A tree is on your house. Here is the next 24 hours.
Tarp fast. Extract safely. Rebuild the structure — not just the hole.
A tree strike is the one storm loss with a live load still sitting on the house. The order of operations matters: protect the roof, get the tree off without doing more damage, then open the deck and read the framing before anyone calls it a patch. We coordinate the sequence, document every step for your claim, and rebuild it right. Two Michigan offices, family-owned since 1984.
Get your free estimate
Tell us what came down and whether it's through the roof. A local expert calls you back.
The 60-second safety check.
Before anything else. Structure that moved can keep moving for hours after the impact.
Any of these are true.
- The trunk or a major limb entered a room
- You smell gas, or anything sparked
- Outlets are dead or breakers keep tripping
- New cracks in walls or ceilings, doors that suddenly jam
- A ceiling or roofline is visibly sagging
- Wires are down anywhere near the house
The strike stayed outside.
- A limb is resting on the roof or a detached garage
- No water, no cracks, no smell, nothing electrical
- Doors and windows work the way they did yesterday
- The tree is stable and not moving in the wind
Stabilize. Extract. Rebuild. Hour by hour.
Who does what, in the order that keeps a bad day from becoming a worse one.
People and pets out. Utilities off if anything sparked.
Get everyone clear of the impact side of the house. If you smell gas or see wires, leave and call 911. Kill the main breaker if water is near electrical.
Photograph everything from the ground.
Wide shots of the tree on the house, close-ups of the entry point, the yard, the neighbor's side. Note the time and the weather. Do not climb anything.
Open the claim. Then call us.
Get a claim number; the adjuster's schedule starts now. Tell us what happened and we'll tell you when we can be there and what to do in the meantime.
Tarp and board what can be reached safely.
We protect the openings the tree isn't sitting on and document the damage before the extraction disturbs it. Nothing gets cut yet.
The crane lift.
A tree service we trust rigs and lifts the trunk off the roof in sections so it doesn't do more damage on the way out. We tarp the exposed area the same visit.
Open the deck. Read the framing.
We strip to the last damaged board, check rafters, trusses, and the ridge from the attic side, and assign a triage level. The adjuster meets us on the roof.
Engineer's letter and permit, only when the structure calls for it.
Level 3 damage gets an engineer's repair letter and a permit. Levels 1 and 2 usually don't.
Structure, deck, roof, and the rest of the exterior.
Sistered or replaced framing, new decking, ice-and-water shield, shingles matched as closely as the market allows, plus the siding, gutters, and windows the tree took with it.
The roofer tarps. The arborist cuts.
A tree strike needs two crews that don't get in each other's way. Here is the division of labor we run.
What we don't do: cut or haul the tree. We protect the roof while a tree service we trust does that — and we tarp, not them.
The hole is the smallest part of the damage.
The puncture
Shingles and underlayment crushed where the limb came down. The part everyone photographs. Usually the cheapest part to fix.
Fractured decking beyond the breach
Sheathing cracks along the impact shock, often two or three sheets past the visible hole. We strip until we find sound wood.
Split rafter or truss web
The member under the impact takes the load. A split rafter gets sistered or replaced; a broken truss web is an engineer's question.
Ridge and top chord
When a trunk lands on the peak, the ridge can displace and the top chords crack. This is load-path damage — Level 3.
Wall plate and framing below
Heavy strikes drive the load into the top of the wall. Crushed plates and racked studs show up as jammed doors and new cracks inside.
The attic-side check
Deflection, splits, pulled gusset plates, a ridge that isn't straight. Hidden damage surfaces months later if nobody looks now.
Three levels. Three very different repairs.
Every strike we open gets a level. It sets the scope, the paperwork, and the timeline.
Shingles, underlayment, a sheet or two of decking.
Limb strikes and glancing blows. The framing is sound.
- Replace damaged decking and shingles
- Ice-and-water shield at the repair
- No permit, no engineer
Fractured sheathing past the breach, a cracked rafter or truss web.
The most common outcome of a trunk on the roof.
- Sister or replace the damaged member
- Re-deck to sound wood
- Permit; engineer only if a truss is involved
Broken chords, displaced ridge or hip, crushed wall plate.
The house moved. Shoring first, then a designed repair.
- Temporary shoring and full tarp
- Engineer's repair letter and permit
- Replacement trusses or rebuilt framing, then the roof
Probably yours — and in Michigan, that's how it works.
Five situations, one rule: the tree's owner is only liable when they ignored a known hazard.
A healthy tree in a storm is nobody's fault. Michigan follows the general rule: the damaged property's own policy pays.
Negligence is the exceptionMost policies pay $500 per tree and $1,000 total to remove fallen trees that didn't hit a structure.
Check your policyIf the home is uninhabitable from a covered loss, temporary housing and meals are covered, typically 10 to 30 percent of dwelling coverage. Keep every receipt.
Additional living expenseIf a negligent neighbor won't make you whole, Michigan small claims court handles disputes up to $7,000 without a lawyer.
DIFS 877-999-6442 for carrier disputesDead ash, old maples, and a longer storm season.
Ash trees killed by emerald ash borer in Michigan
Dead ash fails without warning — in calm weather, not just storms. If there's a standing dead ash within reach of your roof, it is the most predictable tree strike in the state.
Species that fail first in wind
Silver maple, willow, cottonwood, and boxelder: fast-growing, weak-wooded, and everywhere in older Oakland and Macomb neighborhoods. The big silver maples of Royal Oak and Birmingham are past their strongest years.
The Thumb's second season
Lake Huron gales put sustained 40-plus-mph wind on Port Huron, Fort Gratiot, and Lexington long after thunderstorm season ends — on trees already carrying ice.
EF-0 tornado through Marysville, 60 mph in St. Clair Shores, trees down through Port Huron's South Park, about 300,000 without power.
Squall line with 62–63 mph gusts across Oakland and Chesterfield; the Weather Service logged numerous trees onto homes, with strikes in Berkley and Royal Oak and roughly 400,000 outages.
A tree crushes a St. Clair Shores home; a Roseville roof hit the same afternoon; tornado watches for Oakland, Macomb, and St. Clair.
Derecho: 75 mph in Roseville, trees down through Hadley in Lapeer County, about 380,000 outages.
Why homeowners call us first.
Documented before the lift.
Our photos and measurements happen before the tree service disturbs anything. The claim file starts with the damage as it was, not as it looked after a crane moved it.
On the roof with the adjuster.
We walk the opened deck with your adjuster and show the fractured sheathing, the split rafter, the displaced ridge — so the scope matches the damage, not the hole.
The whole exterior, one claim.
A tree that hits the roof usually takes siding, gutters, a window, and a fence with it. We restore all of it under one estimate and one warranty conversation.
If the storm did more than drop a tree.
What people ask us from the driveway.
Tree-strike response from Port Huron to Troy.
Port Huron covers St. Clair, Sanilac, and Lapeer counties and the Thumb. Troy covers Oakland and Macomb. Call the office nearest you and we'll tell you when we can be there. Storm and hail claims in Kalamazoo County and Southwest Michigan are handled by the same crews.
Get people clear. Then call.
Tarp, coordinated extraction, and a structural rebuild — documented for your claim from the first photo. Estimates are free.
Family-owned since 1984 · Michigan Builders License #262000657 · Licensed & insured · Office lines are voice only — please call.