Emergency Tarping

When a roof suffers sudden, active damage, whether from a falling tree limb, wind that tears off a section of shingles, or hail severe enough to punch through the roofing material, the most urgent problem is not fixing the roof correctly right away. It is stopping water from continuing to enter the home before that permanent fix can happen.

Emergency tarping addresses that immediate need. A heavy-duty tarp, sized to extend well past the damaged area in every direction rather than just covering the visible hole, is stretched over the affected section of roof and fastened down securely.

How that tarp is fastened is the difference between a stopgap that actually holds and one that fails at the next round of wind. A properly installed emergency tarp is anchored using wood strips or battens screwed through the tarp material into solid decking, not simply weighted down with loose objects or taped at the edges, since wind pressure under a poorly secured tarp will tear it loose and undo the whole point of installing it.

Tarping buys time, and time is exactly what it is meant to buy. It is not a repair to the actual damage, and it does not address whatever caused the breach in the first place, whether that is missing shingles, a punctured deck, or damaged flashing.

A tarp left in place for an extended period is still exposed to the same sun and weather as any temporary material, so it should be treated as a genuinely short-term measure, with the permanent repair or replacement scheduled as soon as conditions and any insurance documentation allow.

Documenting the damage with photos before a tarp goes on, when it is safe to do so, is worth doing, since a tarp by its nature covers up the very damage an insurance claim will later need to describe.