June 25, 2010
Natural Disasters Happen. Will Your Home Be Ready?
By PAUL SULLIVAN
THE oil spill wreaking havoc in the Gulf of Mexico may be capturing your attention at the moment. But the odds are far greater that a natural disaster — a hurricane, wildfire or windstorm, for instance — will affect you.
The insurance industry is reminding homeowners of those odds this month, at the official start of the hurricane season, noting that forecasters have said it may be a bad one.
Getting out of your home safely is the priority in a storm. But from a financial point of view, homeowners should focus on protecting their property long before a storm is bearing down.
Homeowners in coastal Florida have learned the hard way the value of storm shutters and proper construction, but Robert Courtemanche, chief executive of ACE Private Risk Services, said homes farther up the East Coast were not as well protected. He said the building codes in the Carolinas, which frequently get hit hard by hurricanes, had not caught up with those in Florida, and in areas like the Hamptons, on Long Island, many houses lacked shutters or reinforced windows.
“The theory goes that with global warming, sea temperatures are going up, and that increases the likelihood of more severe storms further up the East Coast,” Mr. Courtemanche said.
Of course, plenty of people live far from the coast and have little to worry about from hurricanes. But there are still wildfires on the West Coast, hailstorms and plenty of things outside a house that could do damage in a severe windstorm.
Regardless of the threat, preparation is the key. “I wouldn’t recommend packing your most valuable possessions in the back of your Jag and heading up I-95,” said Scott Spencer, worldwide appraisal and risk prevention manager at Chubb Corporation. “I’d recommend having a plan.”
Blog Sponsor: Garage Door Florida
Garage Door Florida is an educational website for homeowners and consumers who are considering purchasing a new garage door. The Garage Door Florida website provides information on Eden Coast Custom Garage Doors which are crafted from composite materials and color matched to your home.There are many advantages to a Garage Door in Florida that looks great and will not need nearly the amount of maintenance a wooden garage door would need. For more information on how your home can have an Eden Coast Garage Door please visit the website Garage Door Florida.
Before the storm season begins, here are tips on preparing for trouble that may befall you.
HURRICANES Every year, hurricanes form in the Atlantic and work their way across Florida, through the Gulf of Mexico or up the East Coast. They can cause millions of dollars in property damage, deaths and dislocation. Still, year after year, people remain unprepared.
According to a poll in May sponsored by the Insurance Information Institute, a nonprofit advocacy group, only 50 percent of Americans have an inventory of their possessions in case they need to file an insurance claim.
Worse, the poll found that 26 percent of residents in the South — 32 percent in Louisiana and Mississippi — wrongly believed that their homeowner’s policies covered flood damage caused by a hurricane. The policies do not.
“With hurricanes, you’re covered for the wind damage, but you’re not covered for the flooding,” said Jeanne Salvatore, spokeswoman for the institute. “Most times there’s flooding in a hurricane.”
One problem this hurricane season is that the National Flood Insurance Program ran out of money on May 31, and, so far, only the House has authorized additional aid. The federal program covers the first $250,000 in building losses and the first $100,000 in personal property losses.
Most private flood policies are written to cover losses above those thresholds, and not all insurers provide primary flood coverage. Ronald Laconi, president of Chartis Private Client Group, a division of the American International Group, says that in areas like coastal Florida, his company offers only coverage above the federal program.
Many policies also have a hurricane deductible for wind damage that can range from 2 to 10 percent of the value of the home — not the actual damage. Ms. Salvatore suggested that homeowners check to make sure their policies included rebuilding their house to meet the current codes.
Beyond the proper insurance coverage, homeowners can do a lot to reduce the risk of damage.
“In a coastal area, the single most important thing we recommend is the protection of the openings of the house with either storm shutters or impact-resistant glass,” said Barry Davis, a regional manager for risk services at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company in Orlando, Fla.
He also said people often forgot to secure the garage. If it blows in, the structure of the house can be compromised. In one particularly fierce hurricane, Mr. Davis said, he backed his cars against the garage door to keep it from blowing in.
Todd Triano, vice president of loss prevention at Chartis, said 80 percent of catastrophic damage to houses was caused by garage doors being blown in. And he pointed out that homeowners might have reinforced doors and shutters, but if the latches or hooks had been corroded by salt air, they would not hold.
