Storms can cause an enormous amount of damage to your home. The repair bill at the end can end up being significant—and this doesn’t even take into account all of the emotional upheavals that can be caused by the damage. If you live in a particularly stormy area, it is especially important that you do everything that you can to defend your property. There are several ways of battening down the hatches and getting your home ready for the onrushing thunder, lightning, and rain. With this in mind, here are a few ways that you can provide maximum protection to your home before a storm.
Make Sure Your Roof is in Tact
If you are concerned about your roof, it is worth contacting a professional company such as Signature Roofing. This is largely down to the fact that this can be a dangerous job, as well as a technical one that requires you to know what you are doing. Even if you have a relatively new roof, just a couple of missing or damaged shingles can allow in the wind and rain. As a result of this, even more, damage can occur. Making sure that this job is done as a priority offers you great peace of mind and protection.
Clear Out the Gutters
While this may seem like a minor maintenance task, clearing out the gutters of your home can actually have a big impact on how well it is able to deal with a storm. So, if they have become packed with loose leaves and other gunk, now is the time to clean them out. This allows water to be collected and steered away from your property. While you are doing this task, it also makes sure that your downspouts are directed away from your home and into a ditch, drain, or other areas that are designed for retaining water.
Ensure Your Doors and Windows are Properly Sealed
The main ports of your home are your doors and windows. Rather than allowing them to get battered by the elements, you should take steps to ensure that they are all properly sealed up. Wind and water only need a small opening to get through and cause damage to the rest of your home. In many cases, you may just need some sealant to take care of the job. However, if it has been a long time since they have been replaced, you may want to think about getting some more modern versions that are better designed to keep the elements at bay.
Store or Nail Down Anything That Can Blow Away
Often, the main damage of a storm is caused by flying objects. Therefore, you should check your yard for anything that is not currently stored away. Even a simple item like an umbrella can easily become a projectile that comes flying through your window. As for anything that cannot be stored away, such as loose fence posts, you need to make a special effort to ensure that they are properly nailed down. Check each of them in turn—just a single overlooked post can cause a great deal of damage.
Trim Back Your Trees Regularly
As we have just mentioned, flying objects can be enormously damaging in storm conditions. Therefore, if you have not trimmed back your trees recently, now is the time to address this problem. Long limbs can fly into a vehicle or a neighbor’s property, as well as your own roof and windows. If you are not confident in doing the job yourself, it is worth looking into professional tree surgeons to take care of it for you.
Keep a Generator Ready to Offer Power
In the event of a particularly bad storm, this can result in your power getting knocked out entirely. Having a backup plan will prevent you from having to live in darkness with no electricity! A generator is a useful way of providing the hours or days of power that you require. While this may seem like a big investment now, the money that it can save you, in the long run, is likely to be worthwhile.
Install Storm Shutters
We talked earlier about sealing up your doors and windows, but if you are looking to give them an extra layer of protection, one of the best ways of doing this is with a set of storm shutters. Once a window is broken, it is very difficult to prevent damage inside the rest of your home. The damage could be so extreme that it causes a collapse in a wall, and then your roof could cave in as a result of this. Storm shutters help to prevent your windows from shattering. They are particularly useful in areas that regularly experience the most extreme type of storms.
Protect Your Home From Flooding
In the event of high rainfall, there is every chance that flooding could occur at home. Therefore, you want to do everything that you can to prevent this from occurring. There are a couple of large-scale tasks that you could take on. One of these is to make the foundation watertight with concrete. The second is to modify the area underneath the house in a way that allows floodwater to enter and exit. Also, you should check your insurance situation to see what is covered. In the event that water does manage to find its way into the home, you need to be proactive in moving as much as you can to a higher level to offer it extra protection.
Have an Evacuation Plan
It may be the case that the storm is so extreme that you simply cannot stay where you are. As a result, it is worth having a clear evacuation plan to get you out. Have a bag packed with valuables such as a first aid kit and water, as well as spare clothes. Speak to family members, friends, and neighbors about who will be able to put you up.
