When the fire trucks pull away, the house is usually open in ways it has never been: windows broken by heat or vented by the crew, doors forced, sections of roof cut or burned through. An open structure keeps taking damage after the fire is out — rain and snow on exposed interiors, animals moving in, and unauthorized entry into a building full of your belongings. On the Wasatch Front, a house left open through one winter storm can add a second loss on top of the first.
Board-up and tarping is the fastest, least glamorous, most consequential work in fire restoration. It is also an insurance matter: homeowners policies require you to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage after a loss, and securing the structure is the textbook example of that duty.
An emergency securing visit typically involves:
Securing is usually the first billable event of the claim, and its documentation sets the tone for the rest of it.
Securing starts with a walk-around: every opening cataloged, every hazard noted, everything photographed as-found, because the pre-board-up photos are evidence your claim will rely on. Openings are then measured and closed with fitted plywood, fastened to hold against weather and casual entry without destroying intact framing — the goal is protection that removes cleanly later. Roof damage gets heavy tarps lapped and anchored to shed water and stay put in canyon winds, with attention to where melting snow will actually travel. Access is preserved through one controlled entry point. Before leaving, we photograph the completed work and log what was closed and how, so the mitigation effort is documented from both ends.
Board-up is temporary protection, not repair, and it has limits worth stating. A tarp sheds weather; it is not a roof, and it should be inspected after storms and replaced by permanent roofing as soon as the claim allows. Plywood secures an opening; it does not restore a wall. Structural problems — burned bearing walls, compromised trusses, leaning chimneys — need a structural engineer or licensed contractor for shoring and stabilization, and we flag those conditions rather than improvise around them. If a structure is unsafe to work on at all, we say so and help you get the right professional there instead of putting a crew on a bad roof.
Securing cost tracks the openings and the roof. The number and size of windows and doors to board sets the material and labor base. Roof work varies with pitch, height, access, and the size of the damaged section — a steep, two-story roof in snow season is a different job than a walkable garage roof in July. Season matters generally: winter securing must hold snow load and freeze-thaw cycling, and how long the temporary protection must last affects how it is built. Because securing is mitigation, it is normally a covered, expected expense on a fire claim — insurers would rather pay for plywood now than water damage later, and our documentation makes that case for you.
Standard homeowners policies include a duty to protect the property from further damage after a loss, and insurers can contest paying for damage that occurred because a house sat open. Read your own policy for the exact language. In practice, prompt board-up protects you twice: it stops new damage, and it demonstrates you met that obligation.
Tarps are measured in weeks, not seasons. Utah sun degrades the material, wind works at the anchoring, and snow load stresses everything. A tarp should be checked after major storms and treated as a countdown to permanent roof repair, not a substitute for it. If the claim timeline stretches, re-tarping is cheaper than the interior damage a failed tarp allows.
You can, and the policy duty is yours to meet either way — but weigh the conditions honestly. Fire-damaged window frames hold glass unpredictably, footing near a burn is unreliable, and roof tarping puts you on a damaged structure at height. If you do it yourself, photograph everything before and after and keep receipts. If any of it involves the roof, we would rather you call.
The complete restoration sequence for Wasatch Front homes after a fire — from the first assessment through the handoff for rebuilding.
Learn more →Identifying dry, wet, and protein soot correctly — then cleaning each with the method that removes it instead of setting it.
Learn more →Why smoke odor outlasts the visible damage, and what actually eliminates it — source removal first, treatment equipment second.
Learn more →A documented inventory of everything you own — what can be saved, what cannot, and where it all goes in between.
Learn more →Ogden to Provo, Salt Lake and Davis counties in between. One specialist trade, one phone number.
Tell us what happened and where the damage is.
