Are You Prepared if a Tree Falls on Your House?

On the night hurricane Isabel arrived in the autumn of 2003, my daughters and our beagle Casey slept in my room. We had lost power at 10 p.m., so we went to sleep to the sound of crack, crack, crack. Each time, I thought, There goes another tree.

At around 1 a.m., I was awakened by a really loud crack and thought, That was a big one! Several seconds later our smoke alarm sounded, so I aroused the gang and headed downstairs, subliminally aware of the lack of smoke. 

I was still in too much of a slumber to worry. As always, I chased Casey around the dining room table to put on his leash. Then we braved the violent wind that was tossing twigs and debris about like confetti. As soon as we stepped outdoors, I instinctively looked to the right. Where our 200-year-old tulip poplar had stood I now saw only a vast open space; the tree was sprawled on top of our house, branches spread wide, like a sleeping giant.

As we hastened around the corner to a friend's home, I realized that the insulation dust from our crushed ceiling had set off the smoke detector. What I had not realized was that it would be 13 months before we would live in our home again. 

I wish I'd had an instruction manual for all that needed to be done.

Prevention and Protection: 

• Have your trees checked regularly (frequency may depend on their condition) by a certified arborist. Even regular checkups, however, are no guarantee, as I'd had my tree inspected only 6 months before the hurricane blew it onto my roof.
• Get the best homeowners insurance coverage you can afford. My policy provided for replacement value for everything in the house that was damaged. For example, even though my bed was several years old, I received reimbursement for a new bed of the same quality. 

First Things First

• Find someone to put a tarp over your roof right away to keep the interior as dry as possible.
• Be cautious about entering the house due to possible damage to the structure.
• Notify your insurance company

Hiring Specialists

• My insurance company paid the tree removal company directly. Make sure that the tree folks are licensed to work in your area and that they insured and bonded. 
• The insurance company also paid a restoration company directly. Begal Enterprises, arrived with hepa vacuums to clean up the insulation dust, bits of ceiling and the like. They also brought industrial-sized dehumidifiers. It was a source of comfort that I could phone Bill Begal directly. Late one night when I was worried about water damage and the threat of mold, he immediately sent a crew to the house. He also would have cleaned the entire contents of my home, which they typically do after a fire. In my case it was unnecessary, since there was no smoke damage. 
• Due to the complexity of the anticipated insurance settlement, a friend advised me to consult Goodman-Gable-Gould, a public adjuster, to help negotiate on my behalf with the insurance company. It took 6 months for the rebuilding to begin, because I held out until the insurance company agreed that I could use Bowa Builders, the same contractor I'd used in the past. The glitch was that Bowa's work was of a higher quality and thus cost more than the contractor my insurance company wanted me to use. I made the case that the quality of the reconstruction should equal that of previous work done on the house.
• As I already mentioned, I hired a contractor, whose proposal my architect helped me assess. It's important to review the proposal carefully, as it's filled with so many details you might overlook something. 
• I used the same architect and interior designer I had used for a smaller renovation when I first moved into my house. 
• Since, on two previous moves, I had enlisted a personal organizer to help unpack, the insurance company agreed to pay for her to help when I moved the entire contents of my home to my temporary quarters and again when I moved back home.

Temporary Housing

• A realtor helped me find a rental house that was equivalent in size and location to mine. Again, I held out—residing with my daughters for three weeks at the home of my ex-husband—until I found a suitable rental. 
• One mistake I made was to assume my house would be restored in less than a year. I didn't want the insurance company to pay for more time than I planned to live in the temporary residence. However, when the lease expired, the renovation was still going on. Since new tenants were moving into the rental home, I had to put everything in storage and rent a small furnished house for two more months. 

See my post about the renovation, "Renovation Basics, What You Should Know When You Remodel."

Read about the personal story of when the tree fell on our home on my blog Confessions of a Worrywart. 

Has your home or that of anyone you know been struck by a natural disaster? I'd love to hear your story and any questions in the comments box below.