Back when Hurricane Fran rolled through in ninety-six, we had trees down all along Sunrise Avenue and inside the historic loop of Five Points. My late husband and I spent three days clearing oak branches just to get our old Buick out of the driveway.

Back then, a nice man from down near Benson came by with a chainsaw and helped us for a plate of biscuits. These days, these boys in white trucks are a different breed altogether. Don't let them on your ladder, Bri.

Do not let them climb up. They will create damage to simulate hail or wind lift. Always demand a written scope of work and physical proof of general liability insurance.

Local Clayton or Raleigh outfits will have a physical office address, not a PO box or an out of state plate. If they say they can wave your deductible, that is insurance fraud.

Diego is spot on here. From an adjusting perspective, your policy is a legal contract. Any contractor promising to pay or absorb your deductible is committing a Class I misdemeanor in North Carolina.

If you do have actual storm damage from that system, document the date and time of the storm, take wide photos of the yard debris, and file directly with your carrier. Do not sign a post-loss assignment of benefits.

We had a guy try that in our Cary townhome pocket last year. I pointed to our shared walls and told him he would have to argue with our HOA board and three separate legal entities.

He left pretty quick. Saved me from listening to his pitch, and saved my neighbors a useless roof assessment fee.

While you are checking the roof, do not forget to look down. Those heavy summer downpours we got with those high winds saturated the red clay. When your gutters are overflowing because of storm debris, all that water dumps right against your foundation.

If your relative humidity under the house spikes above sixty percent, you are inviting rot. Grab a cheap hygrometer and check your crawlspace dew point before you worry about a shingle or two.

The Mordecai neighborhood has seen these transient crews for decades. They prey on our anxiety after every major summer thunderstorm.

In eighty-nine we had a microburst that took out several pecan trees, and the street was flooded with opportunistic sales offices on wheels. A reputable local firm is always worth the wait.

This is so helpful. We just moved to Wendell and I am terrified of making a mistake with our first big storm season.

Is there a basic checklist of what to say when these door knockers show up? I always feel too polite to just close the door, but now I am worried. Thank you all for the warnings.