Is your home ready for hurricane season?

With Laura and Marco on paths to wreak havoc in Texas and Louisiana, it’s time to start thinking about hurricane readiness. Is your home prepared for hurricane season?

Whether this is your first year in Florida or your family has been preparing for hurricane season for generations, we’ve got you covered with these outdoor safety tips for hurricane season.

Before you secure your home, plan for your family.

Your home’s security is secondary to that of yourself, your family members, and your pets. Before you start to “batten down the hatches,” make sure you’ve prepped for everything your family needs to ride out a storm.

These safety tips for hurricane season might include:

• Planning an evacuation route
• Filling your car at least half-full with gas
• Familiarizing yourself with the closest hurricane shelter (available on the National Weather Service website)
• Packing “go bags” with important documents, medications, clothing, and everything your family might need for a sudden evacuation
• Filling your freezers with ice in case of power outages
• Stocking up on drinking water, nonperishable foods, and toiletries
• Checking in with CDC regulations in regard to COVID-19
• Making a plan for staying in touch with family and friends, in case of loss of power or cell phone signal
• Reviewing insurance policies for any necessary steps you need to take before a storm arrives

Next, it’s time to secure your home.

With the most important steps out of the way, it’s time to look toward more physical safety tips for hurricane season. When you’re thinking through how to plan for a hurricane, your biggest risk factors are water and wind. What items inside and outside of your home would be vulnerable to the elements in the event of a severe storm?

Inside the home, bolster your windows, doors, and walls.

Secure window gaps with towels or rags. While you’re at it, take a walk through your home and complete this checklist:

• Unplug and store electrical items on high shelves (out of the reach of potential floodwaters)
• Elevate your portable heating and cooling systems, like fans or space heaters
• Charge your cell phone and other important electronics/communication devices
• Make sure you have flashlights with batteries, candles/matches, and other light sources on hand

Outside the home, check for structural integrity issues, and prepare for strong winds.

Here is a helpful checklist of outdoor hurricane preparedness tips:

• Cut low-hanging or weak branches and trees that could fall on your home
• Secure patio furniture and decor by bringing small items inside, and breaking down or securing large items
• Anchor “risky” items like propane grills and gas tanks with sand bags or ties
• Clean out the gutters to minimize risk of debris
• Check the seals of doors and windows, and bolster with rags or towels if there are gaps
• Cover glass (sliding glass doors, glass windows, etc.) with plywood or shutters
• Seal vents and other outside wall openings to prevent water from seeping into your home
• Secure mobile homes, houseboats, or trailers with proper anchoring techniques

After the storm, take stock and plan for recovery.

Coming home after a severe storm can be scary. However, if you’ve taken all the proper steps for hurricane preparedness, you can rest easy knowing you’ve done everything possible to get ready.

When you get home, keep an eye out for high water, leaks, electric issues, or backed up plumbing. Most Floridians are familiar with the process of cleaning up after a hurricane or tropical storm. If you need help restoring your deck, pool, patio, and other parts of your home to their pre-hurricane shine, we’re here to help.

After a severe storm, treatments like pressure washing, soft washing, and deck renewal are a great way to get your home back to normal. Additional services like gutter cleaning and window washing can help you prepare for the next storm as well. As always, we encourage you to turn to your North Florida outdoor maintenance professionals at Diamond Power Washing & Maintenance to determine potential problem areas–and deal with them accordingly before the next storm.

Are you ready for hurricane season?