Out On a Limb

My neighbors tree fell on my house! What now?

Question for Joe

Hi Joe, when the storm hit last night, we were out, only to return to a huge mess. Our neighbors old backyard tree fell into our yard, not only taking down our fence, but clipping a portion of our roof, we had an old car in the garage, should we try to remove the tree ourselves or what, HELP?

Mary
Shelby Township, MI

Joe’s Answer

Joe Says

Ugh! Nothing worse than coming home to find a mess!

In the future always stay far away and observe the area from all sides to ensure that the tree limb didn’t pull down any high voltage wiring. If so, contact the electrical company and report it and do not go in the house and wait until they arrive. This is very common problem when trees fall, and I am going to go out on a limb and say, this tree is likely your neighbor’s problem, however, it is yours for now, it will require your insurance carrier to fix your side of the problem.

If it is a very manageable tree limb I suppose you could try to remove it with strong helpers. However, depending on size they could be very tricky to remove and I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt and I would recommend a reputable tree removal company to remove tree limb from the house and you will likely have to pay them for their services on the spot. Also, make sure you get a receipt as you can get reimbursed by the insurance company for their services.

Depending on the amount of damage the tree made, you might have a hole in your roof that will need to be covered immediately to prevent any further damage. Then, contact your homeowner’s insurance company and make a claim and call us to schedule an appointment to help you through the process of securing the roof and getting your home back in order.

Joseph P. Cipriano Jr.
President, CONSTRUCTEAM