A natural disaster is a destructive event that can seriously harm your life and property. Natural disasters are hard to prevent, but you can take precautions to minimize their impact on yourself, your family, and your property. Here are some ways to prepare your home for potential natural disasters: -
1. Secure big openings - Securing your home's biggest openings can increase its resistance to natural disasters. To begin with, make sure your garage door is wind-resistant. Looking at its label, you can tell how much wind a door can withstand. The door might only be wind resistant if it has a label. Consider purchasing a wind-rated door with steel mounting plates, draught seals, a specific wind lock, and a high load. Residents of storm-prone areas may want to buy hurricane shutters. Although expensive, they do a great job of keeping the wind out of your rooms.
2. Rethink windows – Windows are one of the weakest corners of the house, and the most vulnerable spots, especially single-pane models. Invest in double pane models with tempered glass on the exteriors. You can install roll-down metal file doors that are integrated into the side grooves or roof hangings. These will protect your sliding glass doors and windows even if you leave them open. You also need to pay attention to your basement windows since they are most affected when a disaster strikes.
3. Tweak your landscaping - You'll find it challenging to flood-proof your property if non-porous surfaces surround it. Porous surfaces enable water to soak into the ground instead of flowing toward your property. Consider digging swales to direct stormwater away from your house, using mulch that absorbs water to prevent flooding, and converting concrete or asphalt driveways to brick and gravel ones. To prevent rainwater from percolating into the soil beneath the house, individuals who live in flood-prone locations should maintain a constant moisture level in the foundation. If the foundation crawl spaces reopen following a storm, think about installing a backflow prevention valve with the help of a qualified plumber.
4. Bolt the foundation – Make sure you securely fasten the sill plate at the base of your home's walls to the foundation to prepare for risks like earthquakes. Steel anchor plates might be positioned along the sill every 5 to 6 feet. These plates protect the house against massive shakes and tremors from medium-level earthquakes. Consider hiring a qualified contractor to ensure proper installation.
5. Strengthen the cripple walls - Strengthening your cripple walls is another crucial step. When there is a crawl space between the first floor of the building and the foundation, these walls rise. Small, wooden structures called cripple walls serve as shock absorbers during earthquakes. Your house could fall off its foundation if you leave them unlocked. The good news is that you can strengthen them by installing plywood sheathing, either diagonally or with vents along the length of the walls.
6. Vents and louvers – It is often seen that homeowners tend to ignore the other holes inside the house. Large vents in the attic and under the floors should be protected from fire damage. Fire dampers with fusible linkages, like those used in the heating ducts of large buildings, can cover the vents. Checking kitchen and bathroom vents for fire-related assemblies and back-draft dampers is also a good idea (where they touch the exterior of your home). The metal sleeves and hoods should have plastic plumbing vents covering them where they join the roof.
