What to Do When a Tree or Limb Comes Down on Your House

The sound of a tree hitting a house is not one you forget. If a storm has just sent a trunk or a big limb onto your roof, your garage, or your porch, the first thing to know is that you do not have to fix anything in the next ten minutes. What you have to do is get everyone safe and make a few calls. This is a plain order of operations for the hour after the tree comes down, written for homeowners in the Harrisburg, Enola and Camp Hill area.

Get everyone out and account for everybody

Start with people. Make sure everyone in the house is okay. If anyone is hurt, call 911 first and do everything else afterward. If a fire has started, or you smell gas, get out and call 911 from outside.

If the tree is on the roof and the structure looks strained, with ceilings sagging, cracking sounds, or visible gaps, move to a part of the house away from the damage, or go outside if you can do it safely. Do not go into an area where a ceiling is bowing. A tree resting on a roof is often held in balance by the structure and by its own weight, and a shift can change that quickly.

Stay clear of anything that might be live

Look outside from a safe distance for wires. A tree in a storm can pull down or tangle with electric, phone, and cable lines, and you cannot tell by looking which of them is carrying power. Treat every downed or sagging wire as live. Stay well back, keep children and pets away, and do not touch the tree if it is in contact with a wire, because a tree can conduct electricity.

For anything involving wires, call your power company and report it. That is their job, and no tree service should work near a line until the utility has made it safe. If the situation is dangerous, 911 can also help you reach the right people.

Document it before anything moves

Once everyone is safe, and only if it is safe to do so, take photos and a short video from the ground. Photograph the tree where it lies, the damaged part of the house from several angles, the base of the tree and the stump if you can see it, and any damage to fences, cars, or sheds.

Do not climb on the roof to get a better shot. You can get what you need from the yard.

Make the call for emergency removal

A tree resting on a house is not a job for a chainsaw and a ladder. The weight is often partly supported by the roof, and cutting the wrong piece can drop the whole thing through the structure or throw a limb back at the person cutting. This is work for a trained crew with the right equipment.

K&K Properties & Services Inc. offers emergency tree removal 24 hours a day, for storm-damaged roofs, hazardous limbs, and fallen trees. For an emergency, call directly at (717) 884-2572 rather than sending a form, so someone can talk with you about what is happening. When you call, have this ready:

• Your address and the nearest cross street
• Whether anyone is hurt or in danger, and whether wires are involved
• Where the tree is: on the roof, against a wall, across the driveway, in the yard
• Roughly how big it is, and whether it is a whole tree or a large limb
• Your photos, if you can text them

Protect what you can without taking risks

Once the tree is stable and no one is in danger, small steps can limit further damage. If there is an opening in the roof and rain is coming, you may be able to cover items inside with plastic sheeting, move furniture away from the wet area, and put buckets under leaks. Do not go up on the roof or into a damaged attic to place a tarp yourself. A fall from a wet roof is the kind of injury that makes a bad day much worse.

Talking to your insurance company

Call your insurance company or agent and report the damage. They will explain what they need from you and what the process looks like. We cannot tell you how a claim will go, because that depends on your policy and your provider, so ask them directly about what is covered and what documentation to keep. Your photos, the date, and any paperwork from the crew who removes the tree are the sort of thing worth saving.

One K&K customer, Lynn T., wrote that "They were fast to get the job done and went above and beyond the project expectations." After a storm, speed and a clear head are what people tend to remember.

After the tree is off the house

Once the tree is removed, there is usually still work to do. Branches need to be cleared and chipped, the stump may need to be dealt with, and the roof needs a proper inspection. K&K also does roof repair, so the same crew can look at the damage and talk with you about the next step. The goal is to get you from emergency to a quiet, finished yard without having to coordinate five different companies.

If a tree is down or about to be, call John at (717) 884-2572, any hour. For storm cleanup that is not an emergency, call or text and ask for a free estimate. K&K works in Enola, Harrisburg, Camp Hill and the surrounding area, within about 20 miles of Harrisburg.