Important Steps to Prevent Storm Damage

When the weather is great everyone enjoys it but when storms are approaching there are some important jobs to handle to make sure your home is ready. If you avoid doing them it could mean more damage and more repairs to pay for. Preventing storm damage is an important part of protecting your property and your family’s safety. Here are some important tips to get you started.

1. Check your home’s foundations - One of your steps to prevent storm damage is to check the foundations of your home for cracks and gaps. It is a place where water can easily get in during a storm or heavy rain and then cause major damage. Any cracks you see need repairing and if you worry about not knowing how to call in a professional to help. At the same time for the same reasons, check the sealing around your doors and windows.
2. Put away all the outdoor furniture - The strong winds in a storm blow outdoor furniture around and it gets thrown at your house. It causes damage to your yard and your home. Then, of course, the furniture itself gets damaged or destroyed too. Putting them all away is one of the important steps to prevent storm damage.
3. Take care of your gutters and downpipe - Another step, possibly one of the most important to prevent water damage is to take care of your gutters and downpipes. That means removing leaves, twigs and other debris that builds up and causes blockages. When you get a lot of rain if your gutters are not letting that water run down and away from your home, it is going to cause water damage. You can get up there with a bucket and hose and do it yourself, you can hire someone to handle it for you, and you can also have a gutter guard put in to help. Be sure to carry out any downpipe and gutter repairs too.
4. Make sure you do not have any dangerous trees - Preventing storm damage in your yard also includes checking for dangerous trees. These would be trees that are diseased or dying, ones you can see would not be able to handle any strong winds. You should call in a professional to remove these trees, or to cut back the branches that are a risk. While often home insurance covers tree damage it is still something that you can prevent, and ignoring a tree-like that could put your safety at risk.
5. Be sure you have a proper roof inspection annually - You need to make sure your roof is in good condition so you know it can handle strong storms when they happen. A roof that is not regularly checked could have loose tiles and such that can get ripped off in strong winds and then the elements get in to damage the homes.
6. Work out what rooms are safe to retreat to - For your safety and for anyone else in the home it is a good idea to have a plan of which rooms are safest to retreat to in particularly bad storms. These would ideally be a room without a window in the interior of the home. This is particularly important during something like a tornado or hurricane. Usually, you would retreat to the lowest level like a basement.
7. Make sure furniture that could fall is secured - You need to anchor any furniture that is at risk of falling inside. These steps to prevent storm damage include damage to the inside too.
8. Use shutters - If you do not have shutters consider getting some. Make sure to close all the windows and shutters before the strong winds start. You might consider temporary protection over the windows.
9. Look into how to turn off your utilities - Sometimes it is important to turn off the utilities during a storm so check you know where and how.
10. Unplug all your electronics - You should unplug everything to prevent damage. Consider moving them and expensive items up a level in case of flooding.
11. Make sure you have a storm kit ready - A box with some food that does not need cooking, water, blankets, torches, radio, first aid kit and such is a good idea. You might want to include pet food and litter if you have them.
12. Track the weather - Make sure you track where the storm is. Preventing storm damage is possible because you start before it arrives and gets things done. When you hear emergency alerts or warnings, heed them.