When your home experiences water damage, you need to make sure that you report the damage to your insurance company on top of cleaning it up. Water damage is one of the more frequent types of claims that insurance companies deal with. When it comes to working with an insurance adjuster on the claims process, there are some steps you need to follow to ensure your claim is accepted.

1. Record Proof of the Damage

First, before you start to clean anything up, you will want to record proof of the damage. Take pictures of the water damage. Make sure these pictures are clear and that they show all the damage to your home. You need to make sure that you capture images of every item and room that was damaged. Make sure to get pictures of the damage from multiple angles — you are going to want both types of pictures for each room in your home and damaged items.

You can also take a video to send to your insurance company. You need proof of the damage and taking pictures before you start to clean things up is the best way to establish that proof.

2. Remove Items From the Path of Water

After you spend a few minutes snapping pictures, it is time to start protecting your items from damage. However, the adjuster will want to know what you did to protect your items once you saw that water was damaging them. You are going to want to take and remove any valuables that you can carry on your own and get them out of the path of the water. Just leaving things sitting there instead of taking steps to safeguard them can have a negative impact on your claim and your ability to get money to replace the items.

3. Gather Up Your Trash

As you clean up the water damage, there are going to be items you can't save. You don't want to leave those things sitting in your home, but you don't want to move them off your property either. As such, take pictures of everything that you need to throw away. Then, hire a dumpster and put the items inside of it. Don't get the dumpster picked up right away. Keep the items on your property but outside of your home until the insurance adjuster can visit and see the items in person. You don't want your claim rejected because you threw away the damaged items.

When it comes to a water damage claim, take pictures of all the damage before you start cleaning up. Then, do what you can to remove and save valuable items from the path of water. For the belongings that are destroyed, gather them up, and remove them from your home, but don't throw them away until the adjuster can look at them. For more information, contact a water damage claims adjuster.