Storm Damage Restoration in Clermont, FL

What a storm actually leaves behind on a Clermont house

After a hard blow, the damage you can see is usually the smaller part of the job. A lifted section of roof, a torn screen enclosure, a soffit hanging loose or a tree limb through a lanai roof are obvious, and they get photographed first. What decides the size of the repair is what the wind and rain did after that opening appeared: water that ran down inside a wall cavity, insulation that soaked and stayed wet, a ceiling that held its shape for a week and then sagged, a window frame that racked a fraction of an inch and now leaks every time it rains from the west.

We are a licensed Florida general contractor, license CGC1531446, based at 7207 Lake Nellie Rd in south Clermont, west of US-27 near the Four Corners corridor. We have 22 years of building behind us, 5 of them as a licensed general contractor. Storm damage restoration, for us, is construction work: finding where the building envelope failed, opening what has to be opened, drying and replacing what cannot be saved, and putting the house back together so it passes inspection and holds up the next time. It is not a cleanup service and it is not a sales visit.

Around Clermont, housing splits sharply between recent construction and older, pre-code houses, and storm repairs behave differently in each. A recent house built to the current Florida Building Code tends to fail at specific points, such as a garage side wall, a gable end or a lanai attachment. An older house can fail in places that were never built to resist the loads a modern code expects, and once it is open the repair can run into requirements the original construction never met. Knowing which kind of house you have changes how we plan the first visit.

The first days: protecting the house without weakening the claim

In the hours and days after a storm, two things pull against each other. You need the house protected so the damage does not keep growing, and you need the damage documented so the claim reflects what actually happened. Done in the wrong order, you can end up with a dry house and a weak claim, or a perfect set of photos of a house that kept getting wetter.

What we recommend, in order:

• Photograph before anything is moved. Wide shots of each side of the house, then close shots of every point of damage, then the inside: ceilings, the tops of walls, floors near exterior doors and the attic if it is safe to get into. Date stamps help. A short video walking the house is better than nothing.
• Stop the water, then document again. Tarping an opening or covering a broken window is reasonable mitigation, and most policies expect you to take it. Photograph the temporary protection once it is in place.
• Do not throw away damaged materials yet. Wet drywall, ruined flooring and broken fixtures are evidence. Pile them somewhere dry or ask your adjuster before anything goes to the curb.
• Write down what you saw and when. When the water first appeared on the ceiling, when the power went out, which room smelled damp the next morning. Those notes are useful later, when an adjuster is trying to separate storm damage from wear.
• Keep receipts for everything. Tarps, fans, a hotel night, a generator rental. Whether any of it is reimbursed depends on your policy, but without the receipt the question never gets asked.

When we come out, the first job is to look at the structure, not the finishes. Is any part of the roof framing, a wall or a lanai attachment compromised? Is there a sagging ceiling that could come down? Is water reaching electrical? Once the house is safe to be in and the openings are closed, the rest of the work can be planned instead of rushed.

Water behind the walls, where a wind event turns into a rebuild

Most of the expensive surprises in storm work come from water that nobody saw go in. Wind-driven rain does not fall straight down. It is pushed sideways and upward, into soffit vents, under flashing, through the gap between a window frame and the wall, and through any fastener the wind loosened. Once inside, it follows framing and gravity, and it shows up somewhere other than where it entered.

The places we check on every storm job:

• The top plates and the tops of exterior walls, where roof water runs once it gets past the decking or the soffit.
• Around windows and sliding doors, especially on the side that took the wind. A frame that moved even slightly can let water into the wall below it for months.
• Ceilings under any roof penetration: vents, skylights, plumbing stacks. A stain the size of a hand can sit over a wet section of drywall many times that size.
• Bathrooms on exterior walls. Tile hides water well. A shower wall can look perfect while the backer board behind it is soaking, and if the waterproofing behind the tile was already marginal, the storm finds it.
• Kitchen cabinets on exterior walls. The back of a base cabinet is a dark, closed space. Water that reaches it can sit there long enough to swell the box and start mold before anyone opens the door.
• The attic insulation. Wet insulation loses most of its value and holds water against the ceiling below. It usually has to come out.

