Storm damage, active roof leak, or fallen tree on the roof - post free for urgent tarp / emergency roofing help. Genie 911 urgency skips the bidding process and connects you directly with the next available local roofing pro fast instead of a call storm.
What This Category Covers (and What Comes Next)
This category is for the immediate fix — a tarp over an exposed section, sealing an active leak, or removing storm-driven debris so water stops getting in. It is not a full re-roof. Once the opening is secured, most jobs move into a separate, non-emergency repair or replacement project, which you can post under Roofing Repair once you have had time to get a proper assessment and, if applicable, an insurance adjuster out. If a storm has brought down power lines anywhere near the damaged area, treat that as a separate, more urgent hazard and keep clear of it entirely rather than trying to work around it while waiting for help.
What a Roofer Needs to Bid Your Job Accurately
A Service Professional bidding on a tarp job is working with limited information until they can see the roof themselves, so the more specific your post is, the faster you get a realistic bid. Useful details include: which side of the roof is affected and roughly how large the damaged area is, whether the leak has already reached the attic or ceiling below, the roof material (shingle, tile, metal), and photos taken from the ground or an attic window if getting on the roof yourself is not safe. Do not climb onto a wet or storm-damaged roof to inspect it in person — that is exactly the kind of job this category exists to hand off.
Documenting the Damage Before It Is Covered Up
A tarp is meant to stop things from getting worse, not to fix the roof, which means the damage underneath is still there for an insurance adjuster to see later. Photograph what you can safely see before a Service Professional arrives and again once the tarp is in place, so you have a before-and-after record. For the full walkthrough on documentation, insurance claims, and what a policy typically covers for storm damage, see storm damage to your roof: what to do and what insurance covers. If the situation is urgent, post through Genie 911 so any Service Professional who is currently available can see your job and respond — posting fast does not guarantee a specific response time, but it puts your job in front of pros as soon as they are free. Once more than one bid comes in, here is how to compare them on more than just price — timeline, scope, and communication all matter for a job like this.
Your Duty to Prevent Further Damage — Don't Wait on the Adjuster to Tarp
Most standard homeowner's policies include a "duty to mitigate" clause: once damage has happened, the policyholder is expected to take reasonable steps to stop it from getting worse, rather than leaving it open while waiting for an adjuster to schedule a visit. For a storm-damaged roof, that usually means the temporary tarp itself — waiting days for someone to "approve" it first can actually work against a claim if the delay lets more water in and turns a contained leak into a ceiling collapse or mold problem. Getting a Service Professional out to tarp the opening promptly, and documenting it the way described above, generally satisfies that duty while still preserving the evidence an adjuster needs to see.
Keep the receipt for the emergency tarp work itself — many policies treat reasonable mitigation costs as a separate, reimbursable line item from the main roof repair, though the exact terms vary by insurer, so confirm with your adjuster rather than assuming. A tarp is also not a one-time fix-and-forget: after any additional wind or heavy rain while you're waiting on the permanent repair, it is worth a quick visual check from the ground that the tarp is still fully secured, since storm conditions that damaged the roof once can loosen a temporary covering too. None of this replaces the permanent repair — it just protects the property, and your claim, in the meantime.