Come Hell or High Water

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy flickr

Baby, it’s hot outside.  The worst part is that the only time it seems to cool down is after the afternoon thundershower has rolled through town.  With another six weeks or so of summer weather yet to come, I thought I’d take the time to point out what you need to do to make sure that neither heat nor rain spoils your fun by damaging your home.  Below is my short list of the do’s and don’ts of managing your house and yard to fend off the worst that Mother Nature can throw at you between now and Autumn.

1.      Has your garden kicked into overdrive yet? – With all the rain we’ve been having, you can practically hear the grass grow in your yard.  Everything from the lawn and weeds to the shrubs and trees step it up another notch at this time of the year.  If left unchecked, it can later come to haunt you when tree limbs start scraping the shingles off the roof, or leaf litter clogs gutters and drains.  To keep your home shipshape during the dog days of summer, it takes an extra effort to keep the green-eyed monster at bay.  This means working double time to keep the greenery under control, preferably early in the morning on Saturday or Sunday.

2.      Is it hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk? – Then it’s hot enough to spawn brush-fires in leaf litter.  All it takes is a bolt from the blue or a carelessly discarded cigarette to set dead leaves ablaze.  Also be sure you take care with hot coals from your barbecue.  Believe it or not, it can take up to 24-hours for charcoal to completely cool to the touch after a cookout.  The Florida Sun can also heat stress roof shingles more during the summer than at any other time of the year.  High temperatures can cause shingles to loosen, warp or crack.  This in turn can cause your roof to leak.  If you haven’t inspected your roof yet this summer, the time to do so is before you find a dark wet spot on your ceiling. 

Image courtesy wikipedia

3.      The thing under the house. -  Another thing to have inspected before the next named storm rolls through town are your sewer lines.  Not only can debris slow or stop the flow of water beneath your abode, tree roots can grow through even the tiniest crack in a sewer line to gum up the works as well.  One sure sign of an impending sewer problem is water ponding on your street after a hard rain.  Even worse than a stopped-up sewer is when water backs up from the sewer into your home.  Talk about a smelly mess.  Not only does it prove extremely costly to re-mediate a home after a sewage backup, but it almost always forces the residents from their home until the job has been completed. 

4.      Do you Noah what to do when the rain comes down in buckets. – Believe it or not, it doesn’t take a hurricane or a named storm to flood your home.  All it takes are the right conditions.  In fact, more homes are flooded every year by thunderstorms than by tropical storms.  Water has an amazing ability to slip between the smallest cracks in masonry.  It can also worm its way under doors with apparent ease.  Depending on the height and layout of your yard, if water can no longer find a way off your property, it will look to escape into your home or garage.  Just as with a stopped-up sewer, a dammed-up yard or driveway can quickly cause a flood during an afternoon squall.  The next time you see a hard downpour while you’re at home, take a look out your windows.  Do you see ponding in your yard?  Is floating debris building up on or near the bushes or fence line?  Is the water from next door rushing through your yard on its way to the street?  Keeping a weather eye on your yards waterworks now can save you from turning your home into an ark later. 

5.      Damage control can minimize destruction. – Just as there are people who ignore car maintenance until their vehicle no longer runs, so to do some homeowners ignore minor storm damage that can later prove extremely costly to repair.  If your windows are so loose that they rattle whenever you open or close them, don’t expect them to protect your home when the next windstorm comes to town.  Should a window shatter or blow out during a squall, the damage to the interior of your home can be extreme.  Even seepage through a window into a wall can cause catastrophic damage, since damp sheet rock is a magnet for mold.  The same goes for your home’s roof.  If you see hail damage or warped, cracked or missing shingles, don’t ignore the damage.  Not only can water intrusion cause spotting on ceilings in your home, they can also cause roof joists to rot, which will add up big time when you finally decide to do something about the roof.  Warped or missing shingles can also allow the wind to peel back or unzip shingles when a squall roars through your neighborhood.  Last but not least, when you look up at your roof, look out for dead or rotted limbs hanging down from trees.  Nothing causes water damage faster than a hole in the roof caused by a falling limb.

Image courtesy flickr

6.      What the hail? – Speaking of hail damage, should your property experience any, don’t waste any time before contacting your insurance agent.  Document the damage with a digital camera or smartphone before making temporary repairs to cracked or broken windows and/or dinged shingles or siding.  While you can call a contractor or a roofer for an estimate, don’t sign any contracts before an adjuster signs off on the damage.  If need be, tarp any holes in the roof and board up any broken windows until the adjuster arrives to assess the damage.  As always, if you have any questions about the do’s and don’ts of filing an insurance claim, call your agent before you take any action that could cause your claim to be denied.

Catherine Powell is the owner of A Plus All Florida, Insurance in Orange Park, Florida.  To find out more about saving money on all your insurance needs, check out her website at http://aplusallfloridainsuranceinc.com/