Top 10 Ways to Protect Your Home or Business from Hurricane Irene
The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast are not as familiar with hurricane devastation as the states along the Southeast coastline. However, as Irene approaches, the coastal communities of North Carolina, Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston should review key safety measures in the wake of disaster. Here are the top 10 ways you can protect your home or business property from the effects of Hurricane Irene:
1. Grab the Camera Have detailed (and dated) “before” images of each room of your home. In the unfortunate event of house damages, having photos on hand will be helpful in filing claims with your home, renter’s, or other property insurance company. Double check with your providers to make sure all property insurance is up to date.
2. Trim the Trees Assess the trees around your building or home. Prune any dead or weak branches that could easily fall on roofs, break windows, or cause other home devastation.
3.Check the Roof Removed satellite dishes, antennas, and any other items atop homes, buildings, and outbuildings. If not secured, Hurricane Irene could easily damage these items and other parts of your property.
4. Secure Loose Items The storm can easily pick up any belongings that are not securely fastened and locked down in chests and drawers. Remove any items hanging from walls, placed on tables, or resting on bookshelves. Take special notice of more vulnerable items near window frames. Don’t forget about outdoor furniture and decorations. Bring what you can inside and anchor everything else that remains outdoors.
5. Board the Windows To protect your house from broken glass and water damage, secure nailed down plywood to all the windows. If possible, utilize permanent shutters. This small step can greatly reduce the overall damage you could experience within your home.
6. Avoid a Surge In the event of a hurricane, electricity may be lost. To avoid a power surge when the electricity is back up and running, turn off major appliances.
7. Protect Your Roof Have your roof retrofitted for possible hurricane damage. If you have gabled roofs, secure eight-foot long braces to the bottom gable truss; nail down adjacent trusses. Have roofing shingle tabs checked to assure proper adherence. Use a quick-setting asphalt cement adhesive under loose tabs. If any shingles are damaged, have them replaced immediately. Tie down roof trusses to the walls with metal hurricane straps.
8. Stabilize Doors Use head and foot bolts on doors to prevent hurricane debris and high pressured winds from entering your home or business building. Stabilized doors should have at least three hinges. Make sure your doors have deadbolt security locks as well.
9. Stabilize Garage Doors If your garage doors are not hurricane-resistant, they may be pushed off their roller track, damaging both the door and any contents inside the garage. Have the doors reinforced with horizontal and/or vertical bracing. Check with local vendors for additional gear; home renovation and garage door retail stores often supply retrofitting kits for garage doors.
10. Clear the Gutters Be sure that your home or business’s gutters and rainspouts are free of debris. Take care to remove any particles that will clog the flow of water, leading to mold, mildew, and other water damage.
Review your home or business emergency plan with family or co-workers, respectively. After Hurricane Irene as cleared, assess any damages and keep in touch with your community advisory board on clean up procedures. Follow all emergency weather protocol and stay safe! Want to compare free quotes with no obligation… Click here!
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