What is the difference in plain numbers?
Replacement cost value pays what the roof costs to replace today, less the deductible. Actual cash value subtracts age depreciation before the deductible comes off. On an $18,000 replacement with a $3,000 deductible, an RCV policy pays around $15,000. An ACV policy on a ten-year-old roof subtracts depreciation first and pays a fraction of that.
The Texas Department of Insurance publishes the distinction directly, because it is the single most consequential choice in a homeowner policy and the one people notice only after a storm.
The roof payment schedule
A growing number of Texas policies attach a table that reduces the payout as the roof ages. The older the covering, the smaller the percentage of replacement cost the carrier pays, regardless of what the damage costs to fix.
Two patterns show up on renewals. Some policies convert the roof from replacement cost to actual cash value once the covering reaches a set age. Others keep replacement cost but apply the schedule, which reaches a similar place by a different route.
Neither change is announced loudly. It arrives as a renewal endorsement, and the first time most homeowners read it is during a claim.
How RCV actually pays out
In two checks, not one. The carrier sends the actual cash value first, upfront. The recoverable depreciation follows only after the work is finished and the invoice is submitted.
That sequence catches people out in three ways:
- The first check looks too small. It is not the settlement, it is the first half of it.
- The second check depends on completing the work. A homeowner who pockets the first check and does nothing forfeits the rest.
- The invoice has to match the scope. A cash deal below the approved scope leaves recoverable depreciation unclaimable.
What to read on your own policy
- The declarations page, for the words replacement cost or actual cash value against the roof specifically rather than the dwelling as a whole.
- Any roof payment schedule endorsement, and the age bands in its table.
- The wind and hail deductible, which on Texas policies is a percentage of the dwelling amount rather than a flat figure.
- Cosmetic damage exclusions, which matter most on metal.
Knowing these before a storm changes what you do after one. A covering already on an ACV basis makes a full replacement largely an out-of-pocket decision, which usually argues for maintaining the roof you have, priced against what the work actually costs, rather than waiting for a claim that will not cover it.
The Washington County angle
Hail claims are the usual trigger for all of this, and Washington County records few of them — six hail events between 2016 and 2026, the largest a 1.50 inch stone at Burton. A roof here is far more likely to age out than to be destroyed.
That makes the settlement basis more important locally, not less. A covering that reaches its ACV conversion age without ever seeing a claimable storm is a roof the homeowner replaces entirely on their own money, and documented hail assessment is what separates a real claim from a hopeful one.