Denver gets hit hard by hail. The metro area sits in what insurance researchers call “Hail Alley,” a corridor running through Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska that sees some of the highest hail frequency in the country, and Colorado storms regularly produce hailstones large enough to crack window frames, dent aluminum siding, and punch through gutters. If your home took a hit this season and you’re already working through an insurance claim, this post is for you.
One thing we want to be clear about upfront: Gravina’s does not help homeowners file insurance claims, and we don’t work alongside adjusters to negotiate coverage. That’s not our lane, and we’d rather be honest about it than promise something we don’t do. What we do is installation work, and we do it well. If your adjuster has already approved a claim and windows, siding, doors, gutters, or some combination of those are on the scope of work, we can handle the installation side from start to finish.
How Hail Actually Damages Windows, Siding, and Doors in Colorado
Hail damage to a home’s exterior isn’t always dramatic or immediately obvious. Large hailstones — anything above an inch in diameter, which Colorado storms produce regularly — can crack window glass outright or fracture the seal between panes, causing fogging and condensation that shows up days or weeks after the storm. But even smaller hail causes damage that’s easy to miss on a first walk-around.
Common signs of hail damage to watch for:
- Windows: cracked or shattered glass, fogging or condensation between panes, dented or cracked frames, damaged glazing compound around the glass
- Siding: cracks, chips, or surface fractures at impact points — these become moisture entry points over the following months even when they look minor
- Gutters and downspouts: dents, dings, or loss of slope from sustained impact, which causes drainage problems that show up long after the storm is forgotten
- Doors: dented panels, damaged weatherstripping, or frame damage around the edges that compromises the seal
According to the National Weather Service, Colorado’s hail season runs roughly from April through September, with the heaviest concentration of damaging storms in May, June, and July. If your home was hit in that window and you haven’t had the windows and siding looked at specifically, it’s worth doing before fall.
What Gravina’s Does — and Doesn’t Do — With Insurance Claims
Gravina’s is a window, door, and siding installation company. We have been since 1988. We are not a public adjuster, we don’t negotiate with insurance carriers, and we don’t inspect homes for the purpose of building a claim.
What we do is show up when the claim work is ready to go. Once your insurance company has approved the scope of work and the funds are in place, we come out, review what’s on the estimate, take our own measurements, and give you a clear picture of what the installation will look like. From there it’s a standard project — materials ordered, crew scheduled, work completed.
One thing homeowners sometimes don’t realize: the contractor you use for installation is your choice, regardless of what your insurance company may suggest. According to the Colorado Division of Insurance, policyholders have the right to select their own contractor for covered repairs. You are not required to use a preferred vendor list or a company your insurer recommends.
What to Expect When Your Claim Is Approved and You Call Gravina’s
Once a claim is approved and you reach out, here’s how the process works on our end:
- Consultation visit. We come out to review the scope of work. The insurance estimate describes what’s covered, but it doesn’t always capture everything installation requires — trim work, flashing, matching materials to the existing exterior. We go through the estimate with you and flag anything that needs clarifying before work starts.
- Material selection. Insurance claims typically cover replacement in kind, meaning the same type and quality of product that was damaged. Gravina’s carries windows from more than 50 product lines, along with a full range of siding, doors, and gutters, so finding something that matches or improves on what was there isn’t usually a problem.
- Installation. Our own crews handle the work — not subcontractors. We manage every trade involved, so if your claim covers windows, siding, and gutters, you’re not coordinating three separate companies to finish one project.
- Final walkthrough. We go through the completed work with you before we leave to make sure everything meets your expectations and the scope of the claim.
Can One Contractor Handle the Whole Claim?
Yes, and it’s worth trying to make that happen. Claims that involve multiple exterior systems — windows damaged along with siding, or gutters and doors on the same estimate — are significantly smoother when one contractor handles all of it. Coordinating separate companies for each trade means separate schedules, separate material deliveries, and separate points of contact when something doesn’t line up.
Gravina’s handles windows, doors, siding, and gutters, which covers the vast majority of what a hail claim involves for a home’s exterior. If your claim also includes roofing, that’s outside our scope, but we can work alongside your roofing contractor and coordinate schedules so the exterior work comes together cleanly.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. We don’t file claims, inspect homes for the purpose of building a claim, or work with public adjusters. If you need help navigating the claims process, a licensed public adjuster or your insurance agent is the right call. Once your claim is approved and the installation work is ready to schedule, that’s where we come in.
We handle windows, doors, siding, and gutters — the exterior components that most commonly appear on hail damage claims. That includes full window replacement, door replacement, siding replacement or repair, and gutter replacement.
The most common signs are cracked or shattered glass, fogging or condensation between panes, dented or cracked frames, and damaged glazing compound around the glass edges. Fogging between panes in particular often appears in the days or weeks after a storm rather than immediately, so it’s worth checking windows again if a few weeks have passed since the hail event.
No. Colorado policyholders have the right to choose their own contractor for covered repairs. The Colorado Division of Insurance is clear on this — your insurer can suggest vendors but cannot require you to use them.
It depends on the scope. A standard window replacement on a claim — five to ten windows — typically takes one to two days. Larger scopes that include siding and doors can run three to five days. We’ll give you a clear timeline during the consultation before any work starts.
Yes. We review the insurance estimate as part of our consultation and work from that scope of work. If there are items that need clarification or installation requirements the estimate didn’t account for, we’ll flag those before the project starts so there are no surprises.
Ready to Schedule?
If your claim has been approved and you need a contractor to handle the installation work on windows, siding, doors, or gutters, we’re easy to reach. Call or text (303) 472-8462 or schedule a free consultation online. We’ll review your estimate, walk you through the options, and get your home taken care of.
