Five Ways to Prepare Your Home for Extreme Weather

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Whether you're worried about hurricanes, fires, or winter storms, a little bit of preparation can go a long way to making your home more resilient to extreme weather. Taking the time to plan ahead will make it safer and more comfortable to hunker down if an emergency occurs. Here are some home updates you can do yourself to keep yourself and your home safe.

Check drainage and grading

When there is a deluge of rainwater or water from melting ice or snow, it can test the strength of the water barriers on your foundation and siding. One way to give your home a fighting chance in a wet environment is to ensure that you have proper drainage around your home.

To check out your drainage, take a look at the grading near your house. The ground should slope gently away from any structure at a ratio of about one inch per foot of distance for about the first 10 feet away from your foundation. To measure the grade, you can use two stakes, some mason’s line, and a line level. Drive in one stake next to your foundation and another about 10 feet away, and tie the string to the stakes at an equal distance from the ground at each end, making sure it is stretched taut. You should mark on the stake farther from your foundation where the line is tied off and then place your line level on the string. Slide the string up from its spot until the bubble on the level is centered and then measure the distance you moved it. That measurement will tell you if your slope is at least one inch down for each foot of distance from the house.

If you have any spots where ridges have formed that direct water back toward your house, you can shovel away any excess dirt to create a slope away from the foundation.

Improve gutters and downspouts

Keeping your gutters and downspouts clear can help to protect your roof from water damage and keep your siding dry. Checking your gutters for sags or valleys where water can escape the planned path and adding gutter hangers where there are areas that need more support will improve the efficiency of your gutters and help protect your roof from moisture. Strengthening the connection between the gutter and the house will also make it more wind-tolerant, decreasing the likelihood that the gutter will separate from the roof in high winds.

You can make your downspouts more weather-resistant by adding a hinged downspout extension that can direct water away from your house. The hinge allows you to move the extension out of the way for weeding or mowing.

Remove landscaping hazards

To guard against damage from fires and keep your siding clear and dry, you should cut shrubs and other plants at least one foot away from your structure. Keeping your yard clear of dry brush that could fuel a fire will reduce the likelihood of a brush fire or grass fire damaging your house. Another landscaping option for fire resilience is to use hardscaping like rocks and gravel close to your house and keep plants at a distance of 10 feet or more from the house. This will reduce the available fuel in a fire, making your home less susceptible to damage.

Add storm windows

While replacing your windows can be expensive, adding storm windows can have a variety of benefits, including making your house more resistant to high temperatures and making your windows safer in a storm with high winds. Storm windows can be installed using a screw gun and some basic hand tools if you have a bit of DIY know-how, and they tend to be much cheaper than replacement windows, averaging between $80 and $185 per window. You can save on heating and cooling costs without replacing your windows, make your windows safer in high winds, and add a layer of protection against objects like falling branches with this DIY update.

Install a backup power source

Power outages can be a part of most types of extreme weather events and natural disasters, so you can improve comfort and safety in an emergency by adding backup power. While whole-house generators tend to be expensive and require professional installation, a portable power station can run many home appliances without the need to call in a pro, and you can find one for around $700. Modern electric power stations have the advantage of not emitting fumes, so they can be run indoors without risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Portable power stations are also often solar compatible, allowing them to be connected to portable solar panels for charging in the event that the power is out for longer than a day or two.

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