The financial impact of natural disasters is rising globally, with losses reaching $182.7 billion in 2024. While you cannot prevent a disaster, you can take proactive steps to protect your home from severe damage. By reinforcing your home against the specific risks in your region, you increase its chances of surviving a major event. You may also qualify for grants or home insurance discounts to help offset the cost of these improvements.
Here is a guide to strengthen your home against common natural disasters.
Hurricane Protection: Fortify Against Wind and Rain
Hurricanes unleash destructive winds and torrential rain. The key to protection is sealing all openings to prevent wind from entering and pressurizing your home, which can cause significant structural failure.
- Windows and Doors: Protect windows with storm shutters, 5/8-inch plywood, or by installing impact-resistant glass. Choose wind-rated, impact-tested doors and ensure all door frames are securely fastened.
- Garage Door: This is often the largest and weakest point. You can brace an existing garage door with a retrofit kit to prevent it from collapsing under pressure.
Tornado Protection: Build a Strong Shelter-in-Place
Tornadoes can strike with devastating force and little warning. While no home is entirely tornado-proof, focusing on creating a reinforced safe room can be the most critical step for survival.
- Identify or Create a Safe Room: The best protection is a small, windowless, interior room on the lowest floor, such as a basement, storm cellar, or an interior bathroom or closet. For optimal safety, consider installing a FEMA-approved safe room or storm shelter designed to withstand extreme winds and flying debris.
- Reinforce Your Garage Door: A standard garage door is a common failure point in high winds, which can pressurize and destroy a home. Reinforce your garage door with a retrofit kit or install a wind-rated model.
- Secure Your Roof Structure: Ensure your roof is properly connected to the walls with hurricane clips or other metal connectors. This helps prevent the roof from being lifted off during the intense updrafts of a tornado.
It is crucial to understand that standard homeowners insurance typically covers damage caused by tornadoes (under the “wind” peril), but you should always review your policy’s windstorm deductible, as it may be higher than your standard deductible.
Flood Preparedness: Keep Water at Bay
Flooding is the most common and costly natural disaster. Since standard homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage, proactive measures are essential.
- Install a Sump Pump: Ensure you have a working sump pump with a battery backup to remove water that enters your basement or crawl space.
- Apply Waterproofing Sealant: Use waterproofing compounds on your home’s foundation and basement walls to prevent seepage.
- Raise Critical Utilities: Elevate electrical panels, HVAC systems, and water heaters above your area’s base flood elevation level.
- Install Flood Vents: These allow water to flow through enclosed areas like crawl spaces, preventing pressure from building up and damaging walls.
- Landscape for Drainage: Grade your lawn so it slopes away from your home’s foundation and consider installing rain gardens to absorb excess water.
For financial protection, you must purchase a separate flood insurance policy through the NFIP or a private insurer. The policy needs to be purchased before a flood hits your area. Depending on your state, there’s usually a 30-day wait period until the policy can be put into effect.
Hail Defense: Strengthen Your Roof
Hail can severely damage your roof, leading to costly water intrusion and interior damage. Your best defense is an impact-resistant roof.
When replacing your roof, ensure the contractor:
- Removes old shingles and underlayment.
- Repairs any damaged roof decking.
- Securely re-nails the deck to the frame and seals all seams.
- Installs new, high-quality underlayment and impact-resistant shingles.
Earthquake Retrofitting: Secure Your Foundation
During an earthquake, a house can slide off its foundation, or its cripple walls can collapse. A common and effective earthquake retrofit involves:
- Bolting the house to its concrete foundation.
- Bracing cripple walls with plywood.
Consult your city on a standard retrofit plan and always hire a licensed, insured contractor with specific seismic training. Remember, standard homeowners insurance does not cover earthquake damage. For financial protection, you will need a separate earthquake insurance policy.
Wildfire Preparedness: Create Defensible Space
Protecting your home from wildfire involves creating a defensible perimeter and making your home resistant to windblown embers.
- Create Defensible Space: Manage vegetation within 30 feet of your home. In the immediate 5-foot zone, use non-combustible materials like gravel, brick, or concrete instead of bark mulch.
- Harden Your Home: Install a Class A rated roof made of composition shingles, metal, or clay/concrete tiles. Replace untreated wood-shake roofs immediately. Use non-combustible gutter covers and seal any openings in roof tiles where embers could lodge.
Start Protecting Your Home Today
Many of these improvements can be implemented over time, while others are crucial before a storm season. Taking these steps will significantly reduce your risk of costly damage.
If you make changes to your home, make sure to let your insurance company or insurance agent know. Many insurance companies offer premium discounts to homeowners who make these protective upgrades.
Ready to Strengthen Your Home and Lower Your Insurance Costs?
Understanding your risk and the right improvements to make is the first step. The team at ONYX Insurance Brokers can help you navigate your coverage and identify potential savings for fortifying your home.
Contact ONYX Insurance Brokers today for a personalized review of your policy and to learn how you can save.
