Hail on a Rain Barrel and Its Downspout Hood Belongs in Your Photo File

A rain barrel sits at the bottom of a downspout, which means it stands under the same hailstorm that hit your gutters, siding and roof. Most homeowners never think to photograph it. The lid is thin, the spigot is plastic, and the hood or diverter at the top of the downspout is often the first part of the system to crack. If you are building a storm file, the barrel and its fittings belong on the list next to the shingles and the gutter run.

Insurance claim

Whether a rain barrel is covered depends on your policy form, not on what a roofer thinks it is worth. Many homeowner policies treat detached items and small fixtures differently from the dwelling, and some place them under personal property or other structures coverage. Missouri gives roofers no role in that question. Under RSMo 407.725, a roofing contractor may not represent or negotiate a homeowner's insurance claim, and that prohibition applies here too. Keys Roofing can document what it sees, put a written scope with photos and measurements in your hands, and attend as the contractor while the conversation with your insurer stays between you and the insurer.

What to photograph on the barrel

Start with a wide shot that shows the barrel against the wall and the downspout above it, so the photo ties the barrel to the house. Then take close shots of the lid, the lid seams, the spigot and the top rim where the downspout feeds in. Hail on a plastic barrel often leaves pale rings or shallow dimples that are easier to see when a flashlight is held low across the surface. Turn on date and time stamps in your phone camera and keep the original files. A screenshot drops the metadata that an insurer may ask about.

The downspout hood and diverter

The hood at the top of the downspout, the diverter that sends water into the barrel, and the first elbow below them take the hardest blows from hail falling nearly straight down. Check for cracks at the screw holes, bent louvers, and a split where the hood meets the gutter outlet. Look up the gutter at the dents. If the dents line up with the hood, write that down. It records where the hail landed, which is the kind of fact a reader of the file needs.

Measure it and list it

Measure the barrel's height and diameter, its distance from the wall, and the height of the downspout outlet above grade. Photograph the label before you clean it, since the make and capacity are often printed there and fade in sun. Use one line per item in a simple list: the item, its measurements, the photo file name, and the date. Mark what is cracked, what is dented but still holds water, and what looks fine. Do not assume the fine ones are untouched. A lid can look whole while the rim under it has a split.

Leave it in place until the photos are done

Once a barrel is drained, scrubbed or hauled to the curb, the marks that show where the hail hit can be harder to read. Keep the barrel where it is until the photos are complete. If it has to come off the wall so a leak under it can be stopped or the gutter can be repaired, photograph the wall behind it and the ground beneath it first, then move it. Keep the old lid or the damaged part until the file is complete, so the item can be looked at again if questions come up.

What it costs

A rain barrel is a small line on a storm file, which is exactly why it gets skipped. A replacement lid, spigot or diverter is usually a few parts, but the labor to remove the barrel, fit the new piece and reset the stand can take longer than the parts themselves. Put each part on its own line in your own list or in the bid, with a photo and a quantity. Keys Roofing can list the barrel, diverter and hood as separate lines in the written scope, with photos and measurements, so they are not folded into a general note about the gutters.

Freezing weather and the barrel

In St. Louis, water left in a barrel through a hard freeze can split the lid or the spigot in a single night. That matters for the file. A barrel cracked by ice after a hailstorm weakened its lid is harder to read than one that was intact until the freeze. Before the first hard freeze, drain the barrel, disconnect the diverter, and photograph each item in its winter state. Then the spring photos have a clean baseline to compare against.

What to ask

Ask the roofer or gutter installer three things. First, does the written scope list the barrel, the diverter and the hood as separate items? Second, do the photos show each item from the wall side and from the ground side? Third, if the barrel has to come off for the roof work, who stores it, who reinstalls it, and is that written down? A short answer on each is enough. If an answer is vague, ask for it in writing, and keep the reply with the file.

Keep each item on its own record

A cracked barrel is not evidence that the roof was damaged, and a dented roof vent is not evidence about the barrel. Each item gets its own photos and its own line. That keeps the file readable and shows the insurer which items the storm reached and which were already worn. If a barrel was cracked before the storm by sun, age or a fall off its stand, photographs from the first week will show that, so take them early rather than after the first repair visit.

For a written scope with photos of the barrel, the hood and the rest of the storm damage, call Keys Roofing at (314) 220-2333.