Handling Roof Damage from Winter Storms
With winter solidly hitting upstate and western New York, winter storms are already making their presence and impact known. One of the impacts that winter storms can bring is severe damage to your roof. But when your roof suffers damage from the storm, what should your next steps be?
In this guide, we’ll cover how to handle roof damage during a winter storm, with details on how to stay on top of roof damage repairs for your Buffalo home.
Handling Roof Damage from Winter Storms
Mitigate immediately obvious damage
When your roof takes damage, some of it is immediately obvious and plain to the naked eye directly at that point. If you’ve had a branch punch through the roof, if something is causing a leak, or there are other serious issues, they make themselves known very quickly. When that happens, you want to start by mitigating that severe damage. Move any sensitive items in the area, place containers to collect water that is falling, and place plastic bags, sheet plastic, or a tarp over items that cannot be moved to protect them from damage. Being able to document the actions that you took to prevent additional damage is important to showing that you protected your property during an insurance claim.
Inspect for additional damage
The next set is to look over the area around the obvious damage. If a branch fell on your roof, did it simply punch through the decking in one location, or did it cause damage to the structural members of your roof? What about other branches or parts that struck your roof? Were shingles loosened or torn away? Are there areas of damage that have not yet otherwise caused problems that you hadn’t noticed in mitigating the initial damage? Part of this process may need to happen after you handle the next step, due to the amount of snow that may be on your roof. Document any damage you find for your insurance company, including interior damage, and consider getting a professional inspection if possible.
Remove excess snow and tarp damage
Once you’ve done your initial inspection and protection of your belongings and home, it’s time to get ready to seal up the gap in your roof. To start, you’ll want to remove as much snow from your roof as you can to lighten the load and make it easier to undertake necessary repairs. The process of removing the excess snow from your roof is best managed with a broom because it will help prevent additional damage to the rest of your roofing system. Once the snow is removed, make any structural repairs to help provide a tight fit of a tarp over the roof, and tighten it down so that it will hold up against future weather.
Contact your insurance company
During this process, you’ll want to start the claim process with your homeowner’s insurance company as soon as possible, but with some level of caution. If you’ve been able to handle the first three steps prior to this point, you’ll already have an idea of how bad the damage is and can give them a reasonable amount of information to base your claim on. You may also be able to provide some photos of the damage to get the process started. You may need to have an adjustor come out to your home to inspect the damage that you’re claiming, especially if there is damage to your belongings inside the home, or if you have extensive damage that needs to be claimed at the same time.
Reach out to an experienced roofer
Finally, you’ll want to make sure that you’re working with an experienced roof damage repair company in Buffalo for any repairs that are needed. After a major storm, it’s unfortunately all too common for unreliable roofers to come through the area offering low costs to repair roofs, then disappear with any money they’ve collected without doing the work or only doing a substandard job. Working with a reputable, experienced roofing company means that you’ll get quality work from a business who will stand behind their work and be there for many years to come should there be any issues at all.
By understanding how to handle the damage and get roof damage repair for your Buffalo home, you’ll be set for the worst that lake-effect snowstorms can throw at you. If your roof has been damaged by some of our winter weather, or have questions about handling roof damage from winter storms in Buffalo, the experienced professionals at AVA Roofing are ready to help. Why not reach out today with any questions or to schedule a consultation?
