Madison Hail Damage: What April 2026 Did, and How to Choose a Roofer
On April 14 and 15, 2026, hail measured at four inches fell in Monona. Madison's east side and the Atwood neighborhood took the worst of it. Five months on, adjusters are still approving claims, and a large number of damaged roofs have still not been looked at.
What actually happened
The April 2026 storm produced baseball- to grapefruit-sized hail across Dane County, with a trained spotter measuring four inches in Monona. Hundreds of homes and vehicles were damaged, concentrated on Madison's east side. Broken windows and windshields were widespread.
It has been an extraordinary two years for hail here. Madison-area hail reports: 7 in 2024, 30 in 2025, and 52 so far in 2026. Before April, the notable event was 2.25-inch hail near Cottage Grove on May 15, 2025, and an inch in Verona that April.
The claim window is not closed, but it is not open forever
Local contractors reported a second wave of calls in May 2026, homeowners whose adjusters had only just approved claims, and expected to be working through fall. Wisconsin policies generally require prompt notice, and carriers get less accommodating as the event recedes. If your roof was under that swath and has not been inspected, that is worth resolving now rather than after the first hard freeze.
Why you may have damage and not know it
Hail rarely punches visible holes in asphalt shingles. What it does is fracture the mat and knock loose the granules that shield the asphalt from UV. From the ground, the roof looks fine.
Through a Wisconsin winter, water gets into those fractures, freezes, expands, and widens them. The leak that shows up in your ceiling in year two traces back to a storm in year one, by which point the claim is far harder to make.
What to check yourself:
Gutters and downspout splash blocks for heavy granule accumulation.
Soft metals first — gutters, vents, flashing, the air conditioner condenser fins. Dents there mean the roof took the same hits.
Window screens, garage doors, and the sunny side of siding.
The attic after a heavy rain, before the ceiling tells you.
Choosing a Madison roofer after a storm
Wisconsin law on storm work — Wis. Stat. section 100.65
A residential contractor may not promise to pay or rebate any part of your insurance deductible as an inducement. They may not negotiate your claim without your express written consent. They must give you a pre-contract written notice in bold 10-point type plus a detachable cancellation form.
You get three business days to cancel from the date your insurer notifies you the claim is denied in whole or in part, with refunds due within ten days. Violations carry forfeitures of $500 to $1,000 each.
The City of Madison's own guidance after storms: be cautious with contractors canvassing damaged neighborhoods, do not be pressured into a decision or into giving access to your property, and consider contractors with an established local history.
Check the credential, not just the stars
Wisconsin has no statewide roofing license. What exists is a Dwelling Contractor Certification, held by the business, and a Dwelling Contractor Qualifier, held by an individual. Without them nobody can legally pull a permit on a one- or two-family home, and Madison requires a building permit to replace roofing. Verify any contractor free at license.wi.gov.
Above that legal minimum, manufacturer credentials are the useful signal. CertainTeed's top tier is ShingleMaster PREMIER; within ten miles of east Madison, exactly one contractor holds it. GAF's equivalent is Master Elite. Both require training and audited work rather than volume.
Established Madison-area roofing companies
Not ranked. These serve different needs, and the right one depends on your roof.
Ganser Company (McFarland, since 1939) — four generations of family ownership. Full-exterior remodeler, not storm-driven.
Southern Wisconsin Roofing (Madison, since 1937) — the oldest roofer in the market. Weighted commercial and low-slope.
Frey Construction (Sauk City, since 1995) — GAF Master Elite and President's Club. 15-year workmanship warranty. States roughly 70 percent repeat or referral work, the strongest anti-storm-chaser signal here.
Isthmus Roofing (Fitchburg) — the only CertainTeed ShingleMaster PREMIER in the immediate Madison area. Also GAF Master Elite, and does flat and EPDM.
Ridge Top Exteriors (Madison, since 1995) — BBB A+ accredited since 2005, the longest in the market. Largest review base in Dane County. GAF Platinum. Open 24/7.
Storm Guard of Madison (since 2014) — Owens Corning Platinum and a HAAG Certified Inspector, the credential that actually carries weight in a disputed claim.
Maly Roofing (Madison, since 1988) — slate, Spanish tile, cedar, standing seam. Landmark work including Monona Terrace and the Madison Public Library.
Larson and Keeney (Arlington, since 2009) — GAF Master Elite. Sells roof, attic insulation and air sealing as one system, which is the technically correct approach to ice dams.
Heins Contracting (Madison, since 2015) — family-owned, BBB A+ since 2017. Asphalt and metal, siding, storm repair.
Legacy Exteriors (Madison, since 2005) — GAF Master Elite, CertainTeed 5-Star Vinyl Siding. Sunrooms and outdoor living alongside exteriors.
Where Lenz Construction fits
We should be straightforward: our Madison office is new.
Lenz Construction has operated since 2012 out of Golden Valley, Minnesota, with offices in Eau Claire and now Madison at 2820 Walton Commons Ln, Suite 120. Most of our review history is Minnesota history, and we are not going to dress that up as a Dane County track record we have not earned yet.
What we do bring is the credential and the material range. Lenz is CertainTeed ShingleMaster PREMIER, the top of CertainTeed's three tiers, and one of only two PREMIER contractors among 49 credentialed residential roofers in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro. We carry BBB accreditation with an A+ rating and a Google average of 4.7.
We install asphalt, cedar, natural slate, clay and concrete tile, metal, and composite including DaVinci and Brava, and we have spent fourteen years working hail claims in one of the worst hail corridors in the country.
If you want a Madison roofer with two decades of Dane County reviews behind them, several are listed above and they are good. If you have a cedar, slate, tile or composite roof that April took apart, or a claim that is not going the way it should, that is the work we are built for.
Madison office: 2820 Walton Commons Ln, Suite 120, Madison, WI 53718. Phone 608-591-5851.
Ice dams: the Wisconsin problem the roof alone will not fix
Interior-to-exterior temperature differentials top 80 degrees in a Wisconsin winter. The classic failure is not the shingle. It is insufficient soffit intake starving the ridge exhaust. Homeowners who add ridge vent without opening up intake frequently make the problem worse, because the ridge then pulls conditioned air up out of the house.
Wisconsin follows IRC R806: net free ventilation of 1/150 of the insulated ceiling area, reducible to 1/300 when at least 40 percent of the venting is in the upper portion and a compliant vapor retarder is installed. Dane County sits in Climate Zone 6.
If you are replacing a roof anyway, that is the moment to fix intake, insulation and air sealing. Not three winters later.
Sources and dates
April 2026 hail detail comes from WMTV15 and WKOW reporting, April and May 2026, and the National Weather Service Milwaukee office. Hail report counts come from Stormer, Madison WI. CertainTeed credential tiers and Madison-area contractor counts come from the CertainTeed Find a Pro locator, searched September 13, 2026, within 10 miles of 2820 Walton Commons Ln. BBB ratings and business start dates come from BBB.org, September 13, 2026. Wisconsin licensing detail comes from the Wisconsin DSPS Dwelling Contractor program. Storm work law is Wis. Stat. section 100.65. Permit requirements and canvassing guidance come from City of Madison Building Inspection. Ventilation requirements are IRC R806 and the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code SPS 320 to 325.