What to Do to Protect Your Home After a Storm

With either snow, hail or rain falling from the sky for seemingly the past two months straight and high winds occurring virtually non-stop, we thought it would be useful to check in with our past clients and community to offer some advice on how to take care of your home after such a weather event, in order to protect it from future costly damage.

Once the weather lightens up after a significant event, it’s important to identify potential issues with your home’s exterior to save yourself from trouble down the road. That being said, you may not know exactly what to look for, so, as always, we’ve got you covered.

Here is our checklist of things to look for in and around your home after a storm:

  1. Check for cracked or broken windows.
  2. Check on your water pipes for potential flooding. If you think there could be an issue, shut off the water supply and call a plumber.
  3. Check for cracked or leaking ceilings. This could be a sign of damage to the roof.
  4. Speaking of the roof, check for excessive amounts of piled-up snow. If there is too much pressure on the roof, it can crack which will lead to leaks inside. If possible to do in a safe manner, remove snow from the roof.
  5. Clear the snow off the ground as well, away from the home. The sooner you’re able to do this the better as snow gets more challenging to deal with as it freezes and gets harder to deal with. It’s also important to clear snow away from furnace vents to prevent deadly carbon monoxide from being trapped inside the home.
  6. Check your chimney for any structural damage before using your fireplace. Blockages or other similar issues could pose a serious fire and health hazard.
  7. Check your yard for fallen trees or broken branches, especially near your roof.
  8. Make sure the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon-monoxide detectors are reliable.

Hopefully we’ve gotten through the worst of the snow as spring is not too far off, but there’s always a chance it will come back sometime over the next couple months, so it’s always good to be prepared.

If you have any questions about maintaining your home after a storm, or any other home inspection needs, please contact Glenn at Duxbury & Associates today!