How to document storm damage for a claim.

Start wide and work in. Photograph each elevation of the building whole, then each area of damage in context, then close. Then photograph the street and your neighbors’ properties. The close ups prove what is broken; the wide shots and the surroundings prove that a storm did it, and that is the part that gets argued.

Do this before you move, clear, or cover anything you can safely leave.

Why the order matters

An adjuster who has never seen your house needs to place every close up somewhere. A folder of forty pictures of damaged shingles with no context is much weaker than fifteen that go from the whole roof, to that slope, to that patch, to that shingle.

And after a widespread storm, the corroboration matters. Photographs of the neighboring roof missing tiles and the street covered in branches make the question “was there a storm here” answer itself.

The list

Outside, before anything is touched:

Each elevation of the house, whole, from far enough back to see the roofline.
The roof from each side, zoomed from the ground. Never from on it.
Every area of damage: context shot, then close.
Gutters, downspouts, vents, flashing, siding, trim.
The air conditioner or heat pump, especially after hail.
Fences, sheds, decks, outbuildings.
Any tree or debris involved, including where it came from.
The yard and the street.
Neighboring properties, from your own property.

Inside:

Every affected room, wide, then the damage close.
Ceilings and the tops of walls, where water shows first.
The attic: staining on the decking, wet insulation, daylight.
Every damaged item, individually, before it is moved or thrown out.
Serial numbers and labels on anything electrical that was destroyed.

Video: a slow walk around the outside and through each affected room, narrating what you are seeing and the date. It takes four minutes and it captures things a still misses.

What makes the file hold up

Dates that are not in dispute. Camera timestamps are fine, but back them up: a screenshot of the weather warning or forecast for that day, a local news report, or a photograph of a newspaper. If a claim is later characterized as long term wear, the date is the whole argument.

Something for scale. A coin, a ruler, a hand. Hailstones next to a coin. Cracks next to something with a known size.

Before pictures, if any exist. A real estate listing, a home inspection report, family photographs with the house in the background, a delivery photo from a courier. A picture of the roof looking sound six months ago is worth more than any amount of argument.

The undamaged parts too. Showing where the damage stops is how an assessor understands its extent, and it makes the claim read as honest rather than maximal.

Keep a log, not just pictures

A simple dated list, written as you go:

When you first noticed the damage.
When you reported it, to whom, and what they said.
Every visit: who came, when, what they did.
Every temporary measure taken, and what it cost.
Every phone call, with a name.

This costs a few minutes a day and it is the difference between remembering and proving. It is also the thing that ends most disputes about timing, and timing is what most denials actually turn on.

Receipts, all of them

Tarps, boarding, plastic sheeting, fastenings.
Any emergency board up or tree service.
A hotel, if the house is not livable, and meals if the kitchen is out.
A generator and its fuel.
Fans, dehumidifiers, a wet vacuum.
Anything bought to replace something urgently, like a fridge.

Most policies treat reasonable mitigation costs as part of the claim, and many include additional living expenses. Neither pays out for a receipt you did not keep.

Storing it

Put everything in one dated folder, backed up somewhere off the phone. Phones get lost and wet in exactly these circumstances.

Send yourself a copy by email the same day. It creates a dated record outside your own control, which is occasionally useful.

What not to do

Do not throw anything out before it is photographed, however ruined it looks.
Do not clean up first and photograph after. This is the single most common and most expensive mistake in every category on this site.
Do not stage or exaggerate. One thing that looks arranged makes an adjuster distrust the whole file, and it is fraud.
Do not let a contractor be your only record. Take your own.
Do not delay the report while you finish documenting. Report first, then keep documenting.

The short version

Wide, then context, then close, then the street. Date it with something outside your own camera. Keep a dated log of every call and visit, keep every receipt, and photograph everything before it is moved, cleared, or covered.