Protecting Your Home – Hail Damage Prevention & Preparedness
Hail storms can cause significant damage to your property and are an unfortunate and sometimes frequent natural occurrence. Hail storms can severely damage roofs, smash windows, and and lead to significant water damage if the proper repairs are not made. A hail storm should not be taken for granted, and while there is nothing that can be done to prevent them from occurring, you can take proper preventative steps to stifle potential damage.
Familiarize Yourself with Your Insurance Plan
Before a storm occurs, you will want to be familiar with your insurance plan and the kind of coverage that it provides. Make certain that you contact your insurance company prior to the start of storm season so you are well-informed when it comes to your coverage. This means that should a hail storm occur and you suffer damage that you can take the necessary steps for recovery right away. When it comes to insurance protection you need to act immediately after an event has occurred to expedite any claims and increase the likelihood of it being approved. Delaying on making a claim and not understanding your coverage can prevent you from successfully getting the help you need.
Know Your Roof
When a hail storm strikes, the most common form of damage that occurs is that to your roof. Roof damage is a serious concern to homeowners, especially those with wooden shingles, such as cedar shake roof tiles. These roof tiles are much more susceptible to hail damage than the majority of other roofing options, with metal roofing being the most resilient. The roofing material that you choose is about more than the look and feel of your home, you want to take into consideration the type of weather that you often see in your area and if hailstorms are a common occurrence before you decide. Choosing the right roof material, such as asphalt shingles means that you can potentially stave off costly repairs caused by hail damage. While this may mean initially purchasing more expensive roofing materials, the cost can easily be offset by what you save in preventing hail damage to your home.
In addition to choosing the right building material, conducting routine roof inspections can go a long way to preventing future hail damage to your home. This may not seem intuitive initially, but knowing the condition of your roof before a hail storm occurs is actually quite important. Hail, even when its 1” in diameter, may not be enough to cause serious damage to your roof on its own, but if your roof has already suffered damage or begun to degrade, it is much more likely to pose a serious threat. A roof inspection can help detect instabilities, damage, and potential problems that could all be exacerbated by a hail storm. Knowing the condition of your roof is important when it comes to preventing potential hail-related damage.
Prepare for a Storm
There will usually be notification through severe weather warning channels when a hail storm has been confirmed or is likely to occur. Heeding these warnings and taking appropriate steps is an important aspect of preventing much more costly hail related damage. You will want to take the right steps to prepare for a hail storm. If you have a garage, make sure to park your car in it before a storm occurs, making room preemptively so you can properly protect your vehicles. If you do not have room in your garage, then you should cover your car with a tarp before the hail storm happens. Though this will not sever to protect it completely, the extra layer of protection can help absorb the impacts that will cause lasting damage.
You should also move any items that could suffer damage inside before a storm happens. This may seem like common sense, but there’s plenty of objects that could be overlooked, resulting in unnecessary expenses. Any equipment or items that you have outdoors that could potentially suffer damage during a hailstorm need to be moved inside, properly stored, or covered before a storm.
Recovering from a Hail Storm
After a hail storm has happened, contact your insurance provider right away. This can seriously expedite the recovery process and make certain that any repairs you get are properly covered. You want to have hail damage repaired as quickly as possible, as roof damage, the most common type of damage suffered from serious hail storms, can lead to even more costly leaks if repairs are not properly handled.
When you are recovering from hail damage, you need to make certain that you have repair work handled by a licensed professional contractor. Handling the repair work yourself can not only be problematic if anything is overlooked, but it may not be covered by your insurance, and could even lead to more damage if the proper precautions are not taken. After a hail storm, if your roof has already been suffering from any weaknesses, its structure could be compromised. You will want to follow up on damage with a proper inspection before the repair work begins, and have a licensed and insured contractor handle the repairs, just in case further damage might occur.
Hail storms are very serious and the potential threat that they pose to homeowners should not be overlooked. When storm season is about to begin, make certain that you take the proper precautions to prevent potentially disastrous hail damage. Being aware of what it takes to protect your investments is necessary as the weather cannot be controlled and a hail storm will still happen whether you are prepared or not.
