How to Prepare Your Home for a Storm

No matter what the weatherman might say, you never quite know when a bad storm is going to find its way into your local area. To ensure that you and your family remain safe should the worst-case scenario in this instance take place, you need to make sure your home is up to the task of protecting you.

How to Prepare Your Home for a Storm

[ photo: pexels by mark neal ]

Here are a few simple things you can do to your home and surrounding property in order to prepare it for a storm: 

General home maintenance

They might not seem very important, but the following general home maintenance tasks are essential when it comes to storm preparation:

• Having gutters and drains clear of debris.

• Remove heavy tree branches that hangover or are near your property.

• Fix or replace pieces of timber whenever they become corroded or infected by termites.

• Secure all loose fittings found around your property, especially when storms are forecast.

Taking the time to tend to these maintenance jobs could very well keep you and your family safe from danger the next time a storm hits. Whatever you do, don’t forget to tend to them.

  

Keep your roof in good condition

Should Mother Nature ever decide to send extreme weather conditions your way, your roof will act as your first line of defense against all of the dangers that could potentially, quite literally, befall you. 

It’ll keep you and your family dry, warm, safe and secure when the winds are high and heavy rainfalls, so keeping it in good condition is an essential task that you face when preparing your home for a storm.

To keep your roof in good condition, first and foremost, you should check it regularly. Keeping an eye on the state of the roof will allow you to make adjustments to it in good time before the next storm really kicks in; if you do ever spot any weaknesses with regards to it, you should be sure to go online and search for “roofers near me” right away.

These professionals will be able to check your roof for instances of wear and tear, and they will then be able to make changes to it to ensure that it is up to the task of protecting you and your family. 

Assess the structural integrity of your home

Keeping your roof in good condition might be the most important task that you face when preparing your home for a storm, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of your home’s structural integrity should be ignored. You need to assess the strength of your humble abode to ensure that it is up to the challenge of taking everything Mother Nature has to throw at it.

A good way to check the structural integrity of your home is to inspect its base. If ground slope movement has taken place or if cracks/fissures have started to appear, then you should consider having a structural engineer come round to see what can be done to shore up your home’s foundations.

Identify the dangers that you specifically face

Even if you live somewhere that isn’t prone to storms; you’re never truly safe from having to face extreme weather conditions. You will, however, be more likely to face certain dangers than you are others based on your geographical location. In order to ensure your home is ready for these dangers, you need to identify them and then take action.

Should you live next to a river, for example, then it’s important that you acknowledge the fact that your home could very well be prone to flooding. To fend off all the problems that could potentially arise from this being the case, you would have to:

• Store valuable belongings and chemicals above ground level

• Relocate your power points and outlets to ensure they are above previous flood levels

• Waterproof your basement

• Pack an emergency kit above ground level (flashlights, medications, copies of personal documentation, phones that are fully charged, etc.)

• Lay down soil that is highly absorbent

• Renovate your yard to ensure that it pushes flood water away from your home

Regardless of whether you live in a flood-prone area or not, the message is still the same: if your chances of facing a certain kind of storm are particularly high, be sure to identify and then prepare for it. 

Should a storm ever find its way into your local area, you better hope your home is strong enough to protect you and your family. If it isn’t, all kinds of dangers could befall you, and to add insult to injury, you could end up having to pay a pretty hefty repair bill to boot. Take the above advice, and get your home storm-ready before it’s too late.