What to do right now, before we get there
- Stay away from downed lines and anything touching them, including fences, puddles and vehicles. Assume every line is live.
- Do not climb up to look. Post-storm roofs are wet, loose and unstable, and there is nothing you can see from up there that a professional cannot see safely.
- Photograph everything from the ground, immediately. The roof, the yard, debris, dented gutters and downspouts, damaged siding, and anything that used to be on the roof and is now not. Date-stamped photos taken before cleanup are the most valuable evidence you will ever have in a claim.
- Stop further damage where you safely can — buckets, sheeting over furniture, water off the floor. Most policies expect you to take reasonable steps to prevent further loss.
- Keep every receipt for tarps, sheeting, a hotel night, anything. Do not throw damaged material away until it has been photographed.
What we do when we arrive
Stabilisation first, documentation at the same time. We tarp or temporarily seal the failure with proper fastening, and we photograph the damage in detail before we cover it — because once a tarp goes on, the evidence of what was underneath is gone. You get a dated photo report you can hand straight to your carrier, and an honest assessment of whether this is a documentable storm loss or wear that a claim will not help with.
Fairfax specifics
1970s through 1990s colonials with front gables, dormers and garage returns. Nearly every leak we chase on this stock is a flashing detail rather than a failed field. The City of Fairfax permits separately from the county — relevant to the repair, not to the tarp.
We cover City of Fairfax, Fair Oaks, Fairfax Station, Mantua, Kings Park West and Little River Hills, across 22030, 22031, 22032, 22033.
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Questions people ask at 11pm
Should I call my insurer or a roofer first?
Get eyes on the damage first if you can do it quickly, so you know what you actually have before you open a claim. But do not let that delay emergency stabilisation — most policies expect you to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage, and a tarp is exactly that. Document it, keep the receipt.
Someone knocked on my door offering a free inspection after the storm. Should I let them?
Be careful. Storm-chasing crews follow weather across state lines, sign as many contracts as they can, and are gone by the time anything goes wrong. Before anyone gets on your roof, ask for an MHIC or Virginia licence number, a local address and proof of insurance — then verify them. Never sign anything that assigns your claim benefits without reading it carefully.
Will you tell me if there is no damage?
Yes. That is the whole point. Filing a claim on a roof that is simply old does not help you, and an inspection that finds nothing is a free, dated record that your roof was fine on this date, which is worth having.
Once the water has stopped
Storm damage? How a Virginia roof insurance claim works and how to spot hail damage. Planning the permanent repair? What actually drives roof replacement cost here.
Other emergency services in Fairfax: Emergency Roof Repair · Roof Leak Repair · Emergency Roof Tarping.