on Wednesday, with baseball-sized hail stones smashing everything from car windshields to the marquee of a landmark East Dallas movie theater.

The hail storms were the worst in the North Texas and Dallas area since April 2003, the National Weather Service said on Thursday.

The storms likely caused hundreds of millions of dollars in insured losses, and may even top the $400 million in losses from a series of tornadoes two months ago, the Insurance Council of Texas said on Thursday.

No serious injuries were reported.

Two intense storms swept through the Dallas area late on Wednesday afternoon and lasted more than three hours before tapering off, said Jason Dunn, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

“This was definitely a multimillion-dollar hail storm,” Dunn said. “A lot of car windshields were blown out and roofs damaged in Dallas.”

Three people were hurt when the storm flipped over a mobile home in Fannin County northeast of Dallas, the National Weather Service said. The three were treated in hospital and released, said Fannin County Emergency Coordinator Darrell Brewer.

Hail smashed the marquee of the landmark Lakewood Theatre in East Dallas. A glass sculpture by artist Dale Chihuly at the Dallas Arboretum suffered minor damage, arboretum officials said.

The storms also shredded trees and blanketed streets with downed limbs and leaves. About 6,000 homes and businesses lost power, but this was restored by Thursday morning, said Megan Wright, a spokeswoman for electricity provider Oncor.

More than 40 flights were diverted and 10 delayed at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Wednesday evening. Airport officials said service was back to normal on Thursday.

(Additional reporting by Ben Berkowitz. Editing by Tom Brown, Corrie MacLaggan and David Brunnstrom.)

Again, thanks to Reuters for such excellent coverage.

So, if you are in Texas, or know someone that is, please share the link that follows. This information has many home owners a lot of money and frustration.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0088JFIXY this link leads to our book on Amazon. For $3.99, you can learn everything you need to know to protect yourself and your property from con artists and scammers calling themselves roofers!

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The Thunder Effect!

by Greg CannonJune 14, 2012no comment

With the NBA finals fast approaching, we here in Okc are experiencing something for the first time, the attention afforded a city with a Western Division NBA championship team! It seems that everyone from the youngest B-ballers to those who have never really been sports fans before are getting in on the action, and it is a fun time to be a part of Okc!

As a local Okc business, we are glad to see a rise in civic pride. We love the economic development that brings more money into our economy, because we know that it will mean more business for us, but more importantly because it opens up a lot of possibilities for our future as a city.

So, what will we do with this new found fame? Part of it is already clear, from across the country more and more people are becoming fans of our team, because of their great attitude! We believe that this attitude is a reflection of who we are as a city. Now, we realize that not everything is great here, and not even all of the improvements are perfect, like for instance, can anyone please tell us what that funky bridge thing over the new I40 is supposed to be? But, let’s stay on track.

As the eyes of the nation and the world are turned toward us, let’s use this time to set a positive example as a city. Let’s not forget what made us a great place to live even before Katrina brought the Hornets to our “shores” and made the NBA takes us seriously. Lets make sure that what has sustained Oklahoma through so many tumultuous periods in our state history stays as it is. Let’s stay humble.

We are not talking about the false humility that comes from not being proud of who we are and lacking a cohesive identity. We are talking about the humility that comes from knowing that we are a great city, but that our greatness belongs to all of us, not just a few basketball players. They have joined an already successful “franchise” if you will on its way up!

So, when the Thunder Effect takes ahold of your business and hopefully improves things for you as it is for us, don’t forget to thank the little guys. Don’t forget your employees, customers, local media and all of your neighbors and community members that work to be decent, hard working Americans that give you the freedom to be great at what you do.

Even though not all of us are Thunder fans, we think we can all agree that most things in our city are getting better, but, we also want to encourage you to do something about those things that are not! Remember, four years ago, they were Sonics. Big things can happen here and do happen fast.

So, in closing, this week as we celebrate the Thunder’s success, pat your neighbors on the back as well for making this the kind of place that a team like this reflects, and don’t forget to THUNDER UP!

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Free Roof Estimate Scam

by Greg CannonJune 12, 2012no comment

Why “Free” Roofing Estimates Can Cost You!

In the wake of every heavy storm damage event the storm chasers swarm like locusts down upon unsuspecting home owners in the form of salesmen, handymen and roofers, looking for an opportunity to sell their services. This in and of itself is not bad, but one of the tactics they employ could cost you a lot in the long run if you are not aware of the consequences. This tactic is the “free estimate“.

You may not need an estimate

The problem with this is, you may not need an estimate! That’s right, it is possible that you roof suffered no serious repercussions from the hail storm. What you do need is an inspection to determine if you have any damage at all, and if that damage warrants repairs, replacement or is non functional. This may sound like an argument in semantics, where both people mean the same thing, but they don’t.

Here’s Why

Here’s why; the roofer that approaches your property from the “estimate” side, only makes money if in fact you do need a roof. He may say things like, “Yeah, I don’t even need to go up there, I can see the damage from here.” and spend a half hour on your roof circling bird poop with a white crayon, but what does he know? Once he has completed his estimate, your insurance company is sure to send a well seasoned professional adjuster who will examine the roof through the lens of a forensic storm damage specialist, to determine if damage exists and what the cause of that damage is.

Most roofers are well meaning

Most roofers are well meaning and if hired, will provide services that are adequate, if not stellar, but there are other issues. Most home owners know that hail is considered an “act of God” and that filing a claim based on such an incident cannot be cause for cancellation, or immediate rate hikes. What you may not know is that this information will become a part of your permanent claims record and can be viewed adversely when renewal time comes. In fact, this one claim, if not warranted may well be the cause of rates going up, or even having your insurance policy canceled which can lead to issues with your mortgage, and the problems just snowball from there.

to get an honest opinion

So, to get an honest opinion, you need to have an inspection from someone who starts from the assumption, not that your roof is damaged, but that your roof was originally sound. Looking for issues from this perspective, without the assumption of damage is a much more objective. Look for someone with a Haag certification, or professional experience as a licensed insurance adjuster. This individual has received specific training in the identification of damage and the determination of what type of damage it is. While it may seem like a great time to get a new roof, the last thing you want to deal with is the repercussions from a claim that was unwarranted.

For more information on the topic, get our ebook! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0087UYOPC

What to Do After the Storm!(hailandwind.com)

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What to Do After the Storm!

by Greg CannonJune 5, 2012no comment

After Tuesday night’s hail here in Okc, we thought we would share a few ideas for our local fans on how to help your property recover following severe weather. So, here is a check list of sorts for dealing with the aftermath.