Hail damage and your exterior repaint.

Big stones dent metal and crack vinyl, and that damage is obvious. The subtler problem is film damage: hail strikes fracture the paint surface into micro-pits that hold water and accelerate the freeze-thaw cycle described in our chinook guide. A wall can look fine in August and be peeling by the following spring.

On stucco, hail chips the finish coat and exposes the base underneath, which then absorbs water freely. On wood, it bruises the fibre and lifts grain. On fibre cement, it usually only damages the coating — which is exactly why repainting is often the entire remedy for Hardie board after a storm.

Alberta insurers routinely cover hail damage to exterior cladding and, where the coating itself is damaged, repainting of the affected elevations. Adjusters want photographs, dates and an unaltered surface. Repainting before the inspection removes their ability to assess and can reduce or void what is paid.

We are happy to work alongside an adjuster's scope, but Coatly is a painting company, not a public adjuster or a restoration contractor — we do not assess claims or advise on coverage. Talk to your insurer first; we price the painting portion once the scope is settled.

Paint fades. A three-year-old wall and a fresh patch of the same colour code will not match, particularly on south and west exposures where UV has shifted the pigment. Painting to a natural break — a corner, a change of plane, a trim line — is what makes the repair invisible.

This is also why a hail repaint is a good moment to change colour entirely. The whole elevation is coming anyway, and the visualizer lets you test the new colour on a photo of your own house before you commit.

Calgary's worst hail typically lands between June and early September, which is also the only reliable exterior painting window. Claims and repairs take weeks, so a mid-August storm often means the repaint waits until the following spring rather than being rushed into cold October nights.

That wait is not a problem as long as the substrate is repaired and any bare material is primed before winter. Bare wood or exposed stucco base going into a Calgary winter is what turns a cosmetic issue into a structural one.