What to do if a Tree Falls On Your House?

2/22/2021 (Permalink)

Trees provide shade from the sun, the beauty of changing leaves in the fall, and oxygen into the air. These are all reasons why you’d want to have trees around your house. But there’s a flipside to that. 

If your tree is old or has very thin branches, a strong wind could cause a branch or even part of the tree to fall. Think about the morning after we have heavy rains and wind, like a microburst or a hurricane. As you’re driving around the next day, you’re likely to see pieces of tree branches (or even a large limb of a tree) on the road or in someone’s yard. 

The destination of the tree branch that falls during a wind storm could be anywhere, and one place it could wind up is on your roof. That thud is not a sound you want to hear in the middle of the night as you’re sleeping, especially if the tree branch has broken through your roof or side of your home and is poking through your ceiling or wall. 

The first thing you need to do, once you’ve determined everyone in your house is safe, of course, is to get that tree branch off your house. If it’s a relatively small tree branch, then you could remove that yourself or with the help of some neighbors. If the tree branch is larger, you’ll need a tree company with their specialized equipment for tree branch or limb removal. 

Once the branch or limb has been removed, it’s time to assess the damage. That’s where our team at SERVPRO Danvers / Ipswich comes in. Contact us and we’ll come out, sometimes with a structural engineer, to offer a tree damage assessment along with the remediation that will be done, which could include repairing the roof, wall, or other parts of your home that have been damaged by a tree during a storm.