Preparing your home & property

With hurricane season well and truly in swing, it is important to ensure that your home or business is protected and prepared for the events that ensue. Making a checklist detailing essential steps for safely navigating dangerous weather is an important measure to take.

Below is a checklist for preparing your home or business which can be modified to suit your individual needs:

1. Create a home inventory for insurance purposes.

2. Check home insurance to understand coverage and whether it is enough to cover repairs or rebuilding.

3. Replace gravel or rock landscaping materials with shredded bark, which is lighter and won't cause as much harm.

4. Cut weak branches and trees that could fall on your house and keep shrubbery trimmed. 5. Install storm shutters to protect your windows from breakage. Alternately, fit plywood panels to your windows, which can be nailed to window frames when a storm approaches.

6. Make sure exterior doors are hurricane proof and have at least three hinges and a dead bolt lock that is at least one-inch long.

7. Sliding glass doors should be made of tempered glass and, during a storm, covered with shutters or plywood. These types of doors are more vulnerable to wind damage than most other doors.

8. Replace old garage doors and tracks with a door that is approved for both wind pressure and impact protection. Wind coming into your home through an opening this large poses grave problems for the rest of your home—especially your roof.

9. Seal outside wall openings such as vents, outdoor electrical outlets, garden hose bibs and locations where cables or pipes go through the wall. Use a high quality urethane-based caulk to prevent water penetration.

10. If you live in a mobile home make sure you know how to secure it against high winds and be sure to review your mobile home insurance policy.

11. If you have a boat on a trailer, know how to anchor the trailer to the ground or house—and review your boat insurance policy.