How Storms Might Damage Your Home | SERVPRO® of Central Garden Grove
9/2/2022 (Permalink)
Extreme storms are a homeowner’s biggest fear. While most current houses are built to take on the effects of severe weather scenarios, almost every home or property will sustain some type of damage when strong storms blow through our area.
Severe winds and wind-related calamities can throw debris all over town and produce freezing rains, snowstorms, lightning and flash floods, based on the time of year and the storm. Each weather event is capable of damaging your property and compromising the structure of your home.
Depending on the kind of storm and the hazards it produces, your home might sustain varying degrees of damage. Many variables influence the extent of possible damage, including the yard around your property, the geography of the area and the state of your house’s foundation or construction materials. (We admit, there’s also a bit of chance involved.)
There is a wide range of weather-related occurrences and risks, but only a handful of these dangers might put your Garden Grove property in danger of being harmed. You should prepare your home for weather such as earthquakes, floods and severe storms.
You should never go back into a storm-damaged home unless safety professionals permit you to. Many kinds of destruction will be evident right away, but there could be danger lurking where you can’t see.
Let’s go over three primary types of storm damage so that you can better plan for them:
Wind
Wind damage takes place when violent gusts of wind blow at absurdly high speeds. Tornadoes and hurricanes are known to produce violent winds, but even thunderstorms are capable of creating winds of up to 100 mph.
Heavy winds can scoop up the debris around your yard and throw it into your car or home. When a storm is on its way, it’s essential to take shelter indoors and keep away from any windows or outside walls in case glass shatters or walls are pierced by debris.
You can also take precautions before a storm rolls through to minimize significant damage due to wind. Keep your yard clean of any branches, large rocks, loose furniture or decaying trees so that strong winds have fewer things to work with.
Water
Water damage is a regular occurrence both during and after a storm. Heavy rainfall during even a small storm can lead to water collecting outside your house, which then can seep through any gaps around your doors or windows.
When the volume of water is significant enough, it might leak into your foundation and lead to severe structural damage.
To keep water from ruining your property or the inside of your home, try using strategic landscaping that can direct water away from your home instead of it accumulating next to it. You could also build a rain garden, which is a creative way to change up the look of your yard and keep all that rainwater from creating a huge mess.
Also, you should regularly clean out your gutters of debris so they function as intended and keep the water from weighing down your roof. Backed-up gutters could lead to water building up and finding its way inside from the top, leaking down to ground level.
Impact
“Impact damage” is another prevalent form of storm damage that can severely impact your home. This destruction manifests itself as toppled trees and debris being flung around by strong winds into your house.
It’s basically anything that impacts or comes in contact with your property or the items you own.
The easiest method to prevent this kind of catastrophe is to trim the trees surrounding your house and make sure any dead trees are removed so that Mother Nature doesn’t bring them down on your home.
Weather-related tragedies cost over $145 billion in losses in the United States alone in 2021. By preventing these common calamities before they occur, these techniques can keep your home safer while saving you a ton of time and money.
If your home sustains damage after an extreme storm, the experts at SERVPRO of Central Garden Grove have a solution. Our restoration professionals can inspect the damage and work with you throughout the entire restoration process to return your home to its pre-storm state.
When you suffer storm-related damage to your home or business, it’s important that you know who to call! Contact us today to get your storm damage restoration started faster.