Drip Edge on a Roof Claim: How Roofers Document and Request It

Drip edge is the metal flashing installed along the eaves and rakes of a roof so water drips clear of the fascia and decking. On an insurance job, roofers often ask the carrier to include it when the estimate leaves it out or counts too little of it. Whether the carrier pays depends on the policy, local code and what you can show.

The practical approach is the same for any supplement item: check what code requires locally, measure the linear feet, photograph what is there before it comes off, and put the request in writing with the evidence attached.

Disclosure: we make Supplement Snap, which helps roofing crews document damage found at tear-off and export a report. It does not decide coverage, negotiate claims or guarantee approval. This page is general guidance, not legal or claims advice.

The table lists the questions an adjuster is likely to ask. Answer them in your documentation before they are asked. A request that says add drip edge is easy to set aside. A request that shows the edges, the measurements and the local requirement is easier to review.

Take wide photos of each eave and rake before tear-off so the existing edge, or the lack of one, is visible. Take a close photo where the shingles meet the edge. After tear-off, photograph the bare decking edge so it is clear what is being installed.

Write down the linear feet for each edge and add them up. Show your arithmetic, for example 42 ft + 42 ft for two eaves and 30 ft + 30 ft for two rakes. Keep photo numbers beside each measurement.

Carriers commonly pay for work required to bring a repair up to code only if the policy says so, so a code requirement does not always mean payment. The model residential code is published by the International Code Council, and local governments adopt it on their own schedules and often change it. Building codes, policy wording and carrier practice vary by state, county and policy. Confirm the details for your job with the local building department and the claim documents.

If the requirement matters to your request, say which edition your jurisdiction uses and quote or attach what the building department told you. Do not state a code section from memory.

Keep it factual: the location, the measured length, what was found, and what you are asking to be included. For example: Drip edge, all eaves and rakes, 144 linear feet measured at tear-off. Photos 3 to 9 show the edges before removal. Local code reference attached.

Avoid arguing about what the adjuster should have done. Put the evidence on the page and make the next step easy to take.

Say a crew tears off a gable roof with two eaves of 44 feet each and two rakes of 31 feet each. Before tear-off, the lead photographs each edge and sees no metal edging under the first course of shingles on either rake. The measurements are 44 + 44 + 31 + 31 = 150 linear feet.

The carrier's estimate lists 88 linear feet, which covers the eaves only. The contractor's request would then list the difference as its own numbered finding: 62 linear feet at the rakes, with photos of both rakes before removal, the tape reading for each rake and, if the local building department has confirmed a requirement, the written note. Everything the adjuster needs to say yes, no or ask a question is on one page.

The numbers above are made up to show the format. Use your own measurements and the carrier's own figures.

Often the old roof has some drip edge. That changes the request. If the existing metal is intact and can be reused, the carrier may reasonably ask why it is being replaced. If it is bent, rusted through, the wrong profile for the new roof, or was only installed on part of the roof, say so and show it in a photo.

Write what you actually saw, for example: Existing drip edge present at eaves only, rusted through at three locations (photos 4 to 6). None at rakes (photos 7 and 8). Avoid saying the old edge was non-compliant unless the building department has told you so in writing.

If you can answer all four on the page before they are asked, the request is faster to review. If you cannot answer one of them, say that too, and say how you will find out.

Name the photos by edge, such as rake-left-before and rake-left-after, or number them and keep a list. Keep the building department's reply in the same folder as the claim. Record the date you sent the request and the date you plan to follow up. If you use Supplement Snap, the finding, its photos and its quantity stay together in the project and export as one PDF, but the same discipline works with any tool or a folder on a laptop.