Storm damage services
Hurricane damage restoration: two perils, one house
Hurricane damage restoration is the work of securing, drying, cleaning and rebuilding a home damaged by a hurricane’s wind, rain and storm surge.
Get Help With Your Restoration Project What it costs
Written by HyreRestore Research Desk Primary-source research and fact checking
The short answer
Hurricane damage restoration is the work of securing, drying, cleaning and rebuilding a home damaged by a hurricane’s wind, rain and storm surge.
What sets it apart is that a hurricane usually causes two kinds of loss at once: wind damage, generally claimed on a homeowners policy with its own hurricane deductible, and flood damage from surge or rising water, which FEMA notes most homeowners insurance does not cover.
If this is happening right now
Run a generator only outdoors, well away from doors, windows and vents: EPA warns generator exhaust is toxic and carbon monoxide can kill. Do not touch electrical equipment that is wet or while standing in water. Return home only when local officials say it is safe.
What should you know before the cleanup starts?
Roof and window damage and the rain that came through it, versus the high-water line from outside.
The Insurance Information Institute says special deductibles may apply in hurricane-prone states, with triggers that vary by state.
US Environmental Protection Agency: dried within 24–48 hours, most materials will not grow mold. After a regional storm that window is hard to meet.
What hurricane damage restoration involves
Hurricane damage restoration follows the same phases as any loss, with the peril recorded at each one.
Tarp the roof and board openings. See board-up and tarping.
Photograph the highest mark of floodwater on walls inside and out; it separates surge damage from rain through a roof breach.
Floodwater is Category 3, so porous materials it soaked are removed. Rain-wet materials may be dried. See flood damage restoration.
Roof, walls and finishes, often with code and permit requirements in coastal areas.
How long it takes
Hurricane damage restoration takes longer than the same damage from a local storm.
Contractors, adjusters and materials are shared across a whole region.
Days to weeks once equipment and power are available.
Months is common after a major storm.
What it costs
Hurricane damage restoration is priced like any storm and flood job, and paid under more than one policy. HyreRestore publishes no average.
| Factor | Why it changes the number |
|---|---|
| Which peril caused what | Wind and flood portions are estimated, adjusted and paid separately. |
| Deductibles | A hurricane deductible is often a percentage of the dwelling limit, not a flat amount. Check yours. |
| Water category | Surge and floodwater mean removal rather than drying. |
| Post-storm demand | Labor and materials are stretched after a regional event. |
Use the deductible calculator, the restoration cost guide or the cost estimator.
How to choose a firm
Choose a firm with a permanent local address, that photographs damage by cause, and that does not ask you to sign over insurance benefits before you have read the contract. HyreRestore does not vet or dispatch firms; matching is not live yet.
What to ask before you sign
Your inquiry
Tell us about the damage
Nothing goes to a restoration company unless you agree.
A person reads it and replies by email, free and with no obligation. Matching is not live yet, so this is not a dispatch line and nobody is sent to the property.
Get Help With Your Restoration Project
One short form: your address and how to reach you. A person at HyreRestore reads it and replies.
Questions
Does homeowners insurance cover hurricane damage?
What is a hurricane deductible?
Is it safe to clean up after a hurricane myself?
Written and audited by
HyreRestore Research Desk
Primary-source research and fact checking
We are a research desk, not a restoration company and not an insurance adjuster.
We read the federal agency guidance, the state insurance statute or the industry standard ourselves, and we publish the rule with the document it came from and the date we read it.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify. The counts below are taken from the pages on this site.
- 56
- source documents linked from these pages
- 15
- government (.gov) domains among them
- 0
- average prices published without a source
- 0
- restoration jobs we perform
How this desk works
- Primary sources only. A mold rule comes from the EPA, a flood rule from FEMA and the NFIP, a claim rule from the state insurance statute. We do not cite an article that cites a source.
- Every figure carries its retrieval date. Guidance is revised and statutes are amended. A number without the date it was read cannot be checked.
- Paywalled standards are named, not quoted. IICRC S500 and S520 define the categories and classes of water and mold work. We describe their public structure and say plainly when the controlling text sits behind a purchase.
- Safety before the claim. Electricity near water, sewage, smoke and mold come first on every page where they apply. We explain the work; we do not tell you to do it yourself.
- We do not dry, remediate or rebuild anything, we do not adjust claims, and we take no payment for placement, ranking or a favorable mention.
Authorship on this site is organizational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold. Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.
Sources & retrieval dates
Information on this page is general and may vary by location, building code, zoning, the condition of your house and your own circumstances. It is not legal, insurance, medical or engineering advice.
HyreRestore is not a restoration contractor and not an insurance adjuster: we dry nothing, remediate nothing and rebuild nothing, and we do not supervise or warrant anyone's work.
This page explains the work so you can read a scope, judge the company that wrote it and follow your own claim.