Wildfires, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, tropical storms, and hail storms are classified as a natural disaster. Depending on a season, natural disasters might strike anytime and your house might suffer from serious damage. That is the reason why it’s essential that you reinforce your house to prevent any unnecessary damage as well as keep the costs of repairs to minimum.
Here are a few ways to protect your home from natural disasters
Ensure That You Have Homeowner’s Insurance
You should keep in mind that mortgage insurance is different from homeowner’s insurance. It isn’t always simple to come up with cash for repairs with a moment’s notice and more often than not, they can be expensive. Homeowner’s insurance does not always provide full coverage for damage to homes because of natural disasters. A homeowner’s insurance might include partial insurance for your house for particular natural disasters. While having money and being prepared for emergency repairs is important, a good alternative might be getting a separate insurance for natural disasters if your homeowner’s insurance does not cover it.
Tornadoes – Protect your house from tornadoes through bracing your roof’s gables and reinforcing sheathing underneath the outer roofing or shingles.
Hail – It might damage glass windows, roof, siding, and doors of your house. Other than installing hurricane shutters on your doors and windows, you must ensure to have insurance for roof hail damage.
Tropical Storms and Hurricanes – These natural disasters likely hit east coast. You should be ready through installing hurricane shutters, extra strong garage door, and having hurricane straps for your home’s frame.
Have Your Own Safe Room
Create a safe room for a tornado. This room can provide protection once disasters strike like hurricanes. A basic type of this room can accommodate about 16 people, which may cost thousands of dollars to build. This safe room may also serve as your utility closet.
Wildfires – It may be due to lightning, lava from volcanoes or human negligence. Reduce the damage of wildfire through making a distance of thirty feet between your house and dead foliage that might catch fire and trees.
Floods – Use waterproofing compound for your basements walls. Elevate your appliances, particularly the furnace, electric panels, and water heater.
Earthquakes – Secure all of your heavy objects. These may include TVs, shelves, cabinets, and bookcases to the floor or walls using safety straps, cables, and brackets.
Know What’s Damaged and Fix It Quickly
After a disaster, you should immediately check your home for damage and note the date. You should check both the exterior and interior of your home. Take photos and have repair workers come and ask for estimates of the repair costs. Then, call your insurance company or you may let them fix the damages already. Regardless if you are dealing with homeowner’s insurance or particular insurance for natural disaster, if your insurance company provides you trouble regarding the covering costs that are stipulated in contract, contact public adjusters to get assistance from insurance providers.
To avoid expensive damages, make sure that you do your best to keep the damages to minimum. For instance, use a mulch or something similar rather than loose stones for driveways and paths, get rid of weak branches from the nearby trees and ensure there’s a least possibility of water getting in your homes through gaps or spaces in doors and windows.
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