If you live in a state that has a lot of hurricanes, you might be worried your home is going to get damaged. The best way to protect your home is by learning how to prepare your house for a hurricane.
Instead of hoping your home stands up to the hurricane, give your home a fighting chance. Continue reading this article to learn the best things to do to help your home stand up to the worst a hurricane can dish out.
Learn How to Prepare Your House for a Hurricane
Know Whether You’re at Risk for Hurricanes
It is great if you know what to do to prepare your home for a hurricane, but before you start preparing for a hurricane, make sure you’re actually at risk for a hurricane. Hurricanes can be very scary and might bring high winds, heavy flooding, and some even bring tornados into the mix.
If you think that your home isn’t going to be impacted because you’re inland, that isn’t necessarily the case. While the coast might get hit the worst, there are still many people that can experience negative effects from the hurricane, even if their homes are hundreds of miles inland.
Ready Your Family With an Evacuation Plan
You never know what a hurricane is going to do. Even if you think you’re going to be safe at home, make sure you have an evacuation plan in place.
Part of your plan should be determining where you’re going to go. You should see if there is a shelter nearby and where you should go in case of a hurricane. If you have pets, call ahead and ask the shelter if they take pets.
Make sure friends and family know about your evacuation plans, where you’re going to go, and don’t forget to gas up the cars and grab some cash from the ATM.
Put An Emergency Kit Together
Before you leave the house to evacuate, grab your emergency kit. You can buy a pre-made emergency kit which makes things a little easier or you can put everything together yourself.
If you’re putting the kit together yourself, you should include enough water for each person to drink for 3 days. You also need three days of non-perishable food for each person as well.
Any important documents, necessary medications, a first aid kit, weather radio, or normal radio, as well as a flashlight, should be included.
Prepare for Any Special Needs
If you have any needs outside the norm, make sure you’re prepared for them specifically outside the normal best ways to prepare your home for a hurricane. Does someone in your family use a wheelchair? Do you have a child with special needs that are going to need additional attention during this stressful time?
While these things may be normal life to you, they can be noteworthy if you’re going to a shelter or if you’ve got some other type of plan that you need other people outside of your family to help you with.
Know What Your Homeowner’s Insurance Covers
Before you’re hit by a hurricane, you need to make sure you know what coverage you have. Plenty of people think they are covered for certain things and then when things hit the fan — it’s no good.
One of the most common things people don’t know is that most homeowner’s insurance does not cover flood damage. During a hurricane, you’re likely to experience a lot of flood damage in your home, so make sure you’re covered.
Check the Condition of Your Roof
With a hurricane heading in your direction, you need to ensure your roof is as sturdy as possible. If there are any holes or cracks in the roof, you need to get them taken care of right away.
Make sure all of your shingles or tiles are in place and if they aren’t — fix that right away. These simple fixes will make all the difference when the wind and rain come.
Check the Condition of Your Windows
Another area that has a lot of problems is your home’s windows. If your home’s windows aren’t properly sealed, water can easily get inside and cause problems. Even if you have hurricane impact windows, you’re not going to get the full benefit if they aren’t sealed properly.
If you find that your windows are in good condition, make sure to shut and lock them all. If you have shutters for your windows, make sure to put those over your windows as well. The more protection you have for your windows, the better.
Divert Water By Using Sandbags
While you might not be able to keep all of the water out of your house, it is possible to keep some of it from rushing it with properly placed sandbags. You can grab some sandbags at the local hardware store or you can make your own sandbags.
When you’re placing your sandbags, make sure you’re being strategic and putting the sandbags in a pattern that will make the water go away from your home and not just trying to block it directly.
Don’t Let Your Gutters Clog
If your gutters are clogged, now is the perfect time to clean them out. If your gutters are clogged when a hurricane comes, the water won’t flow properly and it will be more likely to come in and damage your home.
Make sure to keep your gutters in good repair or they might fall off during an intense storm.
Say Yes to Surge Protection
It is easy for your appliances and electronics to get damaged through a surge during a storm. There might be no warning and then all of a sudden a surge comes through and takes out some of your most important things in your home.
Check to see if your heating and air conditioning have special surge protection in place. If you aren’t sure what you’re looking for, you should call in a professional to make sure your home is protected from surges.
An easy fix for protecting your electronics and appliances is to get a powerstrip and plug everything into those since they have built-in surge protection.
Keep in mind that your things might not be completed knocked out right away, but if the surges keep happening, they could build up over time.
Cover Your Air Conditioning Unit
Your air conditioning unit stands up against a lot, but you don’t want to ask it to do more than it can. If there is flying debris going through the air, it could totally knock out your air conditioning unit.
Make sure the cover you use is approved by the manufacturer, or you might cause more harm than good.
Remove Debris and Secure What You Can
The fewer airborne threats there are, the safer you and your home are going to be. If you have a grill outside, patio furniture, and other things, make sure to bring it inside.
Even the smallest kid’s toys can become dangerous projectiles when winds are high. Small twigs on the ground and loose limbs on trees are also a danger. Cut any low limbs that don’t look secure before the storm comes, but don’t try to do it when winds pick up.
Make Sure Your Sump Pump Is Working
Your sump pump is in your basement or crawl space and is there to keep it from flooding. Make sure everything is clear from your sump pump, so it can work properly. Always do a routine check on the pump before a big storm because if it fails during the storm, you’re looking at a big problem.
If debris does get around your sump pump, the water it can handle might decrease, and burnout is even a possibility. Keep in mind that a power outage is also a possibility, so having a backup source of power is your best bet to keeping dry during a big storm.
Check Your Foundation
If your foundation has problems from cracking, this could cause flooding and plumbing problems. Even if you don’t see cracking around your foundation, you should have a professional check your space to make sure everything is in order.
Should an inspection show that you have foundation problems, ask them what the source of the problem is. If you don’t have enough time to fix it, you’ll have to be mindful of the problem, but know you can’t do anything until after the storm is over.
Once things calm down, you might have to repair additional damage as well as the initial foundation damage. The best thing you can do is keep an eye on your foundation well before any storm comes, so you don’t have to worry about this problem.
How to Prepare Your House for a Hurricane – Now You Know
Now you know how to prepare your house for a hurricane. When your house is prepared properly by using these tips for hurricane prep, you’ll be able to save money in costly repairs and labor that you otherwise would have had to deal with.
Do you want to learn more about taking care of your home and other important topics? Keep reading our blog to learn more.
