Emergency Board Up/Window Board Up/Storm Damage Board Up Services

If an opening can't be locked, can't keep water out, or can't safely be left overnight, board it the same day. The damage doesn't have to look dramatic, and the same few patterns turn up again and again after break-ins, storms, and fires. Plywood over an opening is a holding measure, not a repair. Its job is to make the structure lockable and weather-tight until the permanent fix is scheduled.

• Cracked or shattered window glass still hanging in the frame
• Exterior door that won't latch after a forced entry
• Roof or siding punctured by a fallen limb
• Windows and roof holes vented by firefighters
• Sliding glass door knocked off its bottom track

Usually not, and tape won't buy you much time. Cracked glass can't flex with wind load or temperature swings, so a pane that held overnight can come down in pieces the moment someone opens the sash or a gust hits it. The crew pulls the loose shards first, then fastens plywood at least half an inch thick over the outside of the opening, screwed into the framing rather than the window trim. A custom-sized replacement can take a glazier anywhere from several days to a couple of weeks. On ground-floor openings where the outside face won't take screws, such as some brick returns, we add plywood on the interior.

The standard approach leaves the damaged door in place and covers it with exterior plywood, backed by 2x4 strongbacks across the inside of the frame. Carriage bolts run through the plywood, the door, and the strongbacks, so the panel can't be pried off with a bar the way surface screws can. If the jamb split where the strike plate was kicked out, the crew usually sisters a board along it first so the bolts have solid wood to bite into. One door typically stays operable from inside with a hasp and padlock, since you still need a way in and out until the frame is rebuilt.

The limb comes off first, cut down in sections so its weight doesn't tear the hole wider on the way out. Next, broken decking around the puncture is covered with plywood screwed into the rafters. A heavy reinforced tarp goes over the whole area, run over the ridge where possible and battened down with furring strips so wind can't get under it. Holes in siding get the same plywood patch, with the top edge flashed or caulked so water sheds over it instead of running behind. An unbattened tarp tends to shred or blow loose within a few weeks of sun and wind, leaving your attic insulation soaking up rain while you wait on the roofer.

Yes. Once the engines leave, those vented windows and cut roof holes are the most exposed part of the property. Firefighters break glass and cut through roof decking deliberately to release heat and smoke, which leaves uncovered openings ringed by charred framing. Rain through a vent hole adds water damage to everything that survived the fire, and an open, burned house draws scrappers and trespassers, sometimes the very first night. Boards on fire-damaged openings have to be fastened past the charred wood into sound framing, and most insurance policies expect owners to protect the property from further loss right away.

Rarely. A slider knocked off its track usually has bent rollers or a bent track lip from being forced, so it may glide back into place but won't lock reliably, and the latch often misses the keeper entirely. Those large patio panels are heavy tempered glass that can burst all at once if the frame is twisted. The safer move is to board the full opening with exterior plywood anchored into the framing on both sides, with the panel lifted out or braced inside. Check the header above the slider too. A forced panel sometimes loosens the head track, and the replacement door won't fit until that sag is corrected.