How to Prevent High Wind Damage

High wind damage is a nasty side effect of storms. While rain, sleet, and snow all bring their specific problems, high wind damage is always the same. Whether you worry about tornadoes or dangerous storms, read the following tips to help protect your home and property from high wind damage.

 

Buy the pricier shutters

Aluminum or steel shutters are the best thing that you can do for your windows. These shutters often come in with a hefty price tag—north of $50 per square foot. If you think the cost of covering your French window is a lot, consider the cost of replacing it every year. Buying the more expensive shutters will pay for itself over the course of a few years. If you have to, consider upgrading your windows slowly. Start with the most expensive to replace, and/or the most vulnerable windows.

Bring in anything not nailed down

As soon as you get a storm warning, go clean up the yard if there’s time. Bringing in patio furniture, children’s toys, and even the backyard BBQ will do wonders for your home. High winds pick up and use anything that you leave you out against you. If you don’t want that, keep your yard tidy and act fast when a storm warning hits. You can take steps to secure your heavy and/or difficult to move furniture to the patio or the yard to be sure it doesn’t move.

Trim your trees

There’s no point bringing in all your homemade debris if there’s the natural stuff all over. Trim your trees back regularly. Get rid of old, decaying branches and weak trees before disaster strikes. A flying branch can break your window as easily as a blown-away sun umbrella or patio chair. Clean up any fallen trees, branches, or shrubs as well. Easily handle landscaping during in the winter, this causes the least damage to a tree when cutting it back.

Upgrade your shingles

Not all shingles are created equal. You can your shingles upgrades so that they’re better able to withstand high wind damage. They’ll also be able to withstand hail much more easily. In addition, holding down with six nails makes them stronger. That’s enough to make sure that your protection from the storm doesn’t go flying away at the least provocation. It’s expensive to upgrade your entire roof.  Like most homeowners, wait until your roof needs replacing anyway.

Reinforce your garage door

The best way to avoid high wind damage is to make sure everything around your house can take a beating. A reinforced garage door prevents the wind from crumpling your biggest portal like a tin can. A reinforced garage door is going to set you back a little, but emergency garage door repairs also aren’t cheap.

High wind damage results from the wind itself, but also the wind acting on everything in your yard. Protect your windows, garage door, and landscaping by being proactive. Follow these tips and you can avoid the worst of high wind damage.