Editor’s Note: 5 steps to safety

With experts predicting an active hurricane season this year, it is more important than ever for homeowners to guard against property damage from storms and take the proper precautions to reduce that damage.

That’s according to the Insurance Information Institute and the Institute for Business & Home Safety, which are offering suggestions and videos that agents might want to pass along to their insureds and heed themselves.

The most important precaution is to protect the areas where wind and water can enter, notes Dr. Tim Reinhold, director of engineering and vice president for IBHS, which has investigated past hurricanes to learn how to protect homes better. Dr. Reinhold has identified five steps homeowners or their contractors can take to make homes more hurricane-resistant:

1. Shutter all openings: Windows and doors are key entry points for wind and water, so shutters are critical. Shutters should have the proper ratings for impact resistance (including wind pressure and large missile impact), such as the Miami-Dade Protocols.

2. Protect gable end vents. These can also be an entry point for wind and water. Louvers that cover them are not designed to keep out rain driven by hurricane-force winds. Keep the attic, and insulation, dry by shuttering it as if it were a window. Pre-drilling and permanently installing all shutter hardware will save time when a storm hits.

3. Secure loose roof shingles: Keeping shingles attached is critical to protecting a house. Loose or ragged shingles should be replaced or secured with roofing cement, which is available at most hardware stores.

4. Seal openings, cracks and holes: Water can invade homes in a number of ways, especially when it is blown horizontally. Homeowners should use caulk to seal cracks and holes where phone and cable lines enter.

5. Strengthen doors: Any area that allows access to the house can be a potential trouble spot. IBHS recommends installing impact resistant garage doors, which are made with twice as many steel struts and stronger tracks. Double doors, also known as French doors, should have heavy duty barrel bolt anchors at the top and bottom and a dead bolt at least one-inch long. Doors that open outward instead of inward are even better.

It could cost $4,000 or more to do everything on this, notes Jeanne Salvatore, consumer spokesperson at the I.I.I. On the other hand, not doing them exposes an insured to paying a sizable hurricane deductible, which could make the $4,000 seem like a bargain.

For more information on fortifying homes, go to the IBHS Web site at: www.disaster
safety.org. For a video about fortifying a home visit http://www.iii.org/static/video/mediaplayer/5ThingsYouCanDo.wmv. Or download the associated I.I.I. audio file at http://www.iii.org/media/radio/prhurricaneresistance/.

Have a safe summer.

Topics Hurricane