Tree Fell on Your Roof: What to Do Right Now

Call 911 if anyone is injured, if a power line is touching the tree or the roof, or if the tree is still moving, then get every person and pet out from under the roof and out of the fall zone. A single cubic foot of green hardwood can weigh around 60 pounds, and a 30 foot section of a 12 inch trunk holds roughly 30 cubic feet, so several thousand pounds may now be resting on rafters that were sized for shingles, sheathing, and a snow load, not for a tree.

That weight is why the order of operations matters. Do not go up on the roof. Do not stand under the overhang. Do not try to drag a limb off by hand. Call 911 first if there is any chance of injury or an energized line, then call your insurance company's claims line, then call a tree removal service in Augusta, GA to get the tree off the structure. You can reach us at the number on this page.

If the tree is on the roof but nothing is sparking, smoking, or shifting, you still have a load problem, not a cleanup problem. The roof may be holding the trunk up right now and may fail later as rain soaks the sheathing or as the wood settles. Treat the area under and around the tree as off limits until someone who removes trees for a living has looked at it.

• Get people and pets out from under the roof and away from the trunk, limbs, and any downed wire.
• Call 911 for injuries, fire, gas smell, or a line on the tree or roof.
• Call your insurer, then call a tree service. Do not climb up to inspect or cut.
• Photograph from a safe distance for the claim, and keep everyone out of the fall zone until the tree is down.

A tree resting on a roof is a compression problem: the trunk and limbs are pressing down on the structure, and every cut changes how that load is distributed. A tree lying flat in a yard can be sectioned from the ground. A tree on a roof usually cannot, because the roof is holding part of the weight and the root plate or the break point may be the only thing keeping the trunk from sliding.

That is the part a homeowner cannot see from the driveway. A limb that looks like it is only touching the shingles may be wedged against a rafter or a chimney, and cutting the wrong side of it can let the whole trunk rotate. A trunk that is leaning because the root plate lifted is under tension, and tension wood releases energy when it is cut. We look at the contact points first: where the tree touches the roof, where it touches the ground, and whether anything is pinched between the two.

Roof damage also changes the job. Shingles and sheathing may be cracked even where the tree is not touching, because the load travels through the framing. Water is the next problem after the tree, since a tarp or a temporary cover may be needed to keep rain out of a compromised deck. Tree removal and roof repair are two different trades, and the tree has to come off before a roofer can work safely.

Stand at the curb or at the far edge of the yard and look for these things, then write down what you see so you can repeat it on the phone:

• Any wire touching the tree, the roof, or the ground. If yes, stop and call 911 and the utility.
• Whether the trunk is still attached at the stump or has broken off and is resting on the roof.
• Whether the root plate has lifted, which shows as a raised mound of soil and roots on the opposite side of the trunk.
• Whether the tree is still moving in the wind, or whether limbs are visibly sagging under load.
• Where water is coming in, and whether the ceiling below is bulging, staining, or dripping.
• Any smell of gas, any smoke, or any sparking.

Do not go on the roof, into the attic directly under the tree, or under the overhang to get a better look. A phone photo from the yard is enough for the insurance claim and enough for us to understand what we are dealing with.

Wait. A tree on a roof is not a chainsaw job for a homeowner, because the roof is part of the load path and a wrong cut can drop the trunk through the ceiling or pull a live wire down. The only thing to cut before a crew arrives is nothing at all unless a firefighter or utility worker tells you to.

What you can do is protect the inside of the house. Move furniture and electronics away from the ceiling under the tree, put buckets under drips, and if water is pooling in a sagging ceiling, stay out from under it and call your insurer about temporary measures. Do not poke holes in a bulging ceiling yourself unless a professional tells you to, because a ceiling holding water can come down all at once.

When you call, have four things ready: your address, whether any wire is involved, whether the trunk is still attached at the stump, and whether water is entering the house. Those four answers decide what equipment and how many people the job needs. A tree leaning on a roof with a live line in it is a utility call first and a tree call second.

Removing a tree from a roof usually means working from the roof, from a lift, or from the ground with rigging, and lowering the wood in controlled pieces rather than letting it fall. The sequence is to stabilize first, then remove the load, then clear the roof so a roofer can get to the damage.

How long it takes depends on things nobody can see from the street: how big the tree is, how it is resting, whether it is still rooted, whether a wire is in the work zone, and how much of the roof is under it. A small limb on a corner of a roof is a different job from a mature oak lying across the ridge. We cannot give a real number over the phone, because the number depends on the tree, the access, and the roof, and it needs an on-site look. What we can tell you on the phone is what the job will involve and what to have ready.

Ask any tree service these questions before work starts: How will the tree be stabilized before it is cut? Will the wood be lowered or dropped? Who handles the wire if a utility needs to disconnect? What is the plan if the roof shifts while the tree is being removed? And what does the quote include, including cleanup and disposal? Get the quote in writing, and ask what is excluded.

Once the tree is off the roof, get the roof covered before the next rain and get a roofer to assess the framing, not just the shingles. A tarp over a damaged deck buys time, but it is not a repair, and water that gets into the attic can lead to mold and ceiling damage that shows up weeks later.

For the insurance claim, keep a folder with the date and time of the fall, photos from the ground before and after removal, the tree service invoice, and any roofer or contractor estimates. Most policies treat tree removal differently depending on whether the tree hit a structure, so ask your adjuster which part of the removal is covered before you assume. Do not haul the wood away until you know whether the adjuster wants to see it.

The stump and the root plate are a separate job from the roof work. A lifted root plate leaves a hole and disturbed soil, and a stump near a foundation or a driveway may need grinding. Ask about that as its own line item so you can compare it to the roof repair, which is a different trade.