Do this first
What to do right now
- Get everyone out of the rooms under and next to the impact, and out of the house entirely if the ceiling or wall is visibly deflecting.
- If any wire is down or the tree is touching a power line or the service mast, treat it as live: stay far back and call 911 and the utility before anyone else.
- Do not try to cut or pull the tree yourself. A loaded limb under tension releases with enormous force.
- Shut off gas and electricity to the affected area if you can do so safely from outside the damaged zone.
- Photograph the scene from a safe distance, the tree, the roof, the interior, the contents.
- Call your insurer to open the claim, then get a roofer and a tree service coordinated so removal and tarping happen the same day.
Removal and roofing are two different trades
A tree service takes the tree off. A roofer closes the building envelope and assesses what the impact did to the structure. Doing these in the wrong order, or letting the tree crew "just pull it off", often widens the hole and drags broken limbs across intact shingles. On a serious impact the sequence is: make safe, cut the load in controlled sections, lift clear, then tarp immediately while the deck is still dry enough to strap to.
What the roofer is looking for underneath
Tree impact is one of the few roof events that regularly causes structural damage rather than surface damage. The inspection covers rafters and trusses for cracks and deflection, the sheathing for punctures and delamination, the ridge for movement, the top plate and wall framing under the impact point, and the interior ceiling plane. A cracked truss chord is not a shingle repair: it needs an engineered fix, and on a modern truss roof it may need a design from a structural engineer before it is repaired.
Whose insurance pays when it is the neighbour's tree
- Healthy tree, storm, lands on your house
- In Pennsylvania, as in most states, the damage is generally handled by the policy covering the property it lands on. Your policy pays for your roof, even if the trunk grew next door.
- Tree that was visibly dead, diseased or hazardous
- If the owner had been notified and did nothing, negligence may be argued.
- Debris removal allowance
- Standard homeowners policies usually include a modest allowance, often a few hundred to a thousand dollars, frequently far less than the actual tree work.
Read that debris removal limit before you commit.
Documentation you will want later
Keep the tree service invoice separate from the roofing invoice, keep every photograph including ones taken before removal, and note the date and time of the storm. If the ceiling has to be opened to dry the structure, photograph what is behind it before it is closed back up.
