Repair & Replacement · Minneapolis, MN
Storm and tree damage deck repair in Minneapolis
A limb came down in the storm, and now your deck has broken boards, a crushed railing or framing you cannot see clearly under the branches.
Keep everyone off the deck and call any hour; we secure the structure, document the damage, then repair or rebuild what the storm broke.
- Phones answered 24/7
- Written scope before work starts
$640 to $12,900 per damage scope, based on 2026 Twin Cities jobs.
Storm damage deck repair starts with making the deck safe: shoring broken framing, blocking stairs and documenting damage for your claim. Then we repair or rebuild the boards, railings, joists, beams or stairs that were hit. In Minneapolis it typically costs $640 to $12,900 per damage scope, from a few cracked boards and one rail section up to rebuilding a frame crushed by a fallen tree.
Storm damage you should not walk on
Limb resting on the deck
A branch or trunk lying across a deck may be holding broken framing in place. Leave it where it is, keep everyone off and out from underneath, and call us any hour.
Railing bent or knocked out
Any guard pushed out of line no longer stops a fall. Even if it looks mostly upright, the post connections below it may be cracked.
Deck feels tilted or racked
If the floor now slopes or the posts lean, wind or impact may have shifted the beam or loosened the ledger. Stay off it until it has been checked.
Cracked or split joists
From below, look for joists with fresh cracks, splits running along the grain, or bent hangers. Those are hidden breaks that a top-side glance misses.
Post knocked off footing
A post that has slid sideways on its footing or pulled out of its base bracket leaves that corner of the deck held up by very little.
Stairs shifted after the storm
Stair runs hit by a limb or pushed by wind can twist off their landing or tear loose at the top. Block the stairs and phone us right away.
What to do in the first hours after a storm hits your deck
Start with people, not the deck. Keep everyone off it, and off the ground beneath it, until someone has looked at the framing. A limb resting on a deck can be holding broken pieces in place, and moving it can drop a beam or a section of railing. If wires are down anywhere near the tree, stay well away and call the utility first. Then call us. Our phone is answered 24/7, and we treat storm calls as urgent.
Once it is safe to work, we shore the deck with temporary posts where framing is broken, tarp anything open to rain, and photograph every damaged piece before it moves. Those photos and our written scope give your adjuster a clear record of what the storm did. We don't take down whole trees; an arborist handles the trunk and large limbs, and we work around their schedule to get the deck cleared and secured.
Damage often goes deeper than it looks. A limb that cracks two boards may also have split a joist, bent a hanger or knocked a post off its footing. Hail can bruise composite caps and chip stained wood, and high wind can rack a tall deck enough to loosen ledger fasteners. We check the whole structure, not only the spot where the branch landed, and then lay out what needs repair and what can stay.
How a storm damage repair job moves along
- 01Call
Emergency call, any hour
You call, day or night. We ask what hit the deck, whether anyone is hurt and whether wires are down, and tell you which areas to keep clear.
- 02Visit
Make it safe
Our carpenters shore broken framing, block stairs, tarp exposed areas and clear loose debris off the deck once an arborist has handled the large wood.
- 03Scope
Document the damage
Every damaged board, joist, post and rail gets photographed and listed in a written scope you can share with your adjuster for the claim.
- 04Prep
Inspect the whole frame
We check ledger fasteners, beams, posts and footings beyond the impact spot, because wind and falling weight often cause damage away from the obvious break.
- 05Build
Repair or rebuild
Once you and your adjuster agree on the scope, we order materials, pull any needed permit, and repair or rebuild the damaged parts of the deck.
- 06Check
Final walk and cleanup
You walk the finished deck with us while we load-test railings by hand, then we haul away broken lumber, leftover branches and old hardware.
What storm damage deck repair typically costs
Storm repairs in Minneapolis typically run $640 to $12,900 per damage scope. A few cracked boards and one railing section sit at the low end. A crushed frame, a broken beam or a stair run torn off its landing sits at the high end. Emergency shoring, the materials on your deck and how far the damage spread all move it. We give you a written number after we have seen everything.
