{"id":284,"date":"2011-09-07T19:11:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-07T23:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/?p=284"},"modified":"2019-08-01T06:47:06","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T10:47:06","slug":"hurricanes-earthquakes-and-your-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/07\/hurricanes-earthquakes-and-your-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurricanes, earthquakes, and your home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When I wrote about disaster preparedness earlier this year, who knew we would experience an earthquake and a hurricane within a few months? Now that Hurricane Irene and the \u201csurprise\u201d earthquake are still fresh in our memories, disaster preparedness is a top conversation. However, protecting your home, possessions, and family from disasters and severe weather goes beyond just having a preparedness kit along with several days\u2019 worth of food and water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider that basic home owners\u2019 insurance typically doesn\u2019t cover damage from flood or earthquake; and unfortunately, many home owners don\u2019t know the extent (or limitations) of their own home owners\u2019 insurance coverage. Unless you live in a flood zone, where you\u2019re lender would require you to carry the extra coverage, chances are that you don\u2019t have flood insurance. Additionally, who thinks about earthquake insurance in the east coast? Actually, according to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (www.pciaa.net) about only 12% of Californians have earthquake insurance \u2013 so it is likely that you might not either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although regular home maintenance could possibly avoid a catastrophe caused by severe weather and water penetration; any disaster (whether it\u2019s a natural occurrence, manmade, deity made, alien made, or whatever your beliefs are) has the potential for major devastation regardless of how much you prepare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you looked up toward your roof lately? If your roof fails, high winds and heavy rain could not only lift and peel away shingles, but could allow water penetration into your home (which could affect other systems). Regular checks of the roof system, including shingles and flashing could prevent surprises when you\u2019re relying on your home\u2019s roof the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, don\u2019t wait for wind or birds to clear the debris that has landed on your roof. Debris, such as tree branches, leaves, Frisbees, etc. have the potential to not only damage shingles and sheathing, but can also clog the gutters and downspouts. Instead of carrying water away from your home, clogged gutters and downspouts could force rains to cascade to the ground and pool around your home\u2019s foundation. Additionally, a gutter that has pulled away from the roof can also allow rain to cascade off the roof and pool around the home\u2019s foundation. To ensure proper function, gutters and downspouts should be checked and cleaned regularly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you have a basement, check if you have a sump pump. The sump pump is used to pump water away from your home\u2019s foundation to prevent water penetration into your basement. Although sump pumps have an average life span of ten years, pumps can wear out much sooner. Regular testing makes sense to know if the pump is operational. Since power loss is often associated with severe weather events, you might consider a battery backup for your sump pump to ensure it can operate when you need it the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An additional source of water penetration could result from failing windows and siding. If the home\u2019s windows are not sealed properly, strong winds and rain could force their way into the home. Additionally, siding that is not properly attached to your home can not only allow water to penetrate, but could separate from the home leaving wall systems unprotected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protect your home, possessions, and your family by conducting regular home maintenance, as well as regularly consulting with your insurance agent to ensure you\u2019re properly covered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nby Dan Krell
\u00a9 2011\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is not intended to provide nor should it be relied upon for legal and financial advice. Using this article without permission is a violation of copyright laws. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I wrote about disaster preparedness earlier this year, who knew we would experience an earthquake and a hurricane within a few months? Now that Hurricane Irene and the \u201csurprise\u201d earthquake are still fresh in our memories, disaster preparedness is a top conversation. However, protecting your home, possessions, and family from disasters and severe weather … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Hurricanes, earthquakes, and your home”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[420,430,429,219,389],"tags":[454,453],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disaster-prepardness","category-earthquake","category-flood","category-homeowners-insurance","category-national-flood-insurance-program","tag-insurance","tag-severe-weather"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1VZLf-4A","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5429,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions\/5429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}