Safety first: get everyone out of the affected area and never approach a tree touching a power line. Then document everything with photos and video before moving any debris, because your insurance claim begins the moment the tree lands. Call your insurer, then arrange emergency tarping the same day — an open roof in western Washington means water entering continuously. Tree removal comes before any structural or roof assessment.
If a tree has come down on your house, nothing below matters until the following is true: everyone is out of the affected rooms, nobody is near a downed line, and you have called 911 if there is any sign of gas, electrical contact, or structural collapse. Never touch or approach a tree that is in contact with a power line, regardless of whether the line looks live. Utility crews handle that, not you and not us.
Once that is settled, the next several hours genuinely affect both your home and your insurance claim. Here is the order we would walk a neighbor through.
This is the step people skip, and it is the one that costs them later. Your claim begins the moment the tree lands. Once cleanup starts, the record of the original damage is gone.
Resist the urge to tidy up. Moving debris before it is documented makes it harder for an adjuster to assess the full scope, and gaps in documentation are where claims get reduced.
Notify your insurance company or agent as soon as it is practical. Be straightforward about what happened and what you can see. Ask two specific questions while you have them:
Most policies expect you to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage. That expectation cuts both ways: you are generally required to mitigate, and the cost of reasonable emergency work is often reimbursable. Keep every receipt.
This is where a roofer comes in, and in western Washington it is urgent in a way it might not be elsewhere. An open roof in October means rain is entering your home continuously. Water travels — through insulation, down wall cavities, into ceilings two rooms away — and water damage compounds fast.
Emergency tarping covers the opening with heavy-duty material, properly fastened and lapped so it actually sheds water rather than funneling it somewhere new. A tarp thrown over a hole and weighted with a board is not mitigation; it is a photo op. Done correctly, tarping buys you the weeks you may need for tree removal, adjuster scheduling, and permitting before permanent repair.
Do not climb up to do this yourself on a damaged roof. The decking near an impact zone is compromised in ways you cannot see from below.
Tree impacts involve more trades than most homeowners expect, and the order matters:
Expect an adjuster visit somewhere in the middle. Have your photos organized and available.
We are roofers, not insurance advisors, and policies differ — read yours and talk to your agent. That said, the general pattern is worth knowing.
Standard homeowners policies typically cover damage to the structure when a tree falls due to a covered peril such as windstorm. Notably, this usually holds regardless of whose tree it was — the policy generally follows the damaged property, so a neighbor's tree landing on your house is usually your own claim to file.
The common exclusion is neglect. If a tree was visibly dead or diseased and was ignored, insurers may deny on the grounds that the fall was not a sudden accidental event. This is worth knowing in both directions: if you have warned a neighbor in writing about a hazardous tree, keep that correspondence.
Two other details that surprise people: if a tree falls without hitting an insured structure, removal may not be covered at all, and tree removal reimbursement is often capped at a few hundred to a thousand dollars even when the damage itself is covered. Vehicle damage falls under auto comprehensive coverage, not homeowners.
A few things worth insisting on, especially when you are making decisions under stress:
Get everyone out of the affected area and stay clear of any tree touching a power line. Call 911 if there are injuries, gas odor, electrical hazards, or risk of collapse. Once safe, photograph everything before moving anything, then call your insurer, then arrange emergency tarping to stop water entry.
Typically yes when the tree fell due to a covered peril such as a windstorm, and usually regardless of whose property the tree was on, because coverage generally follows the damaged structure. The most common denial reason is neglect — a tree that was already dead or diseased. Policies vary, so confirm specifics with your insurer.
In most cases you file with your own insurer, even though it was their tree. If the neighbor was on notice that the tree was hazardous and did nothing, there may be a path to recovering costs from them, which is why written records of any prior warnings matter.
Generally yes. Policies typically expect you to prevent further damage, and in the Pacific Northwest an open roof means continuing water intrusion. Document the damage thoroughly first, keep all receipts, and check with your insurer about approval requirements for emergency work.
We handle emergency tarping and storm damage repair across Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond, Sammamish, Issaquah and the greater Eastside, and we are glad to walk your adjuster through what we find. Roof4Life has been doing this since 2012. Call (425) 207-3500.
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