Insurance denied your roof claim. Here's the sequence.

Why roofs get denied

• Wear and tear / lack of maintenance — the carrier reads the damage as the roof's biography instead of the storm's signature.
• Cosmetic exclusion — dents that don't (yet) leak get excluded under newer endorsements.
• Partial scope — not a full denial: a small repair approved where a slope or the whole roof is warranted. Cheaper for them, and the most common shape of all.
• The schedule — the claim is "approved" but paid on an age schedule at 40% or 25%. Not a denial; a different ceiling. See the roof depreciation page.

The evidence that answers wear-and-tear

• Storm-date documentation for your address (weather service records)
• Dated pre-storm evidence: listing photos, inspection reports, permits, the last roofer's invoice
• Slope-by-slope impact photos, with a chalked test square if a roofer documents one
• A roofer's or inspector's written opinion tying specific damage (creased, lifted, punctured shingles) to the event rather than to age
• Interior evidence: fresh leak stains photographed with dates

Ask, in writing, for a re-inspection with your evidence in hand — and have your roofer present. Denials get revisited when the second look happens on a fuller file.

Then the money doors

1. Supplement: missed line items are the daily bread of roof claims — drip edge, ice-and-water shield where code requires it, underlayment, flashing, decking. A contractor estimate in the same line-item language makes the gap undeniable.
2. Matching: if they'll replace one slope with shingles that visibly don't match, your state may force a reasonably uniform appearance — 11 states have a rule or a leading case. The matching table has yours.
3. Appraisal: if the dispute is the amount, the policy's appraisal clause is the built-in procedure — 20 days, 15 days, any two decide.
4. The state complaint: free, written, on a clock — your department's door is in the state table.