What To Do If A Tree Falls On Your House

Let’s look at what homeowners should do in the unfortunate event a tree falls onto their house.

What Should You Do If A Tree Falls On Your House?

A tree falling on your house can create an extremely dangerous situation. Large trees can punch holes through roofs, break windows, and cause serious damage to your home and surrounding area. Trees of any size are capable of bringing down power lines, which creates other hazards altogether.

There can be several situations in which a tree falls on a house, including flooding, storms, and high winds. No matter the cause, a tree falling down is a serious situation. If a tree ultimately falls on your house, follow these few steps.

Get To Safety

Before doing anything else, make sure to get your entire family to a safe place in the home, far from where the tree has fallen. Get away from the damaged part of your home, even if this means evacuating to a neighbor’s house.

Assess The Damage Outside

Once everyone is safe, take an extensive look at the tree and your home from the outside. If the tree has pulled down power lines or may possibly damage gas lines, it’s best to turn off the main breaker in your home’s breaker box or the gas line at the meter.

Record Everything

No matter if the damage is large or small, ensure you get good videos and photos from a variety of angles. Get more photos during the daytime if you do not have a lot of sunlight immediately following the impact.

Cover Any Openings

Fallen trees can cause significant damage, including breaking windows or bursting through roofs and walls. Always remain careful as you attempt to temporarily cover any holes that may have been created. DO NOT go up on the roof at this time – let the professionals handle this task.

Call For Help

Once the situation has been stabilized, call for help. In most cases, this includes calling both your insurance and utility companies. Your agent will be able to advise you on how to proceed moving forward and the utility company can send someone over to the scene.

Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Tree Removal?

If a tree falls during a storm and damages the house, home insurance will typically pay for the necessary repairs and tree removal. However, if the tree simply falls in the backyard without causing any damage, then the homeowner will have to pick up the expenses.

Home insurance will not usually cover the removal of the tree unless it falls onto a garage, fence, or home and results in damage. Sometimes, home insurance will pay for removing a tree if it is blocking your driveway. Home insurance may also cover this if you are disabled, and the tree is blocking a wheelchair ramp.

Check your home insurance policy and contact your agent for specific details. Home insurance policies generally cover tree removal up to $1,000 per storm. If your tree falls on a neighbor’s home, the neighbor would file a claim on his or her homeowners insurance policy.