Waves impacting against structures can create damages and devastation. This topic regained interest after some recent catastrophic events and the present paper investigates the main phases of a wave impacting against a residential house commonly observed in areas subject to tsunami hazards. The project is based on an experimental approach and both dry bed surges and wet bed bores were tested. Through some visual observations and high speed cameras, important run-up heights in the vertical direction were observed for all configurations; these were more intense for wet bed bores. For the largest waves a full overflow of the structure was observed and the presence of the structure provoked a change of regime and the upstream propagation of a bore.