4 Ways to Minimize the Impact of a Storm on Your Home
RH Business Marketing Solutions
When an area gets hit by a severe storm, the damage to the infrastructure can be extensive. It can also take a serious toll on people’s homes, so it’s only logical that you want to protect your home and your family from the effect of storms, preventing any damage you can, but also controlling it in the aftermath. If your city or town has been hit by a storm recently, and it’s affected your home, here is what you can do to get things back to normal as soon as possible.
Put Safety First
As much as you want to inspect your home and fix anything that’s wrong with it, you should know that your family’s safety is a priority. Keep in mind that, if your home is damaged, it poses a threat to everybody who’s in it, so the first thing to do is to leave until the damage is evaluated and everything is restored to its original state, or at least until you know that returning home doesn’t present a risk to your wellbeing. If you can stay with friends or family, do so. If not, check if there’s an emergency shelter near you. Pack essential clothes and supplies to last a few days and leave your home as soon as you can, to avoid anything unexpected happening. Ask if your insurance company can send somebody to inspect your home, but if not, hire somebody yourself. It may cost you, but the safety of those most important to you is priceless and isn’t something you want to compromise.
Get Professional Help
If there is some slight damage to your home, it’s possible you’ll be able to deal with it yourself. A few loose screws on your windows or standing water in your gutters may not be that big of a deal and you might want to take care of those yourself. However, you should pay close attention to the true extent of the damage, so that you remain safe. For instance, if your powerlines have been impaired in any way, you should leave that to professionals. In cities like Sydney, where hailstorms and wind storms are quite frequent, as is flash flooding due to rain, there are some excellent services, available around the clock, so that it’s simple to reach an electrician level 2 in Sydney. These electricians are highly skilled, trained and reliable, so that you know your family home is in good hands and you’ll be safe once the work is done.
Document All Damage
When a storm occurs and you want your insurance company to reimburse you for the damage done to your home, you’ll need to have proof that your home was in fact damaged. This is why you should photograph the interior as well as the exterior of your property even before the storm, and then again after the storm, so that you have evidence of everything that’s happened to your home. This can prove to be extremely useful when you file your insurance claim, as you’ll have the before-and-after photos of everything, so that the insurance company has no reason to doubt that the damage present was actually caused by the storm and deny your claim because of it. And since you can’t always know when a storm might hit, simply take those photos of your home now and have them ready, just in case.
Keep All the Receipts
After a storm, you can expect more than just your house to be damaged. Other homes and buildings in your area will require attention as well, so it may take some time for the insurance company to get to you. In the meantime, you’ll want your home to be fit for you and your family to live in it, so you’ll have to call in various repairmen and pay for all sorts of material to fix everything that went wrong during the storm. If so, make sure you don’t lose any of the receipts for the repairs made on your property. This is the documentation that will support your claim with the insurance company and keeping your receipts organized can save you a lot of trouble down the road.
Storms can be scary and stressful, but even more so when they cause damage to your home. However, don’t despair, as there is always something you can do to make things better and easier on you and those you love, so follow the good advice above and you’ll have your home in its normal state sooner than you think.
Guest Contributor: Diana Smith