Roof Repair Needed – Shingles Blown Off of The Roof:
Ultimately, it happens to everyone. You’re looking out the window, friendly and warm inside the house on a rainy day, thinking, “wow, it is miserable out there. It would sure be awful to work in that weather”. And just about the same time you’re thinking about how comfortable you are in your house, you suddenly look up, and a drop of water is coming out of the ceiling. Emergency? Put it off for another day? Get up there and put tar on the roof? Unfortunately, most of us don’t know what to do when our roof leaks. This article is written for those who need a straight answer.
First, from a safety point of view, getting up on the roof during a torrential rainstorm will not be a safe outing. You need to solve the problem; otherwise, the sheetrock will become increasingly damaged. But throwing a ladder up onto the gutter and climbing onto the roof in hopes of finding what the problem is, or putting tar on the roof, will not stop the damage that has already occurred to the sheetrock. Frankly, the damage has already been done by the time you see the water coming in. A roof leak becomes expensive when the roof repair that needs to take place is delayed for an extended period.
To start with, you need to have the correct order of doing things:
- Call your insurance agent to see if your homeowner’s insurance covers roof repair.
- Call a reliable roof repair company and see how fast they can get there.
- Consider placing a tarp on the roof to mitigate further damage to your interior.
- Make sure to get the work done at the first opportunity.
- You are calling your insurance agent to see if your homeowner’s insurance covers the roof repair.
Your insurance agent will have a list of reliable roofing companies they’ve used before for this type of situation, or they can advise you on how to repair the interior damage after the roof has been fixed. In most cases, your homeowner’s insurance will not pay for the roof to be repaired but will pay for the interior damage to your home as long as you have acted promptly and protected your home from further damage from the roof leak. This, of course, is after you pay your deductible, typically around $500 or more. You will probably never pay more than your deductible for interior damage.
When calling a roofing company, don’t be upset if they don’t drop everything and arrive in minutes. The absolute truth is that it rained hard over the entire area, and there have probably been two or three phone calls before yours. Demanding that someone would be there instantaneously may cost you a premium. The thing to do is to keep your cool and let the roofing professionals get there according to their schedules.
If all else fails, consider placing a tarp on the roof to stop further water intrusion. This should be the last case scenario because of the danger of climbing a ladder and getting on your roof, the possibility of slipping off the roof, or further damage by not knowing where to step or what to do. Properly installed, a tarp will keep the water out of the house. But you need to know how to install it so that the wind doesn’t blow it off or that you don’t place it in the wrong spot. Whatever you do, please do not get out your trusty old can of tar and start slapping it all over the place. This makes it impossible for the roofer even to find the problem, let alone the fact that this material will be all over everything when the job is done.
