Norfolk takes real weather, and the coast between Yarmouth and the north Norfolk cliffs takes more of it than anywhere inland. After a bad blow the calls come in for a fortnight. The single thing that most often decides whether a claim is paid is not the damage itself, it is what was recorded before anyone started fixing it.
Why the evidence matters more than the damage
Almost every policy covers storm damage and excludes gradual wear and tear. Those two things can look similar once a repair is underway. An insurer looking at a finished repair and a short invoice has very little to go on, and the safe answer for them is wear.
What to photograph, before the repair
- The damage in place, from the ground and from a distance, so the position on the roof is obvious.
- Anything that has come down, where it landed, before you clear it away.
- Any internal damage, the ceiling stain, the wet insulation, the affected room.
- The wider property, so it is clear the whole roof was in reasonable order.
- The date, which your phone records anyway, and which lines the damage up with a named storm.
Do not climb up to get a better picture. A damaged roof is exactly the wrong place to be, and a photograph from the ground is worth more than an accident.
Making it safe is not the same as repairing it
Where a roof is open to the weather it needs making safe quickly, and waiting for a loss adjuster while water comes in helps nobody. That is fine, and insurers expect it. Record the state of things first, keep it separate from the permanent repair, and keep the paperwork for both.
What we do
We photograph storm damage before we touch it, note what caused it, and write the report in the detail insurers ask for. Where the roof needs making watertight the same day, we do that first and document it as we go.
One thing worth checking afterwards: if a tile came off because it was never mechanically fixed, the rest of that slope is in the same condition and the next gale will find them. On an exposed roof that is the repair worth doing properly.