Why this cannot wait until morning
Three things happen to an open structure. Weather gets in — and in North Texas the next storm cell is rarely far away, turning a roof repair into a ceiling, insulation, drywall and flooring job. Animals get in, from raccoons and possums to birds and insects, and they do a surprising amount of damage quickly. And people get in, which is both a theft and a liability problem.
There is a fourth reason, and it is the one people find out about late. Nearly every property policy contains a duty to protect the property from further loss after a covered event. Additional damage that occurred because an opening was left unsecured can be excluded from the claim.
What we do
Window and door board-up
Openings covered with plywood cut to fit and secured to the structure, sized and fastened to hold against wind rather than tacked on.
Roof tarping
Heavy-duty reinforced tarp installed over compromised roofing, secured to the deck and lapped to shed water rather than pond it. A tarp that ponds is worse than no tarp.
Structural openings
Larger openings from fire, impact or collapse framed and closed to restore the building envelope.
Temporary fencing and access control
For significant losses and unoccupied properties where the structure itself cannot be fully secured.
Documentation
Photographs of the damage before board-up and of the completed work afterward, so the emergency mitigation is properly recorded on your claim — these costs are typically reimbursable.
What comes next
Board-up buys time; it is not a repair. It holds while the claim is opened, the scope is assessed and permanent work is scheduled. Because we handle mitigation and reconstruction, the same company that secured the property carries it through to the finished repair.
Your policy requires this
Nearly every property policy contains a duty to protect the property from further damage after a loss. It is not a suggestion. If a roof is left open through a second rain event, or a broken door lets someone walk in, a carrier can reasonably decline the portion of the damage that occurred after you had the opportunity to prevent it.
The corollary is the useful part: reasonable emergency protection costs are generally reimbursable under the same claim. Boarding and tarping is one of the few restoration expenses that reliably pays for itself.
Openings
Doors and windows are secured with plywood cut to the opening and fastened to structure rather than to trim, because trim tears out under leverage and a panel screwed to a casing is a closed door rather than a secure one. Where an opening is large — a storefront, a garage, a blown-out slider — we frame a backing structure first. Ground-floor and rear openings are treated as the priority, since that is where entry actually happens.
For commercial frontage where appearance matters and the property is still trading, we can board the interior line or use clear polycarbonate so the space still reads as open rather than abandoned.
Roof tarping
A tarp thrown over a hole and weighted with whatever is on the roof lasts until the next gust. A tarp installed properly is battened — the leading edge wrapped around a furring strip and fastened above the damage line so water cannot track under the fastener row, with the covering extending well past the damage on all sides and laid to shed with the slope rather than across it. Seams are lapped in the direction of flow.
Done correctly, a battened tarp holds for weeks in North Texas weather and survives the storm that follows the storm — which, in spring, is usually four days later.
Structural shoring
Where fire, impact or water load has compromised framing, temporary shoring goes in before anyone works underneath. This is judgment work and it is the part of an emergency response that is worth having a professional do, because a fire-weakened member can look sound and carry nothing.
Fencing, access control and weather sealing
After a significant fire or a partial collapse, temporary fencing keeps the site out of reach of the curious and reduces your liability exposure. Where a property is uninhabitable and will sit for weeks, we can also weather-seal the envelope properly — sealing openings against wind-driven rain, and where power is out, addressing the freeze risk to plumbing that turns one loss into two.
Temporary means temporary
Board-up and tarping buy time; they do not fix anything. A tarp is a covering, not a roof, and plywood is not a door. The clock on temporary protection runs in weeks, and the goal from day one is to get the permanent repair scoped, approved and started before the temporary measures are being asked to do more than they were built for. Because we carry the reconstruction as well, the board-up crew and the rebuild crew are the same company — there is no gap where the property sits secured and forgotten.
Documenting the property while it is open
The window between a loss and the board-up going on is the last chance to record what the property looked like. Once plywood is over the openings, nobody can see in, and the adjuster who arrives eleven days later is assessing a sealed building.
We photograph before, during and after the securing work — the damage itself, the interior condition, the point of entry or failure, and the completed protection. That set does two jobs: it evidences the extent of the original loss, and it evidences that you met your policy's duty to protect the property, which is what makes the emergency work reimbursable.
After a fire specifically
A fire-damaged property is secured differently. The fire service will have cut ventilation openings in the roof and forced entry doors, and those are usually the largest openings in the building. Utilities need to be confirmed off at the meter rather than at the panel. The structure needs assessing before anyone works on it, because fire-weakened framing does not announce itself.
There is also a security consideration people find unpleasant but should know: fire-damaged properties standing open are targeted, and the loss of undamaged belongings from a house that already burned is common enough to plan around. Securing the building the same day is the point at which the situation stops getting worse.
How quickly we can be there
Board-up and tarping are among the fastest things we do, because the work does not need equipment staged or a scope agreed — it needs materials and a crew. We carry both. If you call with an open building, that call gets treated as an active emergency regardless of the hour, and securing the property happens before anything else is discussed.
Call us when you see any of this
- Broken windows or a damaged exterior door
- A hole in the roof or missing sections of decking
- Fire damage that opened an exterior wall
- Vehicle impact to a structure
- A break-in that left an opening
- A vacant property that needs securing
If you are looking at one of these right now, the useful next step is a phone call rather than more reading. Our line is answered 24 hours a day and the assessment is free.
Emergency Board-Up across Dallas–Fort Worth
We dispatch from 4828 Topline Drive in Dallas and cover 29 cities across the Metroplex, including Dallas · Fort Worth · Irving · Plano · Frisco · McKinney · Richardson · Garland · Mesquite · Arlington · Grand Prairie · Carrollton · Addison · Farmers Branch and the surrounding communities. See all service areas.