Does house insurance cover a tree falling on your roof?
Short answer. Yes. A tree or large limb that falls on your roof because of wind, ice or lightning is a covered loss on standard homeowners policies, and the insurer pays to remove it from the roof, tarp the opening and repair the roof, minus your deductible. The real work is making sure the estimate captures the structural repair, not just new shingles over the hole.
The order of work
- Removal: a tree crew, often with a crane, lifts the tree off without dropping more weight on the roof.
- Dry in: the opening gets tarped or temporarily sheathed the same day.
- Inspection: the adjuster and your roofer look at the framing, decking and shingles once the tree is gone.
- Framing: broken rafters or trusses are repaired or sistered first, sometimes with a permit and an engineer's letter.
- Roofing: new decking, underlayment and shingles, tied into the existing roof or as part of a larger replacement.
What estimates commonly miss
- Decking replaced beyond the visible hole, where it cracked or pulled off the rafters.
- Shingles cracked by branches across the rest of the slope.
- Ridge cap, vents, pipe boots and flashing hit on the way down.
- Gutters, fascia and drip edge at the eave.
- Interior ceiling, insulation and paint.
If the first estimate is only a patch, a documented supplement is how the rest gets added.
Repair or replace
A tree hit on a newer roof is usually a repair. On an older roof, brittle shingles may not survive being worked around, and a patch may not match. The adjuster decides that on evidence, so ask your roofer to photograph how the surrounding shingles respond and to note the product line. See when insurance replaces a roof.
Deductible
A tree knocked down by wind may fall under a wind and hail deductible if your policy has one, which can be a percentage of your dwelling limit. Check the declarations page.