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Tree damage is a leading source of homeowner insurance claims, with thousands filed each year, especially after major storms. Sometimes those claims can be larger than expected, especially is a homeowner tries to attribute older, existing damage to the tree impact.

Nels Peterson, a forensic engineer with Engineering Design & Testing Corp., recently spoke with PropertyCasualty360.com about assessing and preventing tree damage.

PropertyCasualty360.com: When a tree falls on a house, how do you tell what damage was caused by the tree and what was already there? What does that process look like?

Peterson: With tree impacts or vehicle impacts or any kind of dynamic load induced onto a building, your damage is always most severe at the point of impact and then dissipates away from the point of impact. But you can have forces that are transmitted a distance away, so you might see interior wall coverings that are cracked or displaced.

Most of what I look for is when a tree impacts, you get a lot of bright colored fractures, like fresh cracks. Is the fracture bright colored and fresh, or is it dull and full of dirt and debris and cobwebs? Has it been painted over or filled already? The brightness of the fracture is really the main indicator. Cracks that are bright colored look drastically different from an existing crack.

PropertyCasualty360.com: Are you noticing a rise in tree impacts due to climate change or shifting weather patterns?

Peterson: I don’t think it’s so much climate change, but I do think tree impacts are increasing because we just, in general, have more trees than we ever have.

People are more apt to keep trees just for aesthetics or because of the environmental impact. It seems we’re letting trees get a lot bigger adjacent to houses, and we’re building more in the forest-urban interface.

But trees do have a defined age where they’re done growing, and they’re going to start getting diseased or weakened, and the tops fall off or the limbs break off.

Out west, we’re also seeing more tree diseases. Our maple trees are starting to get a blight that’s killing them off. Douglas fir trees have what’s called a laminated rot that weakens the structure of the tree.

PropertyCasualty360.com: What can homeowners do to better protect themselves and potentially avoid claims?

Peterson: The absolute safest thing to do is just keep those big tall trees away from your house. You can also get an arborist or certified forester to do an audit around your house and look for indicators of root rot or blights. Your trees might need maintaining too; they might need some of the crown to be removed. See if there’s a plan of action or maintenance required for those trees that can help them get and stay healthy.

Original article, click here.