Nature is wonderful. With the turning of each season comes the chance to appreciate your scenery in a whole new way, guiding you towards joy and an appreciation of life. But nature can also be quite the pain, particularly when it comes to damaging your property. Weather is a powerful feature of nature that, unfortunately, can use that great power to cause damage to your home. Here are eight ways you can better prepare your home to be resilient to weather.
Invest In Better Windows and Doors
Your windows and doors are the weakest points of your home when combating intense or rough weather. Since they are designed to open, your windows and doors are typically the first part of your home to give in to the demands of intensive weather. So, it should make a lot of sense that the first tip to help prevent weather damage to your home is to invest in stronger windows and doors. You should invest in windows and doors that offer tight seals against the wind, and are wind graded to a very stung rating. This can help prevent strong gusts of wind and rain from pushing your windows or doors open.
Trim Your Trees
This one is more about prevention than protection. Tree damage in rough winds and storms is one of the most common ways that your home will get damaged during bad weather. While you can’t always prevent wind, rain, and lightning from damaging your trees, you can prevent your trees from falling on your home or car by trimming them regularly and keeping long and heavy branches away from your home. You should trim your trees at least once a year , and preferably twice, to keep those dangerous branches away from your home so that if they do fall, they don’t fall on something valuable.
Make Sure Your Roof is Stable
Your roof is your home’s first line of defense against rough weather, snow, storms, and wind. If your roof is unstable or otherwise damaged, then you are leaving your home susceptible to leaks, which can cause hundreds or even thousands of dollars of damage to your home. An unstable roof also leaves you susceptible to a collapsed roof, which could not only cause plenty of harm to you and your family, but make your home unlivable and cost you many, many thousands of dollars to fix. Have your roof inspected every year to ensure that you are not leaving your home vulnerable to weather damage.
Sealcoat Your Driveway
When making considerations to protect your home from weather damage, many people overlook their driveway. Your driveway is the entrance to your home and is important for the safety of your vehicles. Storms and water can cause significant damage to your asphalt driveway, particularly if it is already somewhat damaged or ill-maintained. You should repair asphalt paving immediately after you spot damage. This helps prevent further damage from erosion as the damage sits in the outdoors all day. Regularly check your driveway for cracks and chips and get your driveway seal coated to further protect it from damage.
Construct Your Landscaping with Drainage in Mind
Having a beautifully landscaped front and backyard that works well with your deck and patio, statues, and all the beautiful trees and plants that you love is great, but not if it causes flooding in your home in intense storms. If your yard has not been designed with drainage in mind, then you should redo your landscaping and work with a drainage expert to ensure that your yard is built to handle the weather. Particularly when it comes to hardscaping items like patios, decks, stone steps, and other stone or wood materials that don’t absorb water, you can end up dealing with worse flooding in your yard than is necessary.
Have Standby Power or Secondary Generators
There is nothing worse than being stuck without power during rough storms. Not only is it unsafe, but it also prevents you from performing basic living tasks, like cooking, cleaning, or even using electric lights to see. The best plan to help mitigate this is to have a backup generator on hand to power your most important electric items, like your fridge, lights, and anything else you may need to make it through a rough storm. A generator can help you keep your home warm and safe while in the midst of storm weather, and you should plan to have one ready to go in the event of rough weather.
Repair Your Siding
If your siding is damaged, loose, or otherwise unprepared to weather a storm, then you are asking for trouble. Your siding protects your walls from water damage and other potential damage from storms like wind or hail damage. Loose and damaged siding allows water, hail, and wind easier access to the inside of your home, which is not what you want when trying to prevent storm damage. Inspect your siding to see if you have any noticeable wear and tear, or loose or missing siding that needs replaced, and try to get that taken care of as quickly as possible.
Clean Out Your Gutters
Your gutters are the top defense your home has against flooding from roof water spilling over. If you have dirty or blocked gutters preventing water from having a clear path down the gutter system and safely to the ground in an area that won’t flood, then you may as well not have gutters at all. Cleaning your gutters prevents gutter overflow and blockage that renders your gutters useless. So please, clean your gutters often, at least once a year and preferably once every few months, and if you are expecting a big storm, take an extra look and save yourself a headache later.
Keeping your home safe from weather damage is a difficult endeavor. The power of nature is unimpeachable, and it will do what it wants. But by taking control of these eight items that are in your control, you can better prepare your home to withstand even the most difficult storms.