For the lucky ones, bad weather is an occasional occurrence, but if you’re reading this, it means that you’re living in a place that requires you to invest in protecting your house. On the bright side, however, now you’re on your way to becoming a seasoned expert in handling bad weather. This checklist will help you cover the weather-proofing essentials you need to keep your house safe and untouched by the forces of nature.
Trim Your Trees
This is always a good idea, especially if you have large trees with large, extending branches. During storms, strong winds can snap heavy branches and slam them against cars, house sidings, and even windows. For excessively large trees, or if you don’t know how to properly trim a tree, hire someone to take care of the job. If you’d like to give it a go yourself, the process is simple. All you’ve got to do is cut the dead branches, cracked branches, and over-extending ones. The shorter a branch is, the more fixed it will be to the tree trunk, and so it will be able to withstand the wind.
Insulate Windows and Doors
As small as they are, the tiny slits around your front door and improperly installed windows are plenty enough for strong winds to enter your house. To keep the heat in, the cold out, and your house heavily fortified, you need to invest in some insulation for your doors and windows. Door sweeps and foam tapes are a good, cost-effective way to do so. The process is as simple as measuring the width of the space you need to fill, and cutting the tape accordingly, then sticking it to the door or the window frame.
Check on the Roof
An improperly maintained roof can be a chink in your armor when a storm comes. An unfixed shingle can get dislocated further by the wind, leaving an exposed spot for the wind to damage your roof. Before the storm season, it’s always a good idea to bring an expert from a roofing services provider to check your roof for weak spots. Overall, you’re going to need to check for water damage, broken shingles, and a generally uneven roof. If that’s your case, you might need a more drastic solution than seasonal maintenance. If you’ve got vents or skylights or any type of structure on your roof, you’ll need to make sure it’s properly sealed with a water-proof sealant. Last but not least, if you find green moss on your roof, you’ll need to scrape it off before the rain comes as it retains water which, in turn, might cause decay and damage to your structure.
Nail Down the Fence Posts
A loose fence post is a projectile lying in wait. Take a long walk along your fence and carefully inspect the posts. If you see any post loose in its place, you’ll need to find a way to fix it which shouldn’t be too hard. If your fence post isn’t broken, fixing it is going to be as simple as filling up the hole with sand or mud and pressing it until the ground is tightly packed around the post. Keep in mind that the fixing process changes with every cause of damage.
Install Siding
Having a sturdy, weather-resistant siding made of durable material is one of the most effective measures against nasty weather. In case you don’t know what siding is, it’s a guard made of protective material to keep the house’s structure safe against external elements. Your best bets for siding material are vinyl and fiber cement. Vinyl is effective and cheap, but it might suffer damage from extreme cold. Fiber cement, on the other hand, has the advantage of being more resistant to weather.
Leave Nothing Outdoors
If you’ve got any potted plants, garden ornaments, wind chimes, or anything of the sort, you’d be better off removing it all together if you’re expecting bad weather. As with loose fence posts, anything not nailed down to the ground will probably end up crashing through your windows or damaging your siding. So, put your car in the garage, get whatever you can indoors, and what you can’t, place it a good distance away from your house.
When making the necessary purchases, make sure you’re buying quality products, regardless of the price. On one hand, this means that there’s no price too expensive for a high-quality material that will keep you and your loved ones safe. On the other hand, this also means that an expensive item doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re getting the highest quality. When purchasing, do your research, and make sure you get as much information as you can. That being said, good luck and stay safe!
