How to Handle a Roofing Emergency

Protect the inside of your home before contacting a roofer
Oct 1, 2021

Your roof’s primary purpose is to protect your home. The roof is the reason why water doesn’t get into your home to cause water damage inside. It also prevents debris like leaves and tree branches from falling inside. Therefore, when the roof gets damaged, it can constitute an emergency.

Roof damage that isn’t addressed right away can result in a lot of very expensive damage inside the home. If something, like a storm or a tree branch falling onto your roof, happens that damages your roof and threatens the integrity of the inside of your home, you should follow these steps.

Don’t Panic

Any emergency can be a trying situation. However, there’s a good chance that the damage isn’t as bad as it looks to you as the homeowner. A professional roofer can assess the full extent of the damage, but until a roofer can get to your house, it’s important to stay calm so you can follow the next steps to protect your home.

Protect the Interior of Your Home

The next step, no matter when the damage occurs, is to protect the inside of your home as best as you can. This is to minimize any damage that occurs inside the house. Place buckets underneath anywhere that’s leaking. Move furniture and belongings out of the way of any drips. Put up plastic tarps or other waterproof materials over any holes that you can find.

Contact a Professional Roofer

Many roofing companies have 24/7 emergency lines that you can call. It’s important to take steps to protect your home first because a roofer may not be able to come out right away. It’s not safe for someone to be on your roof examining damage in the dark or during a storm. Once a roofer is able to come out to your home, they will inspect the damage and may put up tarps on the roof to cover any holes.

A roofer may also be able to tell you if your home is safe to live in while the damage is being repaired. Depending on the extent of the roof damage, you may need to vacate the house until it’s safe again. It’s also a good idea to get an estimate from the roofer for how much it will cost to repair the damage. This information may be useful when dealing with your insurance company.

Contact Your Insurance Company

Once the damage to the roof has been assessed, you should contact your insurance company to make a claim. You should call your insurance company before arranging for any of the damage to be repaired. The insurance company will send out an adjuster to inspect the damage and provide an estimate for the damage and for alternative living arrangements should your home be unsafe for you to live in until the damage is repaired.

Shop Around for Estimates

If you think that your insurance company has estimated the cost of the damage too low, then you can ask several different roofing companies for estimates. You should then provide these estimates to your insurance company as proof that their estimate was too low. You can also use that information to choose which roofing company you want to hire to repair your roof. Keep in mind that the cheapest isn’t always the best.

Choose a Roofer to Repair the Damage

It’s important to choose the right roofing company to repair the damage to your home. Some go door-to-door soliciting sales right after a storm. These storm chasers can sometimes be scams, so it’s important to do your research before hiring anyone to work on your roof. Make sure that the company you hire is both licensed and insured and ask for proof. You can also ask for references to make sure that other customers were happy with the work the company did.

Need an emergency roof repair? Contact us for a free, no-obligation quote.