What a Class 4 roof label really tells a Dallas-Fort Worth homeowner

The DFW hail record, county by county

NOAA's Storm Events Database records these hail counts from 2016 through 2025; a hail day is any date that brought at least one report of inch-plus hail to the county.

Tarrant's 380 events of an inch or larger are the most of any Texas county in the database for that decade, with Denton and Collin next. The biggest stones are recent. On June 15, 2023, a hailstone in Sanger that the National Weather Service in Fort Worth examined in person measured 5.9 inches, a record for the North and Central Texas region (NCEI event 1109306). Photogrammetry put a Wylie stone of April 11, 2016 at 5 inches or more (NCEI event 633035), and Mansfield logged a 5-inch stone on June 12, 2023 (NCEI event 1105872).

What the Class 4 label certifies

Two test standards produce the ratings you see on roofing:

• UL 2218 covers prepared roof coverings such as asphalt shingles. UL says it developed the standard in the 1990s with industry and insurance companies, and that it yields four ratings, Class 1 through 4, by dropping steel balls from heights that replicate the impact energy of natural hailstones (UL Solutions). The Class 4 projectile is a 2-inch steel ball, according to a summary of UL 2218 testing by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety.
• FM 4473 covers rigid roofing, meaning tiles or planks of slate, concrete or clay. It fires freezer ice balls at the material, with a 2-inch ice ball for Class 4, and a specimen passes if it shows no visible cracking or breakage (FM Approvals).

The Class 4 shingles guide walks through both tests in detail.

What a Class 4 rating does not tell you

• Cosmetic damage. UL itself says UL 2218 judges physical breaks seen from the back of the shingle and does not account for denting or granule loss that a homeowner or adjuster can see (UL Solutions).
• Age. FM 4473 tests new material, and FM notes that years of exposure can significantly lower a roof covering's hail resistance (FM Approvals).
• Real hail. IBHS says standardized impact tests do not exactly replicate natural hailstone impacts (IBHS).
• Wind. Impact class says nothing about wind; for that, the Texas Department of Insurance points to shingles tested to ASTM D 3161 Class F or ASTM D 7158 Class H.
• The installer. The class belongs to the product, not to the crew that nails it down.

The Texas insurance side

TDI's page on impact-resistant roofing credits says a Class 4 covering receives the highest premium credit, but that each insurance company sets the discount for each class, and decides which test criteria, labels and paperwork it will accept. TDI's home insurance guide lists an impact-resistant roof among the discounts companies may offer and points to HelpInsure.com for comparing them. Ask your agent before you buy, and keep the product label: TDI's form PC068 has the roofing company certify the UL 2218 class it installed. The National Roofing Directory's entry on Class 4 impact-resistant shingles covers the product side.

For DFW roofing contractors

On the National Roofing Directory, Gold is one of four membership levels, Claimed, Verified, Gold and Platinum, laid out on the pricing page; at Verified and above, a person checks phone, email, website, logo, services, rating, insurance and license. You can claim your company's listing and sign up for The Roofing Wire, which adds a Storm Watch email of National Weather Service alerts for the states you pick.

Find a roofer in Dallas-Fort Worth

The National Roofing Directory lists roofers by city for Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Denton and Irving.

City detail lives on the Dallas, Fort Worth and Plano, Frisco and Denton pages, and the full list of Texas roofing contractors is a click away.

Frequently asked questions

Is a Class 4 roof hail-proof?

No test makes that claim. UL 2218 checks whether impacts from steel balls up to 2 inches break through the product, and UL notes the standard does not account for denting or granule loss (UL Solutions). North Texas has logged stones well above 2 inches, including the 5.9-inch Sanger stone (NCEI event 1109306).

Will a Class 4 roof lower my insurance premium in Texas?

It may. TDI says each insurer decides whether to offer an impact-resistant roofing discount and how much it is worth (TDI). Ask your agent what documentation the company needs before the roof goes on.

What is the difference between UL 2218 and FM 4473?

UL 2218 drops steel balls on prepared roof coverings such as shingles, while FM 4473 fires ice balls at rigid materials such as concrete, clay or slate tile (FM Approvals). Both use four classes, with Class 4 the highest.