Please check your email for your login details.What To Do Right Now
Move people and pets away from any area where a ceiling is sagging or actively holding water. A saturated ceiling can fail without warning and a plaster or drywall collapse carries real injury risk. Contain the water. Buckets under active drips, plastic sheeting over furniture, and towels to limit spread. Move what you can out of the path. If a ceiling is bulging with trapped water, a small puncture at the lowest point of the bulge, with a container beneath, releases the water in a controlled way rather than allowing the whole area to let go at once. This is counterintuitive but it limits damage. Shut off power to affected areas from a dry location if water is reaching fixtures, outlets, or wiring. Photograph everything before you clean up. Insurance claims depend on documentation and reconstructing it afterward is difficult. Do not go on the roof. Wet or iced roofing in a storm is where serious injuries happen, and there is very little a homeowner can safely accomplish up there during an active event.
What Qualifies as an Emergency
Active water entering living space is an emergency. Every hour of continued intrusion increases damage to insulation, drywall, framing, and contents. Structural compromise — a sagging roof plane, a tree or limb through the roof, or visible framing damage — is an emergency regardless of whether water is currently entering. A large area of covering removed by wind, leaving decking exposed with weather approaching, is an emergency because the next rainfall will enter unimpeded. Fire or impact damage that has opened the roof assembly is an emergency. By contrast, a small stain that appears after heavy rain and stops, missing shingles with no active leak and no weather forecast, or granule loss noticed while cleaning gutters are all situations that can wait for a scheduled appointment at standard rates. Calling for emergency service when the situation can wait costs meaningfully more and occupies capacity that another household may need urgently during a regional storm event.
Temporary Tarping and Stabilization
Emergency roofing is stabilization, not repair. The objective is to stop water intrusion and prevent further damage until a permanent repair can be assessed, scoped, permitted where required, and scheduled. Tarping involves securing heavy-duty sheeting over the compromised area, anchored so wind cannot lift it. Proper tarping runs the material over the ridge where possible so water cannot drive underneath. A properly installed tarp can hold for weeks. A poorly installed one lifts in the next wind event and can worsen the damage by tearing at fasteners. Interior stabilization may include removing saturated ceiling material to allow drying and prevent collapse. Board-up applies where an impact has created an opening, and it addresses security as well as weather. Expect the emergency contractor to document conditions thoroughly. Those photographs support the insurance claim and establish the pre-existing state before permanent work begins.
What Causes Roofing Emergencies Here
Severe thunderstorm wind is the most common cause across the metro. Straight-line winds can strip covering from a roof plane in minutes, particularly where shingles had already lost their seal. Falling limbs and trees are a close second, and Metro Detroit's mature canopy in established neighborhoods makes this a persistent risk during high-wind events and heavy wet snow. Ice dams produce winter emergencies that homeowners often do not recognize as roofing events. Water appears at a ceiling or down an interior wall with no rain falling, and the mechanism is meltwater backing up behind ice at the eave. Heavy wet snow loading can stress compromised framing, particularly on low-slope sections and porch roofs. Hail can open a roof in a severe event, though more often it causes damage that develops over time rather than an immediate emergency. Sudden failure of an aging flat or low-slope membrane, common on additions and porches in this housing stock, produces rapid intrusion because there is no slope to shed water.
Insurance and Emergency Work
Most policies require the owner to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage. Emergency tarping and stabilization fall squarely within that obligation, and reasonable emergency mitigation costs are commonly covered. Do not wait for adjuster approval to stop active water intrusion. Document, mitigate, and keep receipts. Report the claim as soon as practical. Note the date and nature of the storm event. Photograph before, during, and after mitigation. Include wide shots establishing context and close shots showing specific damage. Retain damaged materials where practical, particularly components that show the failure mode. Be careful about signing broad authorizations at the point of crisis. Emergency work authorization is normal; a document assigning your insurance claim rights or committing you to the full permanent repair is a different matter and deserves a careful reading when you are not standing in water.
Cost and Rate Expectations
Emergency roofing carries premium pricing for after-hours, weekend, holiday, and severe-weather response. That is standard across the industry and reflects crew availability and working conditions. Tarping cost is driven by area covered, roof pitch, height, and access difficulty. A steep three-story roof in a wind event is a genuinely hazardous job. During a regional storm event, demand across the metro spikes and response times lengthen. Calling early in the event matters. Emergency stabilization is separate from permanent repair and is billed separately. Expect the permanent scope to be assessed and quoted afterward under normal conditions. Interior damage remediation — drying, demolition of saturated materials, mold prevention — is typically a restoration contractor's scope rather than the roofer's, and it is often the larger expense.
Choosing an Emergency Contractor
Verify licensing even under time pressure. Michigan LARA verification is quick and storm events attract operators who are not licensed here. Confirm insurance. Emergency roof work in adverse conditions carries elevated injury risk and an uninsured worker injured on your property creates exposure for you. Establish what is being authorized. Emergency stabilization should be scoped and priced separately from permanent repair, and you should not be committing to the latter in order to receive the former. Prefer contractors with a local address and history. Warranty claims and follow-up on permanent work are difficult with an operation that leaves the market after the storm. Ask whether they document conditions photographically for your claim. Good emergency contractors do this routinely. Rebuild Detroit presents and verifies provider information. Rebuild Detroit does not perform emergency roofing — the licensed contractor you select is responsible for the work and its warranty.
After the Emergency
Schedule a full assessment once conditions allow. Emergency stabilization addresses the immediate opening; it does not establish the full extent of damage. Have the attic and interior assessed for moisture. Water that entered through the roof travels along framing and saturates insulation, and drying that properly is a restoration task requiring moisture meters rather than fans and time. Get the permanent repair scoped under normal conditions and with the ability to compare quotes. A storm is a bad environment for a large purchasing decision. Address the underlying vulnerability. If ice damming caused the event, the fix is attic insulation, air sealing, and ventilation. If wind lifted shingles that had lost their seal, the covering may be at end of life generally. Keep all documentation — photographs, emergency invoices, the assessment, and correspondence with your insurer — in one place until the claim closes. Rebuild Detroit presents and verifies provider information. Rebuild Detroit does not perform the service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I go on my roof to put a tarp up myself?
No. Wet, iced, or wind-exposed roofing is where serious injuries occur, and there is very little a homeowner can safely accomplish during an active event. Contain water inside, document, and call a contractor with the equipment and training for it.
My ceiling is bulging with water — what do I do?
Move people and belongings out from under it and, with a container beneath, puncture a small hole at the lowest point of the bulge to release the water in a controlled way. Counterintuitive, but it prevents the whole ceiling section from failing at once.
Is emergency roof repair covered by insurance?
Reasonable emergency mitigation is commonly covered because most policies require the owner to prevent further damage. Do not wait for adjuster approval to stop active intrusion — document thoroughly, mitigate, and keep receipts.
How long does a tarp last?
A properly installed tarp, anchored so wind cannot lift it and run over the ridge where possible, can hold for weeks. A poorly installed one fails in the next wind event and can worsen damage by tearing at fasteners.
Why is water coming in when it is not raining?
In winter this usually means an ice dam. Heat escaping into the attic melts snow that refreezes at the cold eave, and the trapped meltwater backs up under the shingles. It is a roofing symptom of an insulation and ventilation problem.
Should I sign the contract the emergency contractor hands me?
Authorize the emergency stabilization, but read carefully before signing anything that commits you to the permanent repair or assigns your insurance claim rights. Those decisions deserve consideration under normal conditions, not at the point of crisis.