High winds can strip tiles, tear flashing and dislodge chimney stacks in minutes. What you do in the following few hours matters. It affects how well you keep water out of your home. It also affects how smoothly any insurance claim goes afterwards.
Immediate steps
- Make the property safe first. Don’t go up a damaged roof yourself. If tiles or debris have come down, keep people and cars away from the area until it’s checked.
- Contain the damage inside. If water is coming in, move anything valuable out of the way and catch what you can — buckets, tarpaulin over furniture — without putting yourself at risk.
- Photograph everything — the damage itself, and anything affected inside the house. This matters for the claim.
- Contact your insurer promptly. The Association of British Insurers notes that most insurers run 24-hour emergency helplines specifically for storm damage, and you can often start a claim online.
- Arrange emergency make-safe repairs if needed, but tell your insurer first where possible. If you do have to act immediately to stop further damage, the ABI advises keeping receipts — reasonable emergency costs to prevent the damage getting worse usually form part of the claim.
What insurers expect to see
Home insurance covers storm damage, but it isn’t a maintenance contract. The ABI is clear that a policy will usually require the property to have been kept in reasonable repair. Since ongoing wear and tear isn’t what the cover is for, insurers look closely at what caused the damage. Practically, that means:
- Regular gutter clearing and roof upkeep genuinely help a claim, because they demonstrate the property was reasonably maintained before the storm.
- A claim is more likely to be questioned if the damage looks like it was already developing (e.g. tiles that were already loose) rather than caused suddenly by the storm.
- Where wind speed data for your exact location is inconclusive, insurers are expected to take a flexible, pragmatic approach rather than refuse a claim outright.
Getting the roof assessed
Once the property is safe, get a roofer out to assess the full extent of the damage. Storms often reveal more than the obvious missing tiles, including damaged flashing, dislodged ridge tiles, or a knocked chimney stack. See our guide on common causes of roof leaks for the faults a storm commonly causes, and our chimney repairs service or chimney repointing guide if the stack itself was affected.
A written, itemised report and quote, with photos, is exactly what most insurers ask for. Since it also shows clearly whether the damage needs a repair or points towards full replacement, it’s worth getting one either way.
Choosing who does the work
After a storm, you may get cold callers offering to fix your roof “today.” Take the time to check credentials properly instead — see our guide on choosing a roofer for the questions worth asking, insurance work included. Since insurers generally expect quotes and invoices from a properly insured tradesperson, a cash-in-hand fix can cost you the claim.
If your roof has been damaged in a storm anywhere around Rushden or Northampton, get in touch. We’ll assess the damage, make it safe if needed, and give you a clear written report you can hand straight to your insurer.