After a storm, two or three people are going to form an opinion about your roof — contractors, possibly an adjuster, possibly a second contractor for a second opinion. They will not all describe the same thing the same way.
The one record that is entirely yours is the one you make before any of them arrive. Documenting roof damage properly takes about twenty minutes, and here is how.
Ground Level First, and Maybe Only
Do not climb onto a storm-damaged roof. Wet shingles are slick, loose granules behave like ball bearings, and storm-compromised decking may not hold your weight. There may also be downed lines or damaged electrical in the area.
Nearly everything worth documenting is visible from the ground, from a ladder at the eave, or from a window. A phone camera with zoom and a pair of binoculars covers most of it.
The Exterior Shot List
- Each elevation of the house from a distance, so the whole roof is in frame with the building for context.
- Every roof slope individually, since storm exposure varies dramatically by direction.
- Any visibly missing, lifted, or displaced shingles, zoomed as far as the camera allows.
- Gutters and downspouts, close up — dents in soft aluminum are strong corroborating evidence of hail.
- The base of each downspout, showing granule accumulation.
- Metal vents, turbines, chimney caps, and flashing.
- Window screens, siding, garage door, and the AC condenser fins — dents here mean the roof took the same impacts.
- Fence caps, mailbox, grill lid, and any other soft metal on the property.
- Any tree limbs down, and their position relative to the house.
- Debris in the yard, including shingle pieces, before you clean it up.
Photograph what impacted the property as well as the property itself. Hail on the ground, if you can catch it before it melts, next to a coin or a ruler for scale, is genuinely useful.
The Interior Shot List
- Any ceiling stain, discoloration, or bubbling, with a wide shot showing which room and where.
- Active drips, ideally as video so the rate is evident.
- Wall staining below a ceiling line.
- Attic photos, if you can get in safely — daylight visible through the decking, wet insulation, water tracks on rafters.
- Any damaged contents, photographed where they sit before being moved.
Interior evidence is what connects roof damage to consequences, and it is frequently the part homeowners forget until the ceiling is repainted.
What Makes Photos Actually Useful
Scale
A close-up of a dent with nothing for reference could be any size. Put a coin, a tape measure, or a pen in the frame. This single habit does more for the quality of your record than anything else.
Context Pairs
For every close-up, take a wider shot showing where on the building it is. A detail photo with no context is hard to place later and easy to dispute.
Timestamps
Phones embed date and time in the file metadata automatically. Do not strip it — avoid re-saving through apps that remove it, and keep the originals rather than only compressed copies sent over messaging.
Consistency
Same positions, same angles, if you photograph again later. Comparable images over time show progression clearly.
Write It Down Too
Photos capture condition; notes capture circumstance. Write down the date and approximate time of the storm, what you observed — hail size, wind, duration — when you first noticed each specific problem, and anything a neighbor observed.
Keep a simple running log from that point: who came out, on what date, what they said, what they wrote. If there is a dispute later about scope or timing, a contemporaneous log is far more persuasive than a reconstruction from memory.
Keep the Originals Somewhere Safe
Back the photos up somewhere off the phone the same day — cloud storage or emailed to yourself. Phones get lost and damaged, and this record may matter months from now.
Hold onto receipts for anything you spend on mitigation: tarps, fasteners, plywood, a contractor’s emergency tarping invoice. Keep old repair records and previous roofing invoices too, since the age and condition of the roof before the storm is frequently relevant.
A Note on Insurance
This documentation supports a claim, but it does not determine one. What your policy covers, what your deductible is, how depreciation is handled, and what your reporting deadline is are all specific to your policy and your carrier — talk to your agent, not to a contractor, about those questions.
What is true generally: carriers place time limits on reporting, and evidence degrades. A tarp goes up and covers the damage. Debris gets cleaned. A subsequent storm muddies which event caused what. Documenting early is simply worth more than documenting late.
Then Get an Independent Assessment
With your own record in hand, a professional inspection becomes a comparison rather than a leap of faith. If a contractor describes damage your photos do not show, or misses damage they do, you will know. Our post on vetting a roofer after a storm covers what to ask, and what hail damage actually looks like covers what should be getting examined.
Get a Free, Documented Inspection
East Texas Roofing LLC provides free storm damage inspections across Crockett, Palestine, Tyler, Lufkin, Athens, and the rest of East Texas, with photo documentation you keep regardless of whether you hire us.
Contact East Texas Roofing or call (936) 222-0824.