Tips for Hurricanes

1. It is very important for you to DOCUMENT any damage you have at the time of the storm. Use date stamped digital photos and take a picture of the daily newspaper to document the date. Many insurance companies reject damage claims saying the photos cannot be tied to the storm. If you can't get to roof areas or are unsure of the extent of your damage, give us a call. We can help you with this.

2. If you must make repairs, try to take only temporary measures until adjusters have had an opportunity to assess the damage. Remember, in many cases with extensive storm damage, adjusters for insurance companies are brought in from out of state and may not be familiar with hurricane damage. You should consider hiring an experienced public insurance adjuster to represent your interests and see you get what you deserve for damages.

3. KEEP receipts for all repair related purchases.

4. Avoid using unlicensed "handymen" to make repairs, especially for roof damage. They generally don't know what they are doing and can result in doing more damage than good. We have seen many cases where clients were "repaired" out of a legitimate claim, especially for roof damage or roof replacement.

5. If you have a NAILED TILE ROOF, replacing only broken tiles will not FIX your roof problems. The failure of the roof is the movement of the nails penetrating the underlayment, resulting in leaks into the roof. Do not let an insurance adjuster talk you into this or gluing tiles back down. This repair will NOT WORK and unseen damage is more extensive than the broken tiles. If you have this situation, give us a call to explain your options.

6. If your insurance adjuster or their consultants tries to convince you that any roof damage you have is the result of "foot traffic", "wear & tear", "thermal expansion", "old age", and "improper installation", BEWARE. These are generally bogus reasons given to deny your legitimate claim.

Best regards,

Bruce E. Holmes, PE

Holmes Enterprises

561 215 8435 cell

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