After a storm: how to check for roof damage and document it for insurance

After a storm in Miami-Dade, the useful work is calm and specific. Find out whether the roof is letting water in, write down what you can see without getting hurt, and call the people who actually have a role: your insurer, about your policy, and a licensed roofer, about the roof. RTI Roofing can do the second of those. We cannot do the first. This article is general information. It is not an insurance guide, not a claim strategy, and not a promise that anyone will pay.

Stay off the roof

Do not climb a wet roof, a roof with missing covering, or a roof a tree has landed on. Falls are the injury we are trying not to add to the week. You can learn a lot from the ground and from inside the house. If a limb is on the roof or power lines are down, that is a reason to keep people away, not a reason to drag the limb off yourself.

What to record from the ground and from inside

Use your phone. Stand far enough back to show the whole side of the house, then closer for anything you can see without a ladder: missing tile or shingles, exposed underlayment, a lifted edge, debris, a dented gutter, water staining at a soffit. Inside, photograph stains, drips, and wet insulation if it is already visible in a closet or an attic you can reach by a normal stair. Write the date of the storm and the date you took the photos. Say which room the stain is in.

• The date and roughly what the weather did
• Photos of each side of the house from the yard
• Close photos of damage you can see without climbing
• Interior stains, with the room named
• A short note of when the stain appeared, if you know

What to keep

Tile, shingle pieces, and metal that fell into the yard are evidence of what came off. If you can store them safely, do not throw them away before your insurer has had a chance to ask about them. Do not cover or discard damaged material just to make the yard look finished. Also do not start a permanent repair that hides the condition before it has been seen, unless water is actively damaging the inside and someone qualified has told you a temporary cover is needed.

Insurance, stated plainly

Your policy is a contract we have not read. We do not know your deductible, your exclusions, or what your carrier will accept. Call them and ask how they want notice of damage. An RTI inspection describes what a licensed roofer sees on the roof. It is not an adjustment, and it is not a guarantee of payment. We will not tell you that a claim will be approved. We will not tell you to inflate what happened.

If water is coming in, move what you can move from inside the house. A bucket and a towel are not a roof repair. They limit the mess until someone qualified looks. We do not advertise an overnight crew. We schedule inspections. The repair and replacement pages explain the two outcomes that inspection can lead to.

What the inspection is for

We look, when it is safe, and we write down repair versus replacement. If a temporary cover is wise to limit interior damage, we say that after we see the roof, not as a product sold from this article. Photos you already took help. They do not replace the visit. Call (305) 235-4968 or request a free roof inspection. License CCC1335280. The office is 12240 SW 128th Ct, Suite 104, Miami, FL 33186. For how the county treats a new roof after the storm has passed, read the What HVHZ and Florida Building Code hurricane rules mean for your new roof.