Post-storm damage check: inspect in an order, not in a panic.

Our hurricane-season prep guide covers securing the rig before a storm and a short post-storm summary. This guide is the deep version of that second half — the full walk to run once it is safe to be outside, whether the rig sat at a resort, in storage, or at home.

Step 0: safety before inspection

• Look before you touch. Downed lines, leaning trees or limbs still hung up overhead, and standing water around the pedestal are stop-and-wait problems, not inspection items. Do not wade to a pedestal standing in water.
• Use your nose at the door. A propane smell, a strong electrical or hot-plastic smell, or visible smoke means do not enter and do not switch anything on — get clear and get help.
• Leave power off if water got inside. If you can see water in outlets, power centres, or appliance compartments, do not restore shore power or start the generator until a tech has checked it. Water and a live panel are a worse problem than a dark rig.
• Watch your footing. Wet roofs, ladders, and slide tops are not part of a safe owner check. Everything in the exterior walk below can be assessed from the ground, a step stool at the side, or through compartments — if a roof surface needs eyes, that is a tech visit, not a climb.

Step 1: outside, top to bottom

• Roof line from the ground. Walk the perimeter and sight along the roof edge: branches or debris sitting on the roof, a skylight or vent cover cracked or missing, an AC shroud displaced, sealant visibly torn at a cap seam. Note anything resting on the roof — weight plus ponded water is its own problem.
• Awning and slide toppers. Fabric torn, sagging full of water, arms bent, or a topper hanging at an angle. Do not extend a damaged awning to “check it” — a bent arm under spring tension is a tech job. Photograph it as found.
• Slides, as they sit. Check each slide’s seals for gaps, torn wiper seals, and debris wedged at the top or corners. Look for a slide sitting unevenly or a seal rolled out of place. Do not cycle a slide that has debris on top or a visibly damaged seal — running it can drag grit across the roof of the slide and turn a cleaning into a repair.
• Walls, windows, and compartments. Cracked window glass, compartment doors sprung or unlatched, water lines visible running down a wall from a specific fitting — that stain pattern is a clue to the entry point, so photograph it before you wipe anything. Open each compartment: standing water, soaked stored items, and corrosion starting on electrical connections all show here first.
• Underneath and around the pad. Skirting or underbody panels torn (a common blowout-and-storm companion injury), stabilizers or jacks on washed-out sand, a rig that has visibly settled or shifted on softened ground, and sewer or water connections stressed or cracked. On sandy Central Florida ground, a hard storm can change your level — see our leveling on sandy ground guide.

Step 2: inside, low points first

• Start at the floor. Press along slide floor edges, around the shower and toilet base, under sinks, and at the bottom of walls below windows. Soft, spongy, or lifting flooring, swollen trim, and musty smell concentrated low all point to where water collected. Slide floors are Florida’s signature hidden repair for a reason — our slide-out floor page explains why early matters.
• Ceiling and lights, second. Water stains, a sagging ceiling panel, and water inside a light fixture tell you water came from above and roughly where. A fixture with water in it stays off until it is dry and checked.
• Cabinets and closets against exterior walls. Run a hand along the back panels and check stored paper, fabric, and cardboard — they show moisture before the structure does, and they are where mold announces itself in the days after.
• Appliance compartments from inside. Behind the fridge access area, around the water heater, and under the converter: dampness, tripped breakers, or a GFCI that will not reset are findings to write down, not problems to force past.

Step 3: restart systems one at a time

• One system, one test. Bring things back individually — water pump, then a tap at a time; one AC, not both; slides last and only if Step 1 was clean. A fault isolated to one system is useful information; everything on at once just gives you a breaker trip and no clue.
• Do not run an AC that took water or debris. A unit with a damaged shroud, debris in the fan, or water in its electrical box should be inspected first. Short cycling, hum-and-no-start, or a breaker trip on restart are stop signs, not things to retry repeatedly.
• Check for leaks under pressure. With the water system on, re-check under every sink, the toilet valve, and the water heater connections after a few minutes — storm movement and shifted rigs open up fittings that looked fine dry.
• Write down what you find, in order. Date, time, what you checked, what you saw, what you did. That simple log is gold for a tech — and it is the backbone of the documentation packet in our insurance documentation guide.

Drying: the clock that actually matters

The repair bill after a storm is usually decided by drying, not by the initial damage. Wet carpet padding, soaked insulation behind a wall panel, and a closed-up rig in Florida humidity will grow mold while a claim is still being filed. Open up and ventilate when weather allows, run fans and the AC (if it passed Step 3) to pull moisture out, remove soaked loose items to dry outside the rig, and do not close a wet rig back up “until the adjuster sees it” — photograph it thoroughly instead, then dry it. If walls, floors, or ceilings got wet inside the structure, a tech with a moisture meter can tell you what is actually dry and what is still holding water behind the surface.

Call a tech promptly if you find any of these

• Soft or spongy flooring, especially at a slide edge
• Water in electrical compartments, fixtures, or the power centre, or breakers/GFCIs that will not hold after a storm
• A slide that is uneven, has a torn seal, or had debris on top during the storm
• Roof damage you cannot fully see from the ground, or anything still sitting on the roof
• A propane or electrical smell, at any point
• An awning or topper bent, torn, or holding water

None of that list is a sales pitch — it is the set of findings where waiting reliably makes the job bigger. Our insurance claim repairs page covers how the repair process runs when a claim is involved.

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By Josh Tomlinson — Josh operates Florida Mobile RV Service and writes these guides. About the service →

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