Blue tarp basics that keep more water out tonight

The ceiling is dripping and the radar still has cells. A blue tarp tonight is not a remodel. It is a bucket with ambition.

If you cannot do it from the ground or a stable ladder on dry footing, you hire it or you catch water inside and wait. A fall off a wet ranch roof in Harris County is a second disaster.

The goal is simple. Less water in the house before dark. Not a perfect wrap for the insurance photo op.

Do this now

1. Catch interior drips with bins. Move beds and electronics off the wet line.
2. If you go on the roof, use dry shoes, a stable ladder, and a spotter. Skip it if the deck feels soft.
3. Cover the damaged area plus several feet on all sides. Shed water toward the gutter, not into the hole.
4. Photograph the damage before and after the tarp. Keep the receipt for the tarp and fasteners.

How a tarp actually fails

People staple a postage stamp over the hole and leave a lake on the uphill side. Water goes under, not through. Extend past the damage. If you can, run the tarp over the ridge so water does not back up behind a dam of plastic. Weight or fasten the edges on sound decking, not through rotten wood. Do not nail a grid of holes into the only good shingles you have left unless you must.

Houston-specific annoyances

Afternoon storms will test the same tarp tomorrow. UV here cooks cheap plastic in days. Wind off an open prairie lot will sail an unsecured sheet into the next cul-de-sac. Check it after every cell. If the attic is steaming, vent it safely from inside. Trapping wet heat under plastic on a September roof is how you cook the deck.

When you should not be up there

Lightning still in the area. Soft or spongy deck. Two-story with no tie-off and no help. Power lines near the eave. That is a no. Call a roofer for emergency tarping, or catch water and sleep in another room. Pride is a poor harness.

Do this next

1. When roof leaks and flood are both happening
2. Finding a roofer who will show up this week
3. Commercial providers hub

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