Beautiful weather can often breed destructive storms, which is why it’s important to prepare yourself for the unpredictable wrath of Mother Nature. Make certain that your home and family are protected against the destructive damages that hurricanes and other summer storms can often involve. Below, are three tips to effectively safeguard your family against devastating property damages throughout the warm months:
Perform Roof Maintenance
Request the inspection services of a roofing expert once a year or perform a detailed evaluation yourself to ensure the integrity of your home’s structure prior to hurricane season, which begins on June 1st and ends on November 30th. Severe summer weather is often the cause of devastating roof damages.
A tiny leak or minor imperfection with your roof’s shingles can quickly manifest into larger, more serious complications such as flooding. Recommended maintenance tasks, such as cleaning your gutters, along with regular evaluations of your roof will help you to rule out small flaws to help you prevent destructive damages. If you find water sitting in certain areas of your roof or recognize that shingles are missing, then it’s imperative that you contact a professional to address critical imperfections.
Remove Debris
Hurricanes and other severe storms bring along incredibly strong winds that have the potential to cause serious damages to your property. Homeowners often fail to realize that most of the blowing debris is actually picked up from off their own property during storms. Clearing your property of potentially harmful debris will help to give you the confidence that severe winds will not give flight to dangerous objects on your yard. Broken windows and other structural damages are often the results of bicycles, toys, tools and other equipment having been left outside prior to a storm arriving.
It’s suggested that you store potentially destructive objects in a reliable outdoor storage space, such as a shed or garage even if a storm isn’t in the forecast. It’s also important to have a tree specialist inspect the health of your trees and, subsequently, trim or chop down those that are in poor condition. All landscaping tasks should be performed regularly, as well, to decrease the number of potential property damage catalysts.
Review Your Insurance Policy
After performing roof maintenance and removing all loose debris from your property, your insurance policy is the last line of defense in regards to property damages. Although your insurance policy will come into play only after a loss has already occurred, it will provide you with coverage and entitlements to help you recover from a destruction. It’s crucial that you read through your property insurance policy and acknowledge the types of damages that you’re not protected against. If you’re uncertain as to whether or not your current policy safeguards you from storm damages, contact your insurance company to look into your overall coverage.
The majority of homeowner’s insurance policies don’t provide coverage for flooding, which means that it might be your responsibility to pay for the water cleanup bill after a storm. It’s important that you clarify whether or not you’re covered for flood damages and obtain coverage if your current insurance policy doesn’t provide the appropriate protection.
If a storm does cause flood damages and you do, in fact, have coverage written in your insurance policy—but you aren’t receiving entitlements—then it’s time to contact AAA Public Adjusters.
