Emergency Board Up Service in Miami, FL

Broken windows and glass doors are covered with fitted panels, other doors are closed and fastened, and roof holes get a tarp that sheds water. The crew photographs the openings and keeps the receipts as part of the record. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue tells owners to make reasonable and necessary repairs to protect the property and to save every receipt, because both matter for the insurance claim.

Hurricane season in Miami runs June 1 to November 30, with the most likely landfall from mid-August to the end of September, per the Miami reference page. Afternoon storms come all summer, and a roof open to rain turns a fire loss into a soaked house in a day. With humidity averaging 73.2 percent, wet drywall and insulation can start growing mold within a day or two, a figure ServiceMaster DSI Miami gives on its fire page. A secured building also lowers the chance of theft, and the county booklet says to notify the police if property is taken.

Roof tarping in Miami is a same-day job when the fire opened the roof, because afternoon rain arrives with little warning. The tarp is fastened to shed water off the opening, and the crew photographs it. Fire damage tarping is temporary: the roof itself goes to a roofer once the building is cleaned and the insurer has seen it.

Stay out until Miami-Dade Fire Rescue or the city fire department says it is safe, because floors and roofs can fail after a fire. Photograph the openings from outside. Call your insurer and ask what it requires for securing the property, and keep every receipt. If it is a rental, tell the landlord or property manager, who may already have a board-up contractor.

The estimate is free and written before work is agreed. It follows the number and size of openings, whether glass must be removed first, the roof area to tarp and the hour of the call. Glass or roof replacement is not part of this service and goes to the right trade afterward.

1. The caller says where the fire was and what is open. 2. A crew arrives with panels and tarps. 3. Openings are measured and covered, then fastened. 4. The crew photographs the work and leaves the paperwork. 5. The cleanup assessment follows once the building is safe.

"One of our windows was damaged, and I wanted the place secured before we dealt with anything else. Miami Fire Damage handled the board-up and explained the next steps. That took one worry off my plate." Samuel Ortiz, 2018.

The crew works this service in Hialeah, Hollywood, Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Opa-locka, plus Miami itself and the other places on the service areas page.

After the building is closed, burned material comes out on the fire damage cleanup page and wet materials dry on the fire and water damage page. The house fire cleanup guide lists the first-day steps in the order the county recommends.

Water damage after fire