One of the factors that differentiate seasons is temperature. Throughout the year, you may experience different temperatures which your home may not be built to handle. Another factor that differentiates seasons is precipitation. Precipitation is the amount of water deposited on land. It can either be in the form of rain, snow, hail, or sleet and are at times accompanied by storm and wind.
These factors may have a significant impact on you and your home. For instance, a storm may cause damage to your roof that may necessitate immediate repair. Even if you have an insured roof, the process of having the insurance company facilitate the repairs may take some time which may mean you’re shelter less for some time. That’s why it helps when you prevent weather damage by weatherproofing your home.
However, should the storm damage occur, you can hire professional who will access the level of damage and advice you necessarily on how to fill out the storm damage roof insurance claim form. With their expertise, your claim will have little to no criticism which fasten how fast your repairs are done.
However, today’s article focuses on how to prevent such storm damage in the first place. Keep reading to learn more.
How To Weatherproof Your Home
Here are some of the actions you can take on your home:
1. Home Insulation
Most people relate insulation with cold seasons because you can use it to ensure your home is warm enough. However, insulation comes in handy when there are both hot and cold temperatures. You can insulate various parts of your home.
One, you can start by insulating your walls. The type of insulation you do depends on your home’s walls. For instance, if you’ve solid walls, you can either do internal or external insulation. As the names suggest, internal insulation is done to inner rooms, while external insulation is done on your home’s façade. On the other hand, if there’s a space between your home’s inner and outer leaf, you can have cavity wall insulation. Cavity wall insulation is done by drilling holes between your home’s leaves, inserting an insulator, and covering the holes with cement.
Two, you can consider roof insulation. Similar to wall insulation, there are two types of wall insulation; warm loft and cold loft. In the warm loft, insulation is done under your home’s roof, whereas in the cold loft insulation is done above the ceiling of your home’s top storey. Between the two, the warm loft is a better insulator. However, it’s also more expensive than a cold loft. Further, you can also have your windows, doors, and floor insulated.
Additionally, besides weatherproofing, insulation has a couple of benefits. Insulation can be soundproof by absorbing sounds or noise that bounce off your floor and walls, enhancing silence in your home. Also, if you’re about to adopt a ‘green’ lifestyle, you may need insulation. Insulation minimizes the energy you consume in your home, reducing your home’s emissions. As a result, you’ll have a reduced carbon footprint.
2. Plumbing System Protection
According to science, water expands as it cools down. Therefore, during the winter, there’s a high probability of water freezing in your pipes. Due to the increase in size, frozen water may burst your pipes if they aren’t winterized. Dealing with burst pipes can be hectic as you’ll have to spend money you hadn’t planned for home repairs. Luckily, there are ways you can prevent such situations.
For instance, you can have a smart water monitoring system that notifies you when the water pressure and temperature aren’t right. If the temperatures are too cold, you can use the heating system in moderation. On the other hand, constant drip by adjusting your faucets can help moderate the pressure and avoid pipe freezes.
3. Roof Maintenance
The roof is one of the parts mostly affected by heavy rains, strong storms, and snow. Therefore, before the onset of the winter or rainy season, ensure that your roof is in good condition to avoid water damage. For instance, you can ensure that your home’s gutters are clean of leaves and debris. Doing so will ensure that water collected in the gutters drains to your home’s water collection point. As a result, there’ll be no reason for water to accumulate in the gutters, hence avoiding ice formation.
Further, water flowing freely in the gutters helps prevent the formation of mold and mildew, hence collecting clean water. As a result, your family will be safe from water-contaminated diseases. What’s more, clean gutters help prevent water from leaking into your attic and damaging what you store up there.
As much as you put in the effort to ensure that extreme weather conditions don’t damage your roof, consider getting a roof insurance cover. For example, strong storms may leave your roof in a damaged condition by leaving dents, missing roof shingles, allowing leaks in your house, and forming water spots on the walls and ceilings.
Like other insurance covers, a roof insurance cover will help you with your roof damages. However, before an insurance company approves you for an insurance claim you file, they consider various factors. For instance, it checks whether you maintain or neglect your roof. You won’t receive any coverage if your roof gets damaged because of poor maintenance.
Furthermore, another factor that’s considered is your roof’s age. Some insurance companies have a limit on a roof’s age they can cover. For instance, some can’t cover roofs older than ten years. The older a roof is, the more it wears out.
4. Painting
Different weather conditions may impact your home’s paint depending on the quality and type of paint used. For instance, extreme UV rays from too much sun heat may cause your home’s paint to peel off, fade, or chip. On the other side, rain and humid conditions may result in the formation of mold and mildew. Besides the said effects, your home’s exterior may also expand during hot seasons and contract during cold seasons, shortening your paint’s life.
When your home’s paint deteriorates, existing cracks on the walls are exposed, and moisture or humidity may penetrate your home. For this reason, it’s better to consider using paint that serves more purposes than aesthetics.
Today, paints are mixed with various primers for various reasons. For instance, if you want to protect your home during heavy rains and humidity, you can use a primer with rain relief to avoid water damage on your walls. On the contrary, if you live in an area that mostly experiences hot temperatures, you can use mixed paint with primer that contains a sun-stopper element that prevents damage from harsh UV rays.
Besides using different primers, you can also use paint with a high elongation rate. A high elongation rate covers existing cracks on your walls. Also, it further prevents the formation of cracks that are caused by expansion and contraction.
5. Checking Your Home’s Air Conditioning System
As mentioned earlier, temperature differentiates various seasons. In all these seasons, you require a functioning air conditioning system to promote comfort in your home by ensuring you have the right temperature. You can take various steps to ensure your home’s air conditioning (AC) system is working properly.
To begin with, check the condition of the filters. How often you change your AC filter affects its condition? When should you replace your AC filter? The answer to these questions depends on three main factors.
- First, the type of AC filters you use determines whether you’ll replace them after a short or long period. If you use standard quality, you can replace them after a month or two. If the quality is poor, you may need to replace them within 2-3 weeks.
- Second, the number and type of pets you have matter. If you keep animals that shed easily, you may have to change your filter after a short period. Also, the more pets, the shorter period you’ll use our AC filter.
- Third, your home’s indoor air quality also plays a role. If there are smokers in your house, the air quality deteriorates, which can lead to overworking your AC system. As a result, you’ll be required to change the filter after a short while.
Another step you can take is to check your window AC units if you use them. For these units to function effectively, they need to be properly sealed so that no cool air is lost.
Benefits Of Weatherproofing
Weatherproofing has other benefits besides protecting your home from harsh weather conditions.
Preventing Your HVAC From Overworking
During extremely hot or cold seasons, your HVAC may overwork to generate the proper room temperature. Overworking your HVAC reduces the time it could have served you, hence the need to buy another sooner than planned. Therefore, to avoid spending money on repairing or installing a new HVAC system, you can weatherproof it to ensure that your home isn’t greatly affected by different seasons.
Controlling Your Utility Bills
How much you spend on your utility bills depends on various things, such as the appliances you use and your energy consumption levels. Without weatherproofing, you’ll use a lot of energy to moderate extreme temperatures, increasing your energy bills. Therefore, to cut energy costs, weatherproof your home.
Summing It Up!
The different seasons are differentiated by factors such as temperature and precipitation. These factors may be extreme to the point that your home gets damaged. For instance, strong winds, storms, and cold temperatures may damage your roof. However, you can act ahead and weatherproof your home to control the possible damages. If you need help with how you can weatherproof your home, you’re in the right place. This article explains five ways you can weatherproof your home. Therefore, you can use it to understand how to prepare your home for any season.