What changes the price
- How many boards, rails and joists the impact broke or cracked
- Whether beams, posts or footings shifted and need resetting or replacing
- Emergency shoring and tarping needed before permanent repairs can start
- Decking material and how closely replacement boards can blend with the old
- Height of the deck and access around downed limbs or a torn-up yard
- Whether code requires bringing the repaired section up to current standards
Repair options for a storm-damaged deck
Emergency shoring and tarping
The first visit makes the deck safe: temporary posts under broken framing, caution tape across the stairs, tarps over open spots, and photos of everything before debris moves. This stops further damage while the claim gets sorted.
Spot repair of boards and rails
When only the surface was hit, we replace cracked boards and damaged railing sections. On older decks we look for the closest lumber or composite color, and tell you honestly when a new board will stand out.
Framing and post repair
Split joists are sistered or replaced, bent hangers swapped for ones rated for treated lumber, and displaced posts reset on their footings, or on new frost-depth footings if the old ones were shallow.
Rebuild the damaged section
When a tree crushes a large part of the frame, rebuilding that section, or the whole deck, is often safer and close in cost to piecing it back together. We draw it and pull the permit.
Twin Cities weather that turns into deck damage
Mature trees are part of what makes Minneapolis neighborhoods pleasant, and they hang over a lot of decks. Around Lake Nokomis, Minnehaha Creek and the Chain of Lakes, tall shade trees cover back yards, and a summer thunderstorm can bring down a limb heavy enough to snap joists or knock a post off its footing. In the suburbs, newer two-story walkout homes have tall decks that catch more wind and leave a long drop if a post or railing fails.
Winter does its own storm damage. Heavy, wet snow piles on decks, and snow and ice sliding off a steep roof can crush a railing or overload framing that was already weak. Freeze-thaw swings in March, April and November then work into any crack the storm opened. If we find that your footings stop short of the 42-inch frost depth, or that an old nailed ledger has no flashing, we point it out, since a storm repair is a sensible time to fix those too.
Where we do storm damage repair around Minneapolis
Storm Damage Repair jobs take our carpenters to these cities and neighborhoods most weeks, and to the rest of the metro too.
- Minneapolis 55414
- Saint Paul 55102
- Bloomington 55420
- Brooklyn Park 55443
- Plymouth 55447
- Woodbury 55125
- Maple Grove 55369
- Lakeville 55044
- Blaine 55434
- Eagan 55122
- Burnsville 55337
- Eden Prairie 55344
- Coon Rapids 55433
- Apple Valley 55124
- Edina 55424
- Minnetonka 55305
- St. Louis Park 55416
- Shakopee 55379
- Maplewood 55109
- Cottage Grove 55016
- Richfield 55423
- Roseville 55113
- Inver Grove Heights 55076
- Andover 55304
- Savage 55378
- Fridley 55432
- Chanhassen 55317
- Prior Lake 55372
Questions about storm damage repair
Will you come out at night for storm damage deck repair?
Our phone is answered 24/7, so you can always reach someone. If the deck is a danger to people, such as a broken guard on a second-story deck or a stair run hanging loose, we work to make it safe as soon as conditions allow. Until we arrive, keep everyone off the deck and out from under it.
Do you remove the fallen tree as part of storm damage deck repair?
We clear branches and broken lumber off and around the deck, but cutting up a large trunk, or limbs caught in wires, is work for an arborist or the utility. If you don't have a tree service lined up yet, make that call too. We coordinate timing so the deck gets shored as soon as the heavy wood is gone.
What photos should I take of storm damage to my deck before you arrive?
From a safe spot, photograph the deck from several angles, showing what fell and where it landed, plus close shots of broken boards and railings. Do not climb onto the deck or go underneath it. We take our own detailed photos of the framing once it is shored and add them to the written scope for your adjuster.
Can hail damage on a composite deck be repaired, or do the boards need replacing?
Light hail usually leaves cosmetic marks that don't affect strength. Larger hail can chip or crack the cap on some composite boards, which lets moisture in over time. Damaged boards can usually be swapped one at a time. We check whether the same color is still made; if not, we may suggest moving undamaged boards to the most visible areas.
How soon after a storm can tree damage deck repair begin?
Shoring and tarping can happen right away. Permanent repairs usually wait until your adjuster has seen the damage, or at least has our photos and written scope. Material orders and any needed permit come next. Minor board and railing fixes can often begin within days, while rebuilding crushed framing takes longer, especially in the busy May through October season.
Talk to us about storm damage repair
Call any hour about storm damage repair, tell us what you are seeing, and we will set a time to look and write up a scope.