Board-Up & Tarping
When the walls or roof are open, every hour is more interior damage. We secure the structure first, fast.
How Our Board-Up & Tarping Service Works
After a fire, storm, or accident, an open structure invites water, weather, wildlife, and theft. Our crews arrive with plywood, tarping materials, and the skills to make the structure weather-tight within hours of arrival.
- On-site within 2 to 4 hours, 24/7
- Plywood board-up of doors, windows, and openings
- Heavy-duty roof tarping for storm damage
- Temporary fencing and site security where required
- Documentation and photos for your insurance claim
An Open Structure Is a Loss That Keeps Growing
The moment a fire, storm, or vehicle impact opens the building envelope, three separate clocks start running. Temporary protection stops all of them.
Weather Intrusion
Every hour a roof or window stays open, rain, wind-driven dust, and sunlight reach interior finishes that were never built for exposure. Wet drywall, swollen framing, and saturated insulation turn a contained loss into a whole-room — or whole-floor — loss.
Liability & Vandalism
An unsecured, visibly damaged property invites trespass, theft, and vandalism — and an injury to a trespasser on a damaged site can still become the owner's legal problem. Boarded openings, locked access, and temporary fencing close that exposure.
Your Duty to Mitigate
Nearly every property policy requires reasonable steps to prevent further damage after a loss. Insurers treat prompt board-up and tarping as exactly that — and may reduce payment for secondary damage a tarp would have prevented.
Not every opening gets the same fix. Plywood board-up suits doors, windows, and wall breaches. Heavy-duty reinforced poly tarps, mechanically fastened over battens, protect roof damage through most weather. For long exposures, complex roof geometry, or high-wind sites, heat-applied shrink-wrap forms a sealed, drum-tight membrane that outlasts conventional tarps and sheds Santa Ana winds far better. We select the method by exposure time, weather forecast, and the condition of the structure beneath.
How Emergency Board-Up & Tarping Works
Fast, safe, and documented — typically completed within hours of arrival.
Emergency Dispatch
Crews roll from the nearest branch with plywood, tarps, fasteners, and fencing stock — typically on-site in 2 to 4 hours, any hour of the day.
Hazard Assessment
We check structural stability, overhead hazards, and electrical risks before anyone climbs a damaged roof or enters a compromised wall line.
Document As Found
Time-stamped photos of every opening and the damage behind it preserve the pre-mitigation record your adjuster needs.
Board-Up Openings
Doors, windows, and wall breaches are measured, cut, and secured with plywood anchored to sound framing — not just nailed to trim.
Tarp or Shrink-Wrap the Roof
Reinforced tarps are battened and fastened past the damage line; long-exposure or high-wind roofs get heat-sealed shrink-wrap membranes.
Secure & Hand Off
Temporary fencing and locked access where needed, then a photo-documented report for your insurer — and a plan for the permanent repair.
Temporary Protection Done to a Permanent Standard
A board-up only works if it holds. Our OSHA-trained crews anchor to sound structure, overlap tarps past the damage line, and re-inspect after major wind events — because a failed tarp is a second loss.
- 24/7/365 dispatch across seven counties in two states
- IICRC Certified crews; licensed & insured
- Board-up, roof tarping, shrink-wrap, and temporary fencing
- Photo documentation of every measure for your claim
- Seamless transition into mitigation and Managed Repair
Temporary Protection Is Part of Your Claim
Insurers expect temporary protection — and they pay for it. Emergency board-up and tarping are standard, itemized line items in an Xactimate estimate, and adjusters look for proof that the work was done promptly and competently. We photograph before and after, itemize materials and labor, and bill your insurer directly where available.
- Board-up and tarping itemized in Xactimate format
- Before-and-after photo documentation
- Direct insurance billing where available
- Claim assistance and adjuster coordination
Free Damage Inspection
Once the structure is secure, the next question is what it will take to restore it. Our certified team will inspect, document, and walk you through the answer — free, with no obligation.
Board-Up & Tarping Questions
Good to KnowIn most cases, yes. Temporary protection after a covered loss is a standard claim expense because it fulfills your policy's duty to mitigate. We itemize the work in Xactimate format and bill your insurer directly where available. Specifics are policy-dependent.
Two risks compound: the physical loss grows as weather and intruders reach the interior, and the insurer may decline to pay for that secondary damage on the grounds that reasonable mitigation would have prevented it. Prompt board-up protects both the building and the claim.
A reinforced, properly battened tarp handles most short-term exposures. Shrink-wrap — a heat-sealed membrane shrunk drum-tight over the roof — costs more time to install but seals better, resists high winds, and lasts months, making it the better choice when reconstruction will take a while or the site sees Santa Ana wind events.
Quality tarps are temporary by design — UV exposure and wind degrade them over weeks to a few months. If permanent repairs will take longer, we either re-tarp on inspection or upgrade to shrink-wrap. A tarp that has quietly failed is one of the most common causes of second water losses.
Ground-level openings, possibly — if the structure is safe to approach. Roof work after a loss is genuinely dangerous: fire-weakened decking, hidden breaks, and unstable framing injure untrained people every year. Our crews are OSHA-trained, equipped for the work, and their labor is typically a covered claim expense anyway.
Securing openings, posting the site, and fencing where appropriate demonstrates that the owner took reasonable steps to keep people out of a dangerous structure — which matters both for safety and for any later legal or insurance question. We document the security measures along with the damage.
Yes. When restoration proceeds through our Managed Repair program, temporary protection comes down in sequence with the rebuild — no opening is exposed before its repair is ready to start, and nothing is left for you to dispose of.
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