We use moisture readings and, where the readings or the staining say so, we open the wall. A small inspection cut that finds dry framing costs very little to close. A wall left closed over wet framing becomes a bigger repair later, often after the claim has been settled, which is the worst time to discover it.

When a bathroom or a kitchen ends up opened past the point of patching, the repair stops being a patch and starts being a remodel. That is a decision worth making on purpose. Our bathroom remodeling work in Clermont and our kitchen remodeling pages explain how we approach those rooms when they are rebuilt from the studs.

A Clermont mailing address does not tell you who approves the repair

Storm repair beyond minor cosmetic work generally needs a permit, and the permit has to come from the right office. Around Clermont, that is less obvious than it sounds. The postal address on your mail does not decide which authority reviews and inspects the work. A house with a Clermont address can sit inside the city limits, or it can sit in unincorporated Lake County, and the two are handled by different offices with different processes.

The City of Clermont runs an online permit portal, eTRAKiT, where contractors with an account submit and track permits. For a property inside the city, that is where the application goes. For a property outside the city limits, the application goes to the county instead. Before we price a storm repair, we confirm the jurisdiction from the parcel itself, not from the address. It sounds like a small step. It prevents an application filed with the wrong office, a delay while it is redirected, and an inspection scheduled with the wrong people.

Florida law also shapes this part of the job. Under Florida Statute 489.113, a certified contractor presents a current certificate to the local building official or licensing office and pays the occupational license and permit fees, and a local government can deny or suspend permits if the contractor cannot show liability and workers' compensation insurance. The same statute says that someone without a certificate or registration can only do this kind of work under the supervision of a certified or registered contractor, within the scope of that contractor's license. In plain terms: the person pulling your permit should be licensed and insured, and you can check both before anyone starts.

After a storm, that matters more than usual. Crews arrive from out of the area, door hangers appear, and some offers sound very good. If the person at your door cannot tell you their license number and which office will inspect the work, keep looking.

Code-driven items and what the insurance conversation needs from your contractor

Once a damaged part of a house is opened and rebuilt, it is generally rebuilt to the Florida Building Code that is in force now, not to the code the house was built under. Florida cities and counties adopt the statewide code, and inspectors inspect the new work against it. On a newer house, the difference is often small. On an older house, it can be significant: different fastening, different connections between the roof and the walls, different requirements for windows and doors in a wind event, different moisture protection.

That creates a real question for the claim. Some of the cost of the repair is putting back what the storm took. Some of it is upgrading what is being rebuilt because the current code requires it. Whether your policy pays for that second part depends on your policy. We do not decide that, and we do not tell you what your adjuster will approve. What we can do is state clearly which items are code-driven and why, so the question can be asked properly.

In practice, that means a scope that separates three kinds of work:

• Like-for-like repair of what the storm damaged.
• Code-required work that comes with rebuilding that part of the house, with the reason for each item.
• Optional upgrades you might choose while the house is open, priced separately so they never get mixed into the claim.

An estimate that lumps everything into one number does not help you or the adjuster. One that says what it assumes, what is included and what is not, and why each code item is there gives everyone something concrete to agree or disagree with. That is how we write ours.

We also build the work in a way that documents properly for an inspection. Photos of the open framing before it is covered, notes on fasteners and connections, and a clear record of what was replaced help at final inspection and help later if you sell the house or change insurers.

While the walls are open, decide what you want to build back

A storm repair puts parts of the house in a state that is normally expensive to reach. A section of wall is open to the studs. The ceiling is down in two rooms. The kitchen cabinets have to come out anyway. That is the cheapest moment the house will ever offer for certain improvements, and the moment passes the day the drywall goes back up.

We raise the option while the building is open rather than after it is closed. Things worth thinking about, depending on what was damaged:

• Window and door openings. If an opening has to be reframed anyway, it is the time to consider impact-rated products or a better installation detail, priced as a separate choice.
• Wiring and blocking. Adding circuits, moving outlets, or putting in blocking for future cabinets, grab bars or a television costs little with the wall open and a lot later.
• Insulation. If the attic insulation has to come out, the replacement does not have to match what was there. A better job on the ceiling can change how the house holds temperature in a Central Florida summer.
• Layout. When a kitchen or bathroom has to be rebuilt from the studs, the old layout is not sacred. Moving a wall, a sink or a doorway is far easier now than in five years.
• Space you were already planning. Some families were already thinking about an extra room. If part of the house is being reframed, our home additions work in Clermont and broader home remodeling in Clermont can be planned alongside the repair, with the storm work and the new work kept on separate lines of the scope.

