Storm Damage Restoration
A storm does not finish with your house when the wind stops. An opened roof, a broken window or a punctured wall keeps letting weather in, and wet insulation and framing start growing mold within a couple of days. Doan Restoration stabilizes the building first, then dries it, then rebuilds it, and we bill your insurance directly. Call (616) 644-9136 — a person answers, day or night.
Why West Michigan Trusts Doan Restoration
Ready to Roll 24/7
Our West Michigan crews are on standby 24/7/365 with fully loaded trucks — day, night, weekends, and holidays.
IICRC Certified
Our technicians hold IICRC Water & Mold Remediation certification — the gold standard in the industry.
Direct Insurance Billing
We handle the paperwork, communicate with adjusters, and bill your insurance directly. Most homeowners pay nothing out of pocket.
Locally Owned
We're your West Michigan neighbors — not a franchise or national call center. We treat every property like our own.
Full-Service Restoration
From emergency response to final reconstruction, we handle every phase. No coordinating multiple contractors.
100% Satisfaction Guarantee
We stand behind our work completely. If you're not satisfied, we'll make it right — period.
What storm damage does to a West Michigan house
Most storm losses here are not the ones people picture. They come from wind lifting or cracking shingles, from a limb opening a hole in a roof deck, and from winter — lake-effect snow sitting on a roof, then thawing and refreezing at the eaves until meltwater backs up under the shingles and comes through a ceiling. The damage is real but the entry point is small, and that is what makes it expensive: water travels through the structure for days before anything shows on a wall.
The clock matters more than the size of the hole. Wet insulation loses its R-value immediately and does not recover. Sheathing and framing that stay damp begin to support mold growth in roughly two days. Contents soak in place. Every hour a building sits open, the drying job gets bigger and more of the house moves from the "clean and dry" column into the "remove and replace" column.
Your insurer expects you to stop the loss from spreading. That is a standard duty under a homeowners policy, and it works in your favour: reasonable emergency measures — tarping, board-up, extraction — are normally payable, and taking them promptly protects the rest of the claim from an argument about damage that happened after the storm rather than during it.
For a house, the priority order is safety, then the building envelope, then contents, then the rebuild — and we work around the family living in it wherever we can. For a commercial building the priority order changes: we stabilize, then we get the parts of the operation that can run back running, and we sequence the rest around your trading hours. Both get the same documentation discipline, because both claims get paid on paperwork.
Our Storm Damage Restoration Process
Call and rapid triage
We ask what is open, whether the power is on, whether anyone is in the building, and whether water is still coming in. That determines what we load and who we send.
Make it safe and close the envelope
Roof tarping, board-up of windows and openings, temporary shoring where a structure is compromised. This is the step that stops the loss growing, and we do it before anything else.
Document before we disturb anything
Photographs and video of every elevation and every room, moisture readings on affected materials, and a written scope of what is damaged. Adjusters fund what is documented, so this file is built from the first visit and added to daily.
Clear debris and remove what cannot be saved
Fallen limbs and trees, collapsed ceiling material, saturated insulation. Anything removed is photographed and logged first so it can still be claimed.
Dry the structure to a measured standard
Air movers and commercial dehumidifiers, placed for the way this building actually holds moisture. We take readings on marked points daily and keep drying until materials reach a documented dry target — not until the room feels dry.
Rebuild
Roof deck and covering, sheathing, insulation, drywall, paint, flooring, trim. The same company that tarped the roof closes the job, so nothing falls through a gap between contractors.
A Stress-Free Insurance Claims Process
We Work With All Major Insurance Providers
We know how to navigate every major carrier's process efficiently and get your claim moving fast.
Expert Documentation & Direct Billing
We provide detailed documentation and bill your insurance company directly, reducing your out-of-pocket expense.
Maximize Coverage, Minimize Hassle
We fight for every dollar you deserve while handling the paperwork and phone calls with your adjuster.
How a storm claim actually pays
Your deductible may not be a flat amount
Many policies apply a separate wind and hail deductible calculated as a percentage of the insured value of the dwelling rather than a fixed sum. It is on the declarations page, it is often larger than the all-peril deductible, and it changes what is worth claiming.
Roofs are often settled at actual cash value first
That means depreciation is withheld until the work is done, then released as recoverable depreciation when you send in the final invoice. If nobody tells you that, it looks like the carrier paid a fraction of the estimate and stopped.
Matching is negotiable and worth negotiating
When a discontinued shingle or siding profile cannot be matched, whether the carrier pays to replace the whole elevation or just the damaged section depends on the policy language and on how the request is documented. We document it.
Debris removal, other structures and living expense are separate buckets
Tree and debris removal is usually its own limited allowance. A detached garage or fence is covered under the "other structures" limit, not the dwelling limit. If you cannot live in the house, additional living expense is there to pay for somewhere else.
Storm claims are rarely refused outright
They get underpaid, and the reasons are mechanical rather than mysterious — depreciation, scope, or matching. All three are worth revisiting with documentation, and we give you the photographs, moisture logs and written scope to do it with.
We bill the carrier directly
We work with every major carrier, bill them directly, and give the adjuster a scope they can approve rather than a number they have to argue with. Most homeowners pay nothing out of pocket beyond the deductible.
What to Do When You Discover Damage
Do This
- 1. Call Doan Restoration at (616) 644-9136 for emergency tarping and board-up
- 2. Photograph and video everything before you move it, inside and out
- 3. Move what you can carry to a dry, unaffected room — contents dry better than they clean
- 4. Open the claim with your carrier and write down the claim number and the adjuster's name
- 5. Keep receipts for tarps, board-up materials, fans, and a hotel if you cannot stay
Avoid This
- 1. Don't go near downed lines or standing water anywhere near live electricity
- 2. Don't climb a storm-damaged roof — the decking may be broken under intact shingles
- 3. Don't start permanent repairs before the adjuster has seen the damage
- 4. Don't throw away damaged materials before they are documented
Storm Damage Restoration FAQ
My roof is open right now. What happens first?
Call (616) 644-9136. We dispatch around the clock for emergency tarping and board-up, and closing the envelope is the first thing we do on site — before assessment, before drying, before anything else.
Do you do the rebuild, or just the cleanup?
Both, under one contract. Board-up and tarping, structural drying, then reconstruction back to pre-loss condition, with the same project manager throughout.
The adjuster's number looks low. Is that it?
Usually not. Underpayment is normally a depreciation, scope or matching question rather than a refusal, and all three are worth revisiting with documentation. We give you the photographs, moisture logs and written scope to do it with.
Is winter roof damage a storm claim?
Often yes. Ice-dam and snow-load damage is typically handled as storm damage rather than maintenance, though how it is treated depends on your policy wording. Document it the same way and let the carrier make the call on the evidence.
Do you serve my area?
If you are in the Grand Rapids metro or surrounding West Michigan communities, yes. Our crews stage out of our Mecosta County base near Big Rapids and dispatch 24/7/365 across Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Wyoming, Walker, Grandville, Forest Hills, Rockford, Caledonia, and the surrounding area. Not sure? Call and we will tell you straight.
Related Resources
Storm Damage Restoration Across West Michigan
Doan Restoration provides storm damage restoration to homeowners and businesses across Grand Rapids and West Michigan, from our Mecosta County base near Big Rapids.
Storm Damage Restoration in Grand Rapids, 24/7
Storm damage gets worse every hour a building stays open. Call Doan Restoration at (616) 644-9136 or request a free, no-obligation estimate. Crews are on standby 24/7/365.