Insurance claim roof help in Washington, DC

Our part is the roof. We stop further water entry, figure out exactly what was damaged, put it in writing with photos and measurements and explain it to the adjuster in roofing terms. Once the claim is settled, we do the repair or replacement.

What we don't do matters just as much. We don't act as a public adjuster, we don't negotiate your settlement and we don't tell you what your policy covers or how much it will pay. Those questions belong to you, your insurance company and, if you choose to hire one, a public adjuster or attorney. Any roofer promising you a new roof paid by insurance before an adjuster has seen it is guessing.

We also won't inflate damage, sign anything on your behalf or ask you to hand over your claim. You stay in charge of it. Our job is making sure the roofing facts in front of the adjuster are complete and accurate.

Big oaks and tulip poplars give upper Northwest, Chevy Chase, McLean and much of Montgomery and Fairfax counties their character, and they're the reason so many of our claim calls involve trees. A summer derecho or a saturated-ground windstorm drops whole trees and heavy limbs onto houses with very little warning.

When a tree is on the roof, the order of work matters. A tree service removes the trunk and limbs first, carefully, because pulling them off the wrong way can tear open more of the roof. Then we cut back broken decking, check the rafters and get the opening dried in. If rafters or framing are cracked, the house may need a carpenter or engineer before final roofing, and we'll say so.

Smaller limbs cause damage that's easier to miss: punctures in shingles, cracked slates, dented gutters and torn flashing where a branch dragged across. We walk the whole roof after any tree contact, not just the spot where it landed.

Wind lifts shingle tabs and breaks the sealant strip that holds them down. Sometimes shingles blow off entirely; often they're left creased and loose, which can be harder to spot from the ground but still lets water in during the next storm. We photograph creased and lifted tabs individually because adjusters look for that evidence.

On slate roofs, wind snaps slates and pulls rusted nails, and on flat rowhouse roofs it peels back edge metal and lifts membrane at the parapet. A flat roof that has lost its edge can unzip quickly in the next gust. Our storm damage repair page covers those repairs in more depth.

We also note what isn't storm damage. Old granule loss, long-standing leaks and worn-out flashing usually aren't covered as storm losses, and pretending otherwise damages your credibility with the adjuster. A clear line between new damage and old wear helps your claim more than it hurts it.

Documentation starts at the first visit. We take dated, wide photos of each roof slope to show location, then close-ups of every damaged area with a tape measure or chalk marks for scale. Inside, we photograph ceiling stains, wet insulation and any daylight showing through the deck. Tarping and emergency work are photographed before, during and after.

Then we write a roofing scope: roof type and size, number of layers, damaged areas by slope, materials needed to match and any code items a repair or replacement would trigger. In DC a full roof replacement generally needs a permit from the Department of Buildings, and on houses in historic districts such as Cleveland Park or Takoma, visible changes may need Historic Preservation Office sign-off. Those details can affect what a proper repair costs, so they go in the scope.

You get copies of everything. You decide what to send your insurer and when.

• Wide and close-up dated photos of every damaged area
• Roof measurements, layers and materials
• Interior water damage photos
• Tarping and emergency work records
• A written repair or replacement scope

Adjusters often inspect from a ladder at the eave or with a drone. On steep slate or a three-story rowhouse, they may not see the damage in the middle of the roof. With your permission, we meet them on site, set ladders and show each damaged area directly, along with our photos from the first visit.

We stick to facts about the roof: what's damaged, how it was damaged and what it takes to fix it to match the existing materials. If the adjuster's scope leaves out something we found, we point to the photo and the measurement. If the insurance company's estimate and ours differ, we explain the roofing reasons in writing so you can raise them with your insurer.

For slate roofs, matching is a frequent sticking point. Patching a 1920s slate roof with mismatched slate is a real cost question, and we explain what a proper slate repair involves so the adjuster understands why it isn't a shingle job.

Your policy almost certainly expects you to prevent further damage after a loss. That means getting the roof covered quickly. We install heavy reinforced tarps secured with wood battens screwed over the damaged area, not just weighted down with bricks, and we seal around the edges so wind can't get under them. On flat roofs we may use a temporary membrane patch instead.

Keep receipts for tarping and emergency work, since they're often part of the claim. If water is coming in right now, call (202) 771-7443 any time of day or night, and see our emergency roof repair page for what to do while you wait.