Tree Fell on Your Des Moines House: First Steps

What should I do if a tree falls on my house right now?

Get everyone out of the house and away from the tree, call 911 if anyone is hurt or a power line is down, and do not go back inside or touch the tree until the utility and the fire department say it is safe. Once people are clear, call your insurance company and then arrange for a tree service to remove the tree from the structure.

The bill for getting that tree off your house is driven by four things: the size of the tree, how easy it is to reach, the condition it is in, and what has to happen to the wood and debris. Size sets how much weight is resting on the roof and how much cutting and rigging the job needs. Access decides whether equipment can get to the tree or whether every piece has to be carried or lowered by hand. Condition covers whether the trunk is split, whether it is still under tension, and whether it is resting on a service line. Disposal covers what happens to the trunk, limbs and brush after they come down. None of those four can be judged from a phone photo with any accuracy, which is why the number itself needs an on-site look.

• Get people and pets out, and stay out.
• Call 911 for injuries or downed lines.
• Do not touch the tree or go under it.
• Call your insurer, then arrange removal.

The first ten minutes decide how the rest of the day goes

Move everyone to a neighbor's yard or the street, well beyond the reach of the tree and any leaning trunk, and keep them there until the fire department or utility clears the scene. A tree resting on a house is under load, and the trunk or a limb can shift without warning. Stay out from under the canopy and away from anything the tree is touching.

If you smell gas, see sparks, or hear arcing, call 911 from outside and do not re-enter for any reason. If a line is down in the yard, treat every wire as live and keep everyone at least a full span of a downed line away, which in practice means the far side of the yard. Utilities handle lines; nobody else should be near them.

Once people are safe, call your insurance company. Most policies cover the cost of removing a tree that has landed on a covered structure, and the adjuster will want to know what happened. Take photos from a safe distance if you can do it without getting close, but do not climb on the roof or move debris to get a better angle.

What makes a tree-on-house removal harder than a tree in the open

A tree on a structure is harder than the same tree in an open yard because the wood is supported by the building, the trunk is often under compression or tension, and every piece has to be controlled as it comes down. The weight is no longer resting on the ground where it can be cut and let fall. It is resting on the roof, the wall, or a service drop, and moving it can shift the load onto a different part of the house.

That is why the work usually starts with an assessment of how the tree is sitting: which limbs are carrying weight, which are broken but still attached, and what is holding the trunk up. A crew often sets rigging lines to lower limbs rather than let them drop, and may cut the trunk in small sections so the house never takes a sudden release of weight. Roof access matters too, because someone has to get above the tree to work it safely.

The condition of the tree changes the plan. A split trunk, a cracked crotch, or a root plate that has lifted out of the ground all mean the tree can move in ways a healthy standing tree will not. A tree that is still green and full of leaves weighs far more than a bare one, and wet wood is heavier than dry. None of that changes what you should do, but all of it changes how the removal is run.

What drives the bill, and what to ask before anyone starts

Ask for the price in writing and ask what it covers: the removal itself, the disposal of the wood and brush, any rigging or crane work, and whether the roof or the tree will be protected before cutting starts. The figure depends on the four drivers above, and a written scope is the only way to compare one quote to another fairly. A quote that does not say what happens to the debris is not a quote for the same job as one that does.

Ask whether the utility needs to be involved before anyone touches a tree that is in contact with a line. Ask how the roof will be protected while the tree is cut. Ask what the plan is if the tree shifts during the work. Those three questions tell you more about how the job will go than any single number.

Should I move the tree myself or wait for a crew?

Wait. Do not cut, pull, or chain a tree off a house yourself, and do not run a chainsaw on a trunk that is under load or touching a wire. A tree resting on a structure stores energy in bent limbs and compressed wood, and a cut in the wrong place can release it toward you or drop the rest of the tree onto the house. The same goes for pulling with a truck or a winch: the tree can roll or slide in a direction nobody expects.

What you can do safely is keep people back, keep the area clear for the crew, and document what you can see from the ground for the insurance claim. If the tree is blocking a driveway or a doorway but is not touching the house or a line, it still should not be cut by hand while it is under any tension. The removal is the work, and it is work that goes faster when the site is clear and the access is open.

After the tree is off the house

Once the tree is down and the wood is cleared, get the roof and the structure looked at before the next rain, because damage that is not visible from the ground can let water in. Keep the paperwork from the removal and the photos you took, and give them to your adjuster. If a tarp is needed over a damaged section, that is a separate job from the removal, and it is worth asking about it while the crew is still on site.

If the stump is still standing or the root plate is still in the ground, ask what happens to it. A stump left in place can be ground out later, and a lifted root plate can leave a hole in the yard that needs filling. Neither is part of getting the tree off the house, so it helps to know which parts of the job are included and which are not before the work starts.