A tree or a lawn chair through the glass turns the house into a funnel. In Houston humidity, that room will be a swamp by morning if the wind is still pushing rain.
Board-up is ugly and correct. You are not decorating.
Watch for power at the eave and glass in the wet carpet. Tetanus is a boring way to spend the week after a flood.
Do this now
- Photograph the broken opening from inside and outside before you cover it.
- Sweep glass so nobody slits a foot. Shoes on. Kids and pets out of the room.
- Cover the opening with plywood or a solid panel if you can do it safely. Tarp as a backup, not as the only plan on a first-floor window.
- Call the carrier. Ask whether they have a glass or board-up vendor, then keep your own receipts anyway.
A board that actually stays
Plywood over the opening, fastened into the frame or solid structure, not two screws in rotten trim. If the window is a second story and you have no safe access, hire board-up. Do not lean a mattress against the hole and hope. Afternoon wind will take it. Leave a small vent if you are sealing a wet room so you are not building a terrarium.
Security and the street
An open window on a dark block after a flood is an invitation. Board-up is theft prevention as much as weather. If the whole street lost glass, you are not being paranoid. Mark the plywood with the address so a later crew does not wander. Tell a neighbor you boarded it so they do not call it in as a break-in.
Glass, floodwater, and what you throw
Glass that sat in street flood is trash. Do not recycle it like a normal Saturday. Wet blinds and particle-board sills are usually done. The window unit itself may be a claim item. Leave the broken sash where the adjuster can see it if you can do that without cutting someone. Bag shards so the pile at the curb is obvious and safe.
Do this next
- Blue tarp basics that keep more water out tonight
- When roof leaks and flood are both happening
- Commercial providers hub
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