In the first 48 hours after a storm hits your roof, do four things in this order: keep everyone away from hazards like downed power lines, photograph every bit of damage before anything gets moved, get a proper tarp over any opening so water stops coming in, and have a local storm damage roofing company inspect the roof before your insurance adjuster arrives. Those four moves protect your family, your house, and your claim. Everything else is detail, and the details are below.
Quick answer: Just took a hit? Our local roof storm damage checklist for Pittsburgh homes: safety, photos, tarping, insurance, and who to call first.
The storm blew through an hour ago. There are shingles in the yard, a branch on the garage, and your neighbor is already out on Route 30 dodging debris on his way to check his mother’s place in Jeannette. We’ve handled storm damage roof repair in Pittsburgh and the eastern suburbs since 1995, and what you do right now affects your safety, your insurance claim, and how much harm an opened up roof does to the rest of your house before it gets fixed. Here’s the roof storm damage checklist we walk our own neighbors through.
Step one: keep everyone safe
Before you think about the roof, think about the people under it. Stay away from downed power lines, even ones that look dead. If you smell gas, get out and call the utility from a neighbor’s house. If a tree came through the roof or the structure looks compromised, don’t sleep under that section of the house tonight.
And please, stay off the roof. We mean it. A wet roof after a storm is one of the most dangerous places a homeowner can stand, and every year people get hurt trying to see damage they could have photographed from the ground. Our crews wear harnesses for a reason.
Step two: document everything while it's fresh
Your phone is your best tool right now. Walk the property and take more photos than you think you need. Shoot wide so the adjuster can see context, then get close on specifics. Photograph shingles in the yard, dented gutters and downspouts, damaged siding, broken windows, and anything the wind moved that shouldn’t have moved. If hail fell, those dents in the gutters matter a lot, and our guide to what hail damage looks like on a roof shows exactly what to shoot. If water came inside, photograph the ceiling stains, the wet insulation, the drips, all of it, with timestamps.
Two more things people forget. First, save a screenshot of the local weather report or a news story about the storm. It ties the damage to a specific date, which matters later. Second, don’t throw anything away yet. That chunk of shingle in the flowerbed is evidence.
Step three: stop the bleeding with a temporary cover
If water is getting in, the roof needs a tarp, and it needs one installed properly. A tarp flapping loose in the next round of wind does nothing, and around here the second storm often follows the first within days. Summer thunderstorm season in Westmoreland County doesn’t send one storm and call it a year.
Most insurance policies actually require you to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage, and they’ll typically reimburse the cost of emergency tarping. Keep the receipt. If water is actively pouring in tonight, our emergency roof repair guide walks through the safe inside moves, buckets, weep holes, and breakers, step by step. Leave the tarp itself to someone with fall protection. We provide emergency tarping across Irwin, North Huntingdon, Murrysville, Monroeville, and the surrounding towns, usually the same day.
Step four: get a local inspection before the adjuster shows up
Here’s the part of the checklist that surprises people. Yes, you should call your insurance company promptly. But if you can, have a local contractor inspect and document the roof before your adjuster visit, or at least arrange for your contractor to be there when the adjuster walks the property. For the full picture of what happens after you file, we wrote a plain language walkthrough of the roof insurance claim process in Pennsylvania.
Why inspect first? Adjusters handle dozens of claims after a big storm, and they’re human. They miss things. Creased shingles that will leak in six weeks. Hail bruising that hasn’t opened up yet. Damaged flashing on a chimney. When we inspect first, we hand you a written scope with photos of everything, so nothing gets left off the claim. Our storm damage restoration services cover the whole path from that first inspection through the finished roof, and we’ve stood on enough roofs in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties to know what storm damage looks like on the housing stock around here, from 1950s ranches in Penn Township to brick foursquares in Greensburg.
An inspection from us is free, and there’s no obligation attached. If the roof is fine, we’ll tell you it’s fine. That honesty is how we became the storm damage roofing company Pittsburgh neighbors recommend to each other, and we’re not trading three decades of reputation for one job.
Step five: watch out for the trucks with out of state plates
After every major storm, they show up. Storm chasers. They knock on doors in Trafford and Delmont, offer to handle everything, pressure you to sign something on the spot, and sometimes ask you to sign over your insurance benefits entirely. By the time the workmanship problems appear, the truck and the phone number are three states away.
A few simple filters protect you. Ask for a local physical address. Ask how long they’ve been in business here. Check the BBB, where we hold an A+ rating. Never sign anything under pressure at your front door, and be very cautious about any document that assigns your insurance claim to a contractor. A legitimate company doing storm damage restoration in Pittsburgh doesn’t need you to sign in the driveway. We’ll still be down the road in Irwin next year, and the year after that, and that’s the foundation a warranty actually rests on.
Step six: start a simple claim file
Grab a folder or start a note on your phone. Every call with your insurer goes in it: date, name of the person you spoke with, what was said. Save emails. Save receipts for tarps, for a hotel night if you had to leave, for anything storm related. Claims go smoother when the homeowner has a clean paper trail, and if a dispute ever comes up, that folder is worth real money.
Frequently asked questions
Should I call my insurance company or a roofer first after a storm?
Make sure everyone’s safe, document the damage, then it’s honestly fine to do both the same day. What matters is having a knowledgeable local contractor inspect the roof before or alongside the adjuster, so the full scope of damage makes it into the claim rather than getting discovered after the check is cut.
Will filing a storm damage claim raise my insurance rates?
Storm claims are generally treated as acts of nature rather than personal fault, so a single claim usually doesn’t move your premium the way an at fault claim would. Rates across a region often rise after a widespread storm whether you file or not, so skipping a legitimate claim rarely saves you anything.
How long do I have to file a storm damage claim in Pennsylvania?
Policies vary, and most require prompt notice, so don’t sit on it. Many policies give you a year or so to file after a storm, but the practical answer is that sooner is always stronger. Fresh damage is easy to tie to a storm date. Damage found a year later invites arguments.
How do I find a good storm damage roofing company near me?
Look for a local physical address, a track record you can verify, manufacturer credentials, and a free inspection with written findings. We check those boxes as an Owens Corning Platinum Preferred contractor based in Irwin since 1995, and any contractor worth hiring should be able to show you the same kind of paper.
We're right up the road
If a storm just rolled through your neighborhood, don’t guess about what it did up there. Request a free inspection at mybellaroof.com or give us a call, and we’ll put trained eyes on your roof, document what we find, and shoot you straight about whether you have a claim worth filing. We’ve been doing exactly that for our neighbors since 1995.