So you have just had a severe thunderstorm with high winds, heavy rain, and hail damage your roof.
Shingles have been blown off and you fear another round of storms are eminent. You are sure if you get more wind and rain like the first round you are going to get water inside your house. You have expensive furniture and it would be costly to have the interior restored to like it never happened. You have good insurance but it would be hard to replace some of the items. In fact the family heirlooms could never be replaced so what do you do at this point?
Protect Your Interior
The first thing you want to do is protect those items inside your house that cannot be replaced. Move them to areas in the house where you aren’t afraid they will get ruined, or cover them with blankets or other heavy padding material and then wrap them entirely in heavy mill plastic. Home Depot, Lowe’s, and other home supply stores will carry everything you need to protect your cherished items.
You may also be able to find a good local roofer like dimensionalpro.com/roofing to help you if you live in the DFW Metroplex.
Now, to temporarily address the damage on your roof, it is best to call on roofing professionals. Roofing contractors know exactly how to do emergency tarping to protect your home. Your insurance company will reimburse you for the expense of emergency tarping. If it is a large storm with a lot of damage you may have to get on a list and wait for someone to get to you. If you feel you can’t afford to wait, you can do the emergency tarping yourself. Remember to put safety first, never get on a wet roof especially while it is still raining. Always wait until the roof is dry enough to do your emergency tarping.
Purchase a Tarp
First purchase a tarp (Home Depot, Lowes) that will be large enough to cover the damaged area. Make sure it will extend at least three feet past the damaged area on all four sides. You will also need enough 1X3’s to nail or screw the perimeter of the tarp down onto the roof. Wrap one end of the tarp around a 1X3 and nail or screw it down about 1 ½ feet past the damaged area. Repeat the step on all four sides pulling the tarp tight as you go. This includes the ridge if necessary.
Never cover a ventilation pipe underneath the tarp. Apply weatherproof tape around the ventilation pipes to keep water out before putting down the tarp. Cut a hole in the tarp allowing the pipes to protrude, and then tape the tarp down around the pipes.
If the roof damage is extensive and the entire roof needs to be tarped, it is best to let roofing specialists take care of the job for you. You want the tarping to last until your insurance company can arrive and assess the damage. During large storm events that can take a while so you may have to be patient.