11 Ways to Hurricane-Proof Your House
From smaller tasks you can do right now to bigger renovation projects, these strategies can help keep you high and dry at home
Bud Dietrich, AIA
October 29, 2012
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. I am licensed to practice architecture in Illinois, Florida, New Jersey & Wisconsin. Since 1996 I have worked from my home office and provide full architectural services exclusively to the single family residential market. My passion is to transform my clients' houses into their homes. I strive to have the "new" home accommodate my clients' lives without fighting them at every junction. I look to add curb appeal to encourage a beautiful streetscape. And I design any addition to look and feel like it has always been there.
Our projects have won numerous design awards as well as having been featured on television (CBS News Sunday Morning, HGTV, CLTV, etc.), in magazines (Better Homes...
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located in the Tampa... More
From the Houzz archives
It seems as if hurricane season is starting earlier and staying later than when I was young. Whatever the cause, it seems that as we renovate our older homes or build new ones, mitigating the effects of these storms is something we’ll all have to address. Here are some tips for getting your home in a position to ride out a storm.
It seems as if hurricane season is starting earlier and staying later than when I was young. Whatever the cause, it seems that as we renovate our older homes or build new ones, mitigating the effects of these storms is something we’ll all have to address. Here are some tips for getting your home in a position to ride out a storm.
1. Protect your windows and doors. Whether with impact-resistant glass or shutters, protecting doors and windows against high winds and flying debris is imperative. Hurricane-force winds can hurl objects that act like bullets.
Consider installing shutters or providing a system, such as a track, to easily install shutters in case of an approaching storm. Although the shutter wouldn’t be a permanent fixture on the exterior of your home, the track or other fastening hardware would be. So make sure the hardware is integrated with any other exterior improvements you plan to make.
Tour a Home Designed for a Stormy Coast | Find a window professional near you
Consider installing shutters or providing a system, such as a track, to easily install shutters in case of an approaching storm. Although the shutter wouldn’t be a permanent fixture on the exterior of your home, the track or other fastening hardware would be. So make sure the hardware is integrated with any other exterior improvements you plan to make.
Tour a Home Designed for a Stormy Coast | Find a window professional near you
2. Keep your landscape free of debris. Prune trees and remove dead branches well before the hurricane shows up. Also remove any patio furniture and other loose items outside that can get blown around.
Hire a gardener to clean up your landscape
Hire a gardener to clean up your landscape
3. Design for uplift. Hurricane-force winds can pull buildings apart. Roof structures are particularly prone to being sent flying, a danger to everyone and everything around. So using the correct, and in many places code-mandated, construction fastening system is a must. From tie-downs to lateral anchors, from hold-downs to embedded connectors, the choice of fastener will vary by location and type of construction.
4. Mind the door. Garage doors are real weak spots for hurricane-force winds. If the door gives way, the winds can enter the house and cause the roof to be torn off. Prevent this by making sure the garage door is installed to withstand these forces or brace an existing door to prevent its giving way.
Have a pro come check your garage door
Have a pro come check your garage door
5. Let the water flow. While you should always keep your gutters and downspouts clean, it’s particularly important to make sure nothing blocks flowing water during a storm. Let’s face it, the water will want to go somewhere. If it’s not down and away, it’ll be in your roof and attic. Conduct a visual inspection of your gutters and downspouts to be sure nothing blocks the flow of water from your roof and away from your home.
Get your gutters professionally cleaned
Get your gutters professionally cleaned
6. Take a "belt and suspenders" approach. Try to keep your basement or crawl space dry with a more-than-basic drainage and sump pump system. Create redundancy in the system with two drain tile layers as well as battery backup, or better yet, have sump pumps backed with emergency power.
How to Reclaim a Flooded Basement
How to Reclaim a Flooded Basement
7. Keep the power on. While you and your home hopefully will weather the storm, the power grid likely won't. Having a standby generator to produce electrical power can't be beat. While you can install a whole-house system, you don't have to. If the generator is smaller and keeps only the essentials going, you'll be able to withstand the storm's after effects that much better.
Bear in mind that a running generator can be quite noisy. So local building and zoning codes will have an influence on where it can be placed. Make sure you follow these rules and place the generator in a location that won't drive you or your neighbors crazy when it's running.
Bear in mind that a running generator can be quite noisy. So local building and zoning codes will have an influence on where it can be placed. Make sure you follow these rules and place the generator in a location that won't drive you or your neighbors crazy when it's running.
8. Keep basic supplies on hand. Keep on hand at least a three-day supply of items such as candles, batteries, potable water, foods that don’t require refrigeration. Put together an emergency kit as recommended by the Federal Emergency Management Agency well in advance of any storm.
9. Keep the lines open. While we all have cell phones, and landlines are going the way of the dodo, there's nothing like having that old-school phone available in a power outage. Being able to contact friends and family to let them know you're safe is well worth keeping one of these working "antiques" around.
10. Keep up to date. Stay in touch with the outside world with a battery-powered radio or television. Just make sure to have plenty of the correct size batteries on hand.
11. Keep your head above water. For new homes in some coastal areas, building codes require that the structure be raised. While garages and storage spaces can be placed at the ground floors of these homes, the construction should be such that the structure doesn’t block a storm surge.
Tell us in the Comments: How do you get ready for storms?
More
How to Prepare Your House for Emergencies
Read other stories about recovering after a hurricane or other disaster
Tell us in the Comments: How do you get ready for storms?
More
How to Prepare Your House for Emergencies
Read other stories about recovering after a hurricane or other disaster
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you just plagiarized FOX!!!!!!!
There are some great additional tips in this link too:
http://www.huracansinpeligro.com/single-post/2017/05/09/HOW-TO-SURVIVE-A-HURRICANE