How Roof Tarping Works

Non-destructive roof tarping is the practice of securing a protective tarp over a damaged roof using weight and friction rather than fasteners. No nails, screws, or staples pass through the shingles or the roof deck.

The conventional alternative is nail-down tarping, where the tarp and wood strips are fastened directly through the roofing material. That method holds, but it works by making new holes in a roof that is already leaking. Those holes stay behind after the tarp is removed, and they can admit water and corrode long after the emergency is over.

Non-destructive tarping avoids that trade. The tarp is held by furring strips laid around the perimeter and weighted anchors resting on top of them. The holding force comes from the weight of the anchors and the friction of the strips against the roof surface, distributed along the tarp edges and seams instead of concentrated at fastener points. Because nothing penetrates the roof, the only damage on the roof when the tarp comes off is the storm damage that was there when the crew arrived.

On some roofs this is not a preference but a requirement. Metal, tile, and slate roofing systems cannot accept nail penetration without being damaged, so a non-destructive method is the only appropriate option.

TarpBags® are the weighted anchor system Tarpers® developed and uses to secure emergency roof tarps without penetrating the roof. Each bag arrives empty, is filled with water on site, and then weighs 40 to 50 pounds.

Filling on site matters for a practical reason. Anchoring a tarp takes hundreds of pounds of weight distributed around the perimeter, and carrying that weight up a ladder is slow and hazardous. TarpBags® move that weight into the job at the moment it is needed, from a hose rather than a truck bed, which means a crew can anchor a larger area faster and with less lifting.

TarpBags® also behave better on the roof than the traditional alternative. Sandbags shift under load, degrade in sun and rain, and can abrade roofing material as they move. TarpBags® hold their shape and stay where they are placed.

Tarpers® uses both TarpBags® and sandbags depending on the job and crew logistics. The constant is the principle: the tarp is held by weight, not by nails.

More detail at TarpBags® Technology.

CAT response, short for catastrophe response, is the mobilization of tarping crews at scale after a hurricane or major storm event, as distinct from responding to a single damaged property.

The difference is one of logistics rather than technique. A single job is dispatched and completed. A catastrophe event affects thousands of properties at once, in an area that may have lost power, road access, and lodging, and it requires crews, materials, and support to be moving before the storm arrives.

Tarpers® runs a four stage deployment:

Xactimate is the estimating platform most carriers and adjusters use to scope and price property damage work. Emergency tarping is written using line items in the WTR (water mitigation) category.

The codes that come up most often: