Documenting storm damage: the packet is the claim.

Run this alongside our post-storm damage check — that walk tells you what to inspect and in what order; this one tells you how to record each finding so it still means something weeks later, to someone who was never at your site. Nothing here is insurance advice, and coverage is always your insurer’s decision under your policy. This is about not losing evidence you already had.

Photograph before you disturb — then photograph the fix for the water

• As-found comes first, if it is safe. Before tarping, mopping, moving debris, or pulling wet items out, take the as-found set below. Emergency steps to stop water coming in come next — and photograph those too: the tarp in place, the bucket under the drip, the wet items moved out to dry. Mitigation documented is mitigation explained; a dried, cleaned rig with no as-found photos is the hard claim, not the other way around.
• Do not delay drying to “preserve the scene.” In Florida humidity, a closed wet rig grows mold while a file sits in a queue. Photograph thoroughly, then dry aggressively. Your photos are the scene.
• Keep the originals. Leave the original files on your phone with their dates intact. Send copies; do not edit, crop away context, or filter originals. If you annotate, annotate a copy and say so.

The wide, mid, and close pattern — for every damaged area

• Wide: the whole side, room, or roof line the damage is on, so a reviewer can place it on the rig without guessing. Include something that orients the shot — a slide edge, a door, a window.
• Mid: the damaged component itself — the torn topper, the cracked skylight, the soft section of slide floor with a hand pressing it, the compartment with standing water.
• Close: the detail that proves the mechanism — sealant split at the exact fitting, the waterline mark inside a compartment, corrosion starting on a connection, the model and serial plate of a damaged appliance. Serial plates matter more than owners expect: they identify the exact unit a replacement or part has to match.
• Video has one good use: a slow walk-through narrating what you are seeing, and any active drip or leak in motion. Still photos carry the file; video supports them.
• One exterior set of the whole rig. All four sides, undamaged areas included. It sounds unnecessary until a later question is “was that already like that?” — a dated full set answers it for every side at once. The same logic applies to any pre-storm photos you already have from trips or listings: gather them, do not stage replacements for them.

The written timeline: ten lines that do heavy lifting

• The storm: its date, roughly when conditions were worst at your location, and where the rig was parked.
• The discovery: when you first saw each item of damage, and what you were doing — arriving, opening up after storage, a neighbour’s call.
• The mitigation: what you did to stop further damage and when — tarp, drying, power left off, water shut off.
• The checks: the findings from your post-storm walk, in the order you found them, including systems you tested and what they did.
• The contacts: when you filed, your claim number once you have it, and a one-line note of each conversation — date, who, what was said or promised. Keep this log current as the claim moves; memory blurs fast after a storm week.

Separate storm damage from old wear — out loud, in writing

This is the part owners resist, and it is the part adjusters respect most. If a seal was already cracked before the storm, a tire was already aged, or a floor spot was already soft last season, say so in your notes and let your tech’s estimate separate it too. A packet that honestly splits “new, from this storm” from “pre-existing wear we noticed” reads as credible on the items that are genuinely new — and a claim built on a roof that was already failing invites a denial that takes the legitimate damage down with it. Honesty here is not generosity; it is strategy.

What to keep, and what not to throw away

• Damaged parts stay until the claim handler says otherwise. Torn fabric, a cracked vent cover, a failed component a tech replaces — keep it, labelled with the date it came off, if you reasonably can. Discarded parts cannot be inspected.
• Receipts for mitigation and temporary fixes: tarps, drying help, temporary repairs, storage or lodging paperwork your policy may ask about — keep the paper, whatever the amounts. Whether any of it is reimbursable is a policy question; having no record of it is not.
• Your tech’s full packet: dated before, during, and after photos; a written scope separating storm damage from wear; moisture readings where water is the claim; and an itemised final invoice. Ask about documentation before you authorise work — it is much harder to reconstruct afterwards. Our claim repairs page details what a claim-ready tech packet looks like.
• Hidden damage and supplements are normal. Water damage routinely understates itself: a slide floor opened up can show rot well beyond the soft spot, and wet wall structure can extend the scope. The normal, reputable pattern is: estimate what is visible, photograph anything new the moment it is exposed, and submit a supplement before doing the extra work — not after. If your claim grows, that paper trail is why it grows smoothly.

A short owner checklist

• As-found wide / mid / close photos of every damaged area, originals kept
• Four-side exterior set, damaged and undamaged areas alike
• Appliance model and serial plates for anything damaged
• Ten-line timeline: storm, discovery, mitigation, checks, contacts
• Pre-existing wear noted honestly, separate from storm damage
• Mitigation photographed and receipts kept; damaged parts retained
• Claim number and a running contact log in one place
• Tech packet requested up front: photos, written scope, moisture readings, itemised invoice

Do those eight things and you have handed an adjuster a file that can be approved from a desk — which, after a Florida storm, when every reviewer’s queue is long, is exactly where you want your claim to be.

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

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Educational note: this page is general information about how claim repairs typically proceed, not insurance advice. Coverage decisions belong to your insurer under your policy. Any cost ranges mentioned on this site are typical, general information only; your technician confirms the service-call fee and an exact quote directly with you before work begins.