4 Things To Do If Your Roof Collapses

9/10/2019 (Permalink)

Roof collapsed in a Maywood, IL home

4 Things To Do If Your Roof Collapses

There are plenty of DIY projects you can tackle at home, but if a winter storm or blizzard blows in to Maywood, IL, leaving serious roof damage behind, it is time to put down the hammer and pick up the phone. Disaster cleaning after a roof cave-in or storm damage is a job for professionals.

Do Not Enter

If a storm has caused your roof to collapse, do not go back in the house for any reason. Instead, you should do the following:

• Get out.
  
• Don't stop to search for, or collect, personal belongings.
  
• Take your family to a place where they are safe from the blizzard.
  
• Call 911.
  
  

Contact Your Insurance Agent

As soon as your family is safe, call your insurance agent. Let your agent know what has happened and check on what your policy will cover. Then call a company that handles winter storm restoration.

Call a Professional

A home with structural damage such as a roof collapse calls for specialized skills, and you will need to call in a professional restoration team to handle the job. They will take care of cleanup and repairs and help get your life back to normal as quickly as possible. Cleanup and restoration after a roof collapse or other serious roof damage usually involves the following steps:

• Clearing debris, such as dry wall, boards or broken pipes
  
• Drying the area using fans and heaters
  
• Repairing areas with water damage
  
  

Stay in a Hotel

Make arrangements for your family to stay outside your home for a week or more. You could stay with friends or relatives, or you may prefer a hotel. Be sure to ask your insurance agent what your policy covers in this regard, and then relax.

A winter storm can be stressful, but the cleanup doesn’t have to be. When the restoration team is finished, it will look “Like it never even happened.”