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Hurricane home-protection guidelines

Do you live or have property located along the ocean, the bay or in the coastal district? If so, your property may be at risk of wind damage caused by hurricanes or severe storms. It is important to take the necessary measures to protect your family and property. Therefore, we will give you some hurricane home-protection guidelines.

Hurricane home-protection
Building a brick house is the best way of hurricane home-protection

Only in the face of disaster, we understand that we could do something differently. And although the thought of approaching a hurricane often seems like a remote problem, they arrive quickly and with a bang.

Always make sure that your investment properties are safe. More importantly, you must take the necessary preventive measures to ensure the safety of your family in the event of a hurricane.

How to ensure hurricane home-protection?

First, protect your family

  • Prepare for the worst! Make a list of emergency contacts and the evacuation route. Let your loved ones know where you will be in the event of an evacuation.
  • Have a few emergency bags to provide you with everything you need, if you need to quickly leave – including any medicine, water, extra money, chargers, etc.
  • Fill the gas tank. If electricity turns off, then gas pumps do too!
  • Charge all electronics to be able to communicate.
  • Stock up your pantry with enough food and water to last at least 3 days.
  • Be sure to have enough power supplies (batteries, generators, additional gasoline, etc.).

Then protect the house

1. Protect your windows and doors

Whether you use shockproof glass or blinds, protecting the doors and windows from strong winds and flying debris is important. Hurricane wind forces can hurl objects that act like bullets.

Consider installing blinds or providing a system to easily install the blinds in the event of an approaching storm. Although it would not be a permanent mount on the outside of your house, a track or other fastening equipment would be. So make sure that the hardware is integrated with any other external enhancements that you plan to make.

2. Keep your landscape without debris

Long before the hurricane comes, you should cut the trees and remove the dead branches. Also, remove any patio furniture and other loose objects outside that the wind could blow around.

3. Design for lifting

The forces of winds of hurricanes can draw buildings apart. The roof structures are particularly prone to dispatch, which is dangerous for everyone and for everything. Therefore, using a correct, and in many cases even a code structure, a building fastening system is mandatory. From snap to side anchors, from hold to built-in connectors, the choice of fasteners depends on the location and type of construction.

Hurricane home-protection - roof
Make your roof as strong as possible

4. Take care of the door

The garage doors are really weak places for winds of hurricanes. If the door does not hold, then the winds can enter the house and cause the detachment of the roof. Prevent this by making sure that the garage door is installed to resist these forces. Or fasten the existing door to prevent its session. By protecting the door, you make your hurricane home-protection even stronger.

5. Let the water run

You should always keep your gutters clean. But, besides that, you need to make sure that nothing blocks running water during a storm. Let’s face it, the water will want to go somewhere. If it’s not down and away, it will be in your roof and attic. Do a visual inspection of your gutters to make sure that nothing blocks the flow of water from your roof and away from your home.

6. Keep your basement dry

Try to have your basement or crawl place dry with more than a basic drainage system and a settler. Create redundancy in a system with two layers of drainage tiles, as well as with a backup battery or, even better, with a backup tray pump.

7. Make sure to always have the power

While you and your home will, hopefully, survive the storm, the electrical network most likely will not. Nothing can beat the presence of a backup generator for electricity generation. Although you can install a whole house system, you do not have to. If the generator is smaller and only holds the main things, you can better resist the effects of the storm.

Keep in mind that a working generator can be quite noisy. Thus, local codes for building and zoning will affect where they can be located. Make sure that you follow these rules and place the generator in a place that will not drive you, or your neighbors, crazy when it starts up.

8. Keep your head above water

Building codes for new homes in some coastal areas require that the structure is raised. While garages and storage facilities can be on the first floors of these houses, the design should be such that the structure does not block the storm surge.

What else can you do for hurricane home-protection?

  • Place towels and blankets in front of the doors to prevent damage from flooding inside.
  • Shut chimneys to prevent strong winds from entering.
  • Move all furniture away from windows and doors. If the water does come into your home, it will help to avoid the destroyed objects and save you a lot of money.
  • Place any valuable art or collectibles in a safe area on high ground.
  • Check the thresholds around doors, windows, and caulk, if necessary, that water does not get into the house. If the water does not come inside at all, then your hurricane home-protection is perfect.

Finally, check if your homeowner’s insurance policy covers hurricane damages

Building a new house
Or even building a completely new house

Be it before or after a disaster, always check with your insurance agent that all losses are covered in case a hurricane hits your property. If that storm is so strong that your hurricane home-protection doesn’t hold it, you will want to know what compensation you will get. And do not rely on the Internet. Always ask professional claim adjusters to help you estimate the damage. That way you will be sure that you get the right amount of money.

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