The short answer: document from wherever it is already safe to stand, and let safety decide the order of everything else. Federal guidance is consistent on two points. First, if you evacuated, wait to re-enter until professionals say the home is safe, with no structural, electrical or other hazards, as the EPA flood fact sheet states. Second, before cleanup begins, contact your insurance company and take pictures of the home and belongings. Photograph before you move or discard anything, keep receipts, keep small material samples, and write down what you saw and when. This guide organizes that work; it does not perform it, inspect your home, or interpret a policy.
1. Sequence the work before you touch anything
Documentation is cheapest when it happens in a fixed order, because moving a wet item destroys the evidence of where it sat. The FEMA guidance on documenting damage puts photographing first: photos and videos of structural and personal property, inside and outside, taken before discarding items, and including the insides of closets and cabinets. The FEMA fact sheet on cleanup and repairs adds a detail that saves hours later: label the photos by room.
A workable order, drawn from those sources rather than from any field practice of this publication:
- Confirm it is safe to be inside at all — see section 2.
- Photograph and video rooms, contents and building systems before removal.
- Record appliance make, model and serial numbers.
- Keep receipts for any replacement or repair purchase.
- Retain samples of carpeting, flooring, wallpaper and drapes where possible.
- Only then remove water-damaged items that cannot be cleaned.
The incident record builder holds this sequence as a private checklist you fill in and download as plain text. Nothing you type is uploaded, stored or sent to anyone.
2. Decide safety questions from official guidance, not from urgency
FEMA advises following local officials' instructions to confirm it is safe to re-enter, and confirming that electricity and gas are shut off, with an electrician checking the house before power is restored. The same fact sheet also advises looking outside for damaged power lines and gas lines before entering, turning off main electrical power and water systems, not using gas appliances until a professional inspects them, watching for protruding nails, screws, aluminum and broken glass, and checking ceilings and floors for sagging. If a floor or ceiling looks like it may fail, that is a structural question for the city or a qualified professional, not a documentation task.
Two hazards are easy to overlook while focused on a camera. The EPA fact sheet warns that portable generators and other combustion devices must be used outside and far away from buildings, because carbon monoxide is invisible and can be fatal in minutes. It also warns not to mix cleaning products, and specifically not bleach and ammonia, because the combination can create toxic vapors.
3. Protect yourself while you record
The EPA flood fact sheet sets a minimum of an N-95 respirator, goggles and protective gloves before entering or inspecting a home that may be moldy. FEMA gives the same minimum and adds long-sleeved shirts, long pants, rubber or plastic gloves and waterproof boots for salvage work. Neither list covers every hazard in a damaged home; treat them as the floor, not the ceiling.
Before removing wet wallboard or ceiling and floor tiles, the EPA fact sheet advises avoiding disturbance of asbestos and lead, and gives agency contact points if either is known or suspected: the EPA TSCA Assistance Information Service and the National Lead Information Center. Those are EPA channels, not a local inspection service, and this publication does not screen or recommend anyone.
4. Write down what you can see without interpreting it
Notes age badly unless they are specific and neutral. The sources support a records set that describes conditions rather than diagnosing them. FEMA asks for photos of the outside and inside of the building including damaged personal property, appliance make, model and serial numbers, all repair receipts, separation of damaged from undamaged items for an adjuster, and samples of carpet, flooring, wallpaper and drapes. The FEMA release also notes that the type and quality of material may affect insurance claims — a reason to keep a sample, not a reason for this site to estimate what a claim will pay.
A hypothetical example of a usable note entry: "Nov 7, 7:40 a.m. — standing water visible on basement floor, roughly ankle depth at the base of the stairs; waterline mark on the north wall about 4 inches above the baseboard; no water visible in the adjoining closet." Compare that with "basement flooded and mold everywhere," which asserts a condition the writer has not established. Only a qualified professional can evaluate mold. What the EPA mold and moisture page states generally is that wet things usually get moldy when they stay wet more than two days, and that mold areas larger than about 10 square feet may require professional remediation.
Two practical limitations apply. First, timestamps are only as good as the clock behind them, so note whether a time came from a phone, a utility log or an estimate. Second, memory is not a record: write entries the same day, at ground level of observation. The guide to organizing an incident timeline covers ordering entries once you have them.
5. Keep the evidence and the paper trail together
FEMA's documentation list treats receipts and samples as proof, not souvenirs: keep receipts for replacement or repair purchases, and retain material samples of damaged items. Store photos, receipts and notes in one labeled folder, physical or digital, and record where that folder lives. The incident record exports a plain text file you can attach to that folder by hand — the download happens on your device and is not emailed, stored or logged.
6. Bring the same discipline to a contractor conversation
FEMA advises consulting your insurance adjuster or insurance company before you sign any cleaning, remediation or maintenance agreement. That is a sequencing point, not coverage advice, and this site does not interpret policies. It is also worth noting what FEMA states plainly: National Flood Insurance Program policies will not cover damage from mold. Whether that sentence applies to your situation is a question for your insurer.
When a scope arrives, compare proposed work and stated exclusions line by line — the scope comparison guide sets out how. Before signing, use the questions to ask before work starts. Both guides are part of the same downloadable record, so your notes travel with your questions rather than living in separate places.
7. Know where local permitting fits — and where it does not
Documentation and permitting are separate tracks, but screenshots and scope language sometimes blur them. Denver's minor work page lists non-structural repair due to water or fire damage among commercial and multifamily projects that may qualify for quicker review, subject to conditions such as construction valuation under $750,000, no structural work, no change of occupancy or use, and no reviews required by other agencies. For single-family and duplex projects it lists non-structural repairs and non-structural preparatory demolition among items that may qualify when they are of the lowest complexity and need no other agency review. Denver states the reviewer makes the call and moves complex projects to standard review. Nothing here says a particular repair does or does not need a permit.
If the home sits in the regulatory floodplain, a recorded non-conversion covenant may govern materials and equipment below the Flood Protection Elevation. That covenant applies to specific structures given special permission to be built in the floodplain; it is not a general rule for Denver homes, and insurance effects are outside this site's scope.
8. Record what you did not do, too
A useful incident record states the limits of its own author. Note the date you stopped documenting, rooms you could not safely enter, gauges or readings you took and with what, items you discarded after photographing them, and questions you were unable to answer. FEMA advises ensuring cleanup is complete before reoccupying a home, and that a mold remediation professional may be needed to help. This publication makes no drying promise, sets no universal deadline, and diagnoses nothing. The EPA mold cleanup hub is the starting point for the underlying federal guidance; the record is simply your account of what you saw, when, and what you kept.
