It is easy to overlook potential dangers that loom in and around your home during summer storms.  Here are five easy tips to help you avoid dangerous situations and save money around your home during this year’s storm season.

1. Trim Back the Trees

Before another big storm tears through you neighborhood, be sure to take a look around your own yard.  Look at any and all of the trees on your property or any neighbor’s trees that hang over into your property.  Think worst case scenario when looking at large branches or dead trees.  If there are any limbs that you think will reach your home if they break off a tree, have them cut off or cut down.  During high winds is when the most damage is done to your home and no one wants a tree lying in their bedroom.

2. Tie Down Loose Items

Trashcans and children’s toys are notorious for blowing around in high winds. While they may end up in a neighbor’s yard, they could also end up smashing a glass door or window. If possible, put them in the garage, tie them down or build an enclosure for them and the recycling bins. Take a walk around your yard and look for tarps, lightweight patio furniture and other loose items can strike the house, causing damage.

3. Decide Where the Water Goes

No one wants a storm to leave standing water next to their home’s foundation. Make sure your downspouts are angled away from the house, and that excess storm water has somewhere to go. Learn how water flows around your property during rainstorms, and think about steps that you can take to channel it away from your home. One way to eliminate the run-off is to replace lawns with plantings and gravel or sand areas that allow rainwater to soak into the ground.  It is important to make sure your sump-pump is in good working condition to remove any water that does make it to your foundation.  Also consider a battery back-up for your sump-pump, just in case the power does go out for an extended period of time.  This is especially important if you have a finished basement or use your basement for storage.

4. Unplug It

We don’t usually think of things inside our homes as having the potential for storm damage. Thunderstorms often bring lightning, and that means power outages and power surges that can destroy electronics. Install surge protectors for all of your electronics or use power strips with additional surge protection.  This way if you are not home or forget to unplug your home electronics, you have a back up.  If you know a storm is coming, unplug unnecessary electrical appliances.  A good habit to pick up is leaving things unplugged in your house that you are not using at that time. Appliances that we leave plugged in suck electricity even when they’re not in use; like the DVD player and the microwave.  The average home in the U.S. has twenty such items. In addition to costing each homeowner about $200 a year in electricity, they make great targets for lightning storms.

5. Strengthen Your Home

There are a number of projects that you (or a professional) can undertake to strengthen your home against storms. Here a few: installing beefier hinges and pins on doors, reinforcing garage doors with bracing kits and heavier supports, installing storm shutters, and adding additional braces in the trusses or installing hurricane straps to prevent the roof from being blown off.  The tips listed above are steps that should be considered when building a new home as well, it will help you save money in the future.

What steps have you taken to reduce the damage storms can cause to your home this year?

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