Securing a fire-damaged house in Mountain Shadows

On the street side, most Mountain Shadows houses look ordinary. The back is different: large picture windows, two-story glass in the great room, sliding doors onto decks and walk-out doors from the lower level. Firefighters may break those to vent smoke, and radiant heat from a neighboring fire can crack them. Because the lot falls away, the windows are often well above the ground, so covering them takes ladders, scaffolding or work from the deck.

Plywood over large openings has to be fastened into solid framing around the frame, not just into trim, because a big panel on an exposed slope catches a lot of wind. Where a slider is cracked but still in its track, it is often covered from outside and left shut. The general methods are on the board-up and tarping page; here the challenge is height and exposure.

Strong downslope winds come off the mountains above the northwest side, especially in winter and spring. A tarp held down with sandbags or tires will not survive them. Local crews fasten tarps under wood battens screwed to the roof and wrap them over the ridge where possible, so wind cannot get underneath. Large roof openings are often decked with plywood first so the area can carry a snow load. After any windy night, look from the street for flapping edges and call the contractor if something has moved.

Board-up is temporary and does not need special materials, but the permanent repairs that follow may. Mountain Shadows sits in the city's wildland-urban interface, where new exterior work can be subject to ignition-resistant requirements for roofing, siding, decks, vents and windows. Settle that with your contractor and the building department before ordering replacements.

Plan around utilities too. After Waldo Canyon, Colorado Springs Utilities restored gas to thousands of undamaged homes one at a time and needed someone present at each. If your gas was shut off, coordinate the relight visit with the board-up crew so nobody is locked out.

Spring snow on the northwest side can be wet and heavy. A tarp alone sheds water but carries no weight, so a large burned section of roof is usually decked with plywood over sound framing first. Decks need a look too: burned boards and weakened joists can fail under snow and foot traffic. Block access to an unsafe deck and to any door that opens onto it until it has been assessed.

Check the house from the street after storms and windy nights, photograph anything that has shifted, and let the contractor know. Do not climb onto the roof or deck to fix a tarp yourself.

Insurers generally expect owners to protect a damaged house from further harm, and board-up is the clearest example. Keep the contractor's invoice, the list of openings covered and the before-and-after photos together with your claim records, and tell your insurer who secured the house and when. If wind or snow later damages a covered opening, photograph it before it is fixed so the new damage is documented separately from the fire.