Hail damage repair and new roofs for Chenal Valley homes

Chenal Valley started in 1990, when Deltic Timber opened Chenal Country Club and the first homes went up in the wooded hills west of the city. Building has continued ever since, so a single street can mix early 1990s houses on their second roof with homes finished a few years ago.

What they share is complexity. Many Chenal homes have steep pitches, several stacked gables, turret style hips and long valleys that collect water from two or three planes at once. A roof like that can have more flashing details on one elevation than a midtown ranch has on the whole house.

That changes how we work. Steep slopes need roof jacks, harnesses and a slower pace, and matching a discontinued shingle color on a 20 square repair takes careful sourcing. We tell you up front when a repair will show and when a full slope makes more sense.

West Little Rock sits in the path of the spring storm lines that cross Pulaski County from about March to June. Hail bruises shingles and cracks the granule surface even when nothing looks wrong from the driveway, and gusts lift the shingle tabs along exposed ridges on the higher lots.

On March 31, 2023, an EF3 tornado crossed Chenal Parkway and strengthened near Calais Forest Apartments before moving on toward Breckenridge. Many nearby roofs were replaced in the months after, which means a lot of Chenal homes now carry fairly new shingles whose manufacturer warranty registration is worth keeping on file.

After any storm, we walk every slope we can safely reach, photograph hits on shingles, vents, gutters and skylight frames, and give you a written summary you can share with your adjuster.

The repair list here looks different from older parts of town. Decking rot is rare, but water management problems on complex roofs are common. Most of these problems start small, as a faint stain on a vaulted ceiling or a drip at a skylight well after a long rain, and they grow slowly because the water travels a long way along the framing before it shows.

• Valley leaks where two large slopes dump onto a short run of metal
• Skylight curbs and flashing kits that have started to weep after 15 or more years
• Step flashing at second story sidewalls behind stone or stucco
• Pine needles and oak leaves packing gutters on wooded lots
• Ridge vents and turtle vents dented or cracked by hail
• Low slope sections over sunrooms and porches that hold water

Plenty of Chenal homeowners ask about Class 4 impact resistant shingles when they reroof. They cost more up front, often $1,350 to $3,900 more on a large home, and some insurers offer a discount for them. Ask your agent before you choose, since every policy handles it differently.

Standing seam metal shows up here on porch roofs, bay windows and entry towers. When we replace the main shingle roof, we reflash where the metal meets the shingles so the two materials do not fight each other.

Many Chenal subdivisions have architectural guidelines on shingle color and profile. Send us the HOA requirements and we will price products that fit them and give you the color names and spec sheets your board usually wants before it signs off.

Most jobs here start with a call after a storm or a stain on a vaulted ceiling. We set a time, walk the roof and attic, and send you photos of what we found along with a written price. If you are working with insurance, we can meet your adjuster on site and point out each slope we documented.

On replacement day, the crew protects the stone, the landscaping and the pool area before the first shingle comes off. Large Chenal roofs are torn off and dried in one section at a time, so a pop up afternoon storm never finds open decking. Every valley gets ice and water membrane, and new flashing goes in at each wall, chimney and skylight instead of reusing the old pieces.

Before the crew leaves, we clean the gutters of debris, run a magnet over the driveway, beds and lawn, and walk the finished roof with you or send photos if you are at work. You also get the shingle product name and the steps to register the manufacturer warranty, since terms depend on the product and on registration.

Most large Chenal reroofs take two to four working days, depending on size, pitch and weather.