The Most Hail-Resistant Siding for Iowa Storms

Central Iowa sits directly in the crosshairs of extreme Midwestern weather. From explosive spring thunderstorms delivering golf-ball-sized hail to straight-line derecho winds, your home's exterior cladding takes a severe beating. If you are tired of filing insurance claims and dealing with cracked, shattered siding every few years, it's time to invest in a material engineered for impact resistance.

Here is our definitive list of the best siding materials to protect your Des Moines home from catastrophic hail damage, ranked by durability.

1. Engineered Wood (LP SmartSide): The Undisputed Heavyweight Champion

When it comes to resisting blunt-force trauma from large hail, LP SmartSide is simply in a league of its own. It is an engineered wood product made from wood strands bonded with marine-grade resins and zinc borate.

• Impact Performance: NASA testing facilities have fired golf balls at LP SmartSide at speeds exceeding 75 MPH without causing denting or cracking. Standard vinyl shatters at this impact level.
• Flexibility vs. Brittleness: Unlike fiber cement (which is essentially rigid concrete and can fracture upon heavy impact), engineered wood has enough natural flexibility to absorb the kinetic energy of a hailstone without breaking.
• The Iowa Advantage: Not only does it stop hail, but its long 16-foot planks provide exceptional resistance to high-velocity straight-line winds, reducing the risk of blowout during a derecho.

2. Heavy-Gauge Seamless Steel Siding: The Impenetrable Shield

Steel siding is exactly what it sounds like: heavy-duty metal armor for your home. It is custom-extruded on the job site to fit the exact dimensions of your walls, eliminating vertical seams.

• Impact Performance: While a massive hailstone might cause a negligible cosmetic dent in extreme circumstances, steel siding will never shatter, crack, or allow water to penetrate the wall cavity underneath.
• Gauge Matters: Never accept thin 29-gauge steel. The key to hail resistance is demanding 26-gauge or 24-gauge steel, which is thick enough to resist denting from standard-sized Midwest hail.
• The Iowa Advantage: Unaffected by extreme cold. While vinyl gets brittle at -20°F and shatters easily, steel maintains its full structural integrity through an Iowa blizzard.

3. Fiber Cement (James Hardie): High Durability with Caveats

James Hardie fiber cement is widely considered a premium product, offering unmatched aesthetic beauty and a Class-A fire rating. However, its performance against hail requires context.

• Impact Performance: Fiber cement will easily deflect small to medium hail without issue. It performs vastly better than standard hollow vinyl.
• The Brittle Factor: Because it is essentially concrete, it is rigid. If hit squarely by very large, jagged hail (baseball-sized), the board cannot flex; it will chip or crack upon impact.
• The verdict: An excellent choice for 95% of Iowa storms, but slightly more vulnerable to the most extreme, catastrophic hail events than LP SmartSide.

4. Insulated Vinyl Siding: The Budget-Friendly Upgrade

Standard, hollow vinyl siding is the absolute worst material for hail. When it gets cold, it becomes brittle, and even dime-sized hail can punch holes through it like a machine gun. However, Insulated Vinyl is a completely different story.

• The Foam Backing difference: Insulated vinyl features a thick piece of contoured EPS foam permanently adhered to the back of the panel.
• Impact Performance: When hail strikes, the panel doesn't compress and crack because the foam backer essentially acts as a shock absorber. Premium insulated vinyl offers up to 500% more impact resistance than hollow vinyl.