None of this is required, and we do not push it. The point is to make the decision while it is still cheap, instead of finding out afterward that it was possible.

Lanais, screen enclosures and the outdoor rooms the wind reaches first

On a lot of Central Florida homes, the first thing a storm damages is not the house itself but what is attached to it: a screen enclosure over a pool, a covered lanai, a patio roof added years after the house was built. These structures catch a lot of wind for their weight. When they fail, they can also damage the house, pulling at the fascia or the wall where they are attached, or sending aluminum into windows and the roof.

A few things we look at on these structures after a storm:

• The attachment to the house. If the connection at the fascia or the wall moved, the house side of the connection needs as much attention as the enclosure.
• The footings and the slab edge. A frame that lifted can loosen its anchors in the concrete even when the screen panels look fine.
• The roof over a covered lanai. Where a lanai roof ties into the main roof, water can get in at the joint after the structure flexes in the wind.
• What was there before. An enclosure or patio roof that was never permitted, or that was built to a much older standard, may not be rebuilt the same way. We tell you that early, before you make plans around it.

Rebuilding these outdoor rooms is part of our screen enclosures and patios work, and on a storm job we handle them in the same scope as the house, so the connection between the two is repaired once and inspected together.

Wind in Clermont does not keep to the calendar

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. The National Hurricane Center puts the peak around September 10, with most activity between mid-August and mid-October, and it notes that tropical storms sometimes form outside those dates. That is the regional pattern for Central Florida, and it is when most storm calls come in.

It is not the only time wind does damage here. On January 16, 2022, winds of around 50 mph knocked down part of a wall on a house still under construction in the Ridgeview development in Clermont. The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for Lake and Orange counties that morning, and no tornado was reported. One event is not a trend, but it is a useful reminder: a strong winter front can do real damage, and a building is most exposed while it is still being built or while it is open for repairs.

That is why temporary protection is part of how we run a storm job, not an afterthought. An opened roof section or a wall with its sheathing off is covered and secured at the end of the day, whatever the forecast says. If a repair is running into the busy weeks of the season, we plan the order of work so the house spends as little time as possible open to the weather.

It also explains why the slow, careful part of a storm repair matters. After a large regional storm, every contractor in Central Florida is busy, materials get tight, and the pressure to close walls quickly is strong. A wall closed over wet framing in September becomes a mold problem by spring. We would rather tell you honestly what the schedule looks like than close something up before it is ready.

Choosing who rebuilds, and what to ask before you sign

Storm repair is one of the few times homeowners hire a contractor in a hurry, and it is when the wrong choice costs the most. Whoever you call, a few questions sort out most of the risk:

• What is your Florida license number, and what kind of license is it? You can look it up. Ours is CGC1531446, a general contractor license.
• Can you show proof of liability and workers' compensation insurance? Under Florida law, a local government can refuse permits to a contractor who cannot.
• Which office will issue the permit for my house, and how did you decide? The answer should come from the parcel, not the mailing address.
• What does your estimate assume? A good scope says what is included, what is excluded, which items are code-driven and what happens if more damage is found once walls are open.
• Who will actually be on the job? Subcontractors are normal on a rebuild. What matters is that one licensed contractor is responsible for all of it.

We are a small company. The person who comes to the house and prices the job is the person who runs it and answers the phone. Our Google rating is 4.7, and we would rather earn the next review on a storm job than on anything else, because that is when people need the work done right the first time.

Storm damage restoration is one of the services we offer across Clermont and nearby towns; the full description is on our storm damage restoration page. If the repair is large and you want someone to coordinate the trades, the schedule and the inspections on your behalf, our construction management service covers that.

If your house took damage, call us at (352) 630-3999 and ask for a visit. Tell us what you can see and what you have already done to protect the house. We will come out, look at the structure first, confirm which office will approve the work for your parcel, and give you a scope that says plainly what the storm did and what it will take to put it right.