Another risk is what is in your yard. “In Florida, the missiles you have to worry about are palm trees and lawn furniture,” Mr. Triano said. Mr. Davis cautioned that everything should be inside or tied down in a hurricane.
High-end insurers spend a good deal of time counseling their wealthier clients on how to protect their homes. They often offer services that will monitor a home if the owners are away. At Fireman’s Fund, Mr. Davis said part of his job was to make recommendations on the homes before a policy was written.
Less-affluent clients bear the onus of making sure their own homes are secure. And being complacent is quite risky.
“A lot of people are put off by the time it takes to go through this process with them,” said Dale Tomlinson, assistant vice president for premier accounts at ACE. “We don’t get much pushback, but when we do it’s about time consumption. Too often, we think this is not going to happen to us.”
WILDFIRES Just as hurricanes in the Southeast make headlines in the summer, wildfires on the West Coast usually dominate the fall news cycle. Wildfires have also become an issue in other dry states starting as early as the summer.
Taking precautions is crucial here, too. The most obvious ones are managing the vegetation around your house. Planting fire-resistant plants is important. So, too, is clearing brush around your property. Wood mulch in wildfire areas is also a risk; it creates a wick.
Again, high-end insurance companies offer services to protect houses in wildfire-prone areas. Chartis sprays Foschek — a chemical fire retardant that is the orange solution you see dropped from helicopters — on the perimeter of houses to deflect the wildfire, while ACE coats clients’ houses in a fire-repellent gel.
WINDSTORMS Vast swaths of the country do not have to worry about hurricanes or wildfires, but as residents of the Northeast learned after storms in March, trees can pose a serious risk to their homes.
Mr. Spencer of the Chubb Corporation offered a checklist of warning signs to know if trees could fall on your home. If part or all the tree is not leafed out, it is unhealthy or dead. If you have excavated around a tree, the root system could be weakened. Piling mulch around the trunk is discouraged because it robs the tree of nutrients.
The challenge with trees, though, is if your neighbors are negligent, you may be stuck paying the deductible on your homeowner’s policy. “If your neighbor’s tree falls and hits your house, it’s your insurance claim,” Mr. Spencer said. “The best you can do is make him aware of the tree health issues.”
And that’s when a natural disaster becomes even more frustrating.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
June 25, 2010
Natural Disasters Happen. Will Your Home Be Ready?
By PAUL SULLIVAN
THE oil spill wreaking havoc in the Gulf of Mexico may be capturing your attention at the moment. But the odds are far greater that a natural disaster — a hurricane, wildfire or windstorm, for instance — will affect you.
The insurance industry is reminding homeowners of those odds this month, at the official start of the hurricane season, noting that forecasters have said it may be a bad one.
Getting out of your home safely is the priority in a storm. But from a financial point of view, homeowners should focus on protecting their property long before a storm is bearing down.
Homeowners in coastal Florida have learned the hard way the value of storm shutters and proper construction, but Robert Courtemanche, chief executive of ACE Private Risk Services, said homes farther up the East Coast were not as well protected. He said the building codes in the Carolinas, which frequently get hit hard by hurricanes, had not caught up with those in Florida, and in areas like the Hamptons, on Long Island, many houses lacked shutters or reinforced windows.
“The theory goes that with global warming, sea temperatures are going up, and that increases the likelihood of more severe storms further up the East Coast,” Mr. Courtemanche said.
Of course, plenty of people live far from the coast and have little to worry about from hurricanes. But there are still wildfires on the West Coast, hailstorms and plenty of things outside a house that could do damage in a severe windstorm.
Regardless of the threat, preparation is the key. “I wouldn’t recommend packing your most valuable possessions in the back of your Jag and heading up I-95,” said Scott Spencer, worldwide appraisal and risk prevention manager at Chubb Corporation. “I’d recommend having a plan.”
Before the storm season begins, here are tips on preparing for trouble that may befall you.
HURRICANES Every year, hurricanes form in the Atlantic and work their way across Florida, through the Gulf of Mexico or up the East Coast. They can cause millions of dollars in property damage, deaths and dislocation. Still, year after year, people remain unprepared.
According to a poll in May sponsored by the Insurance Information Institute, a nonprofit advocacy group, only 50 percent of Americans have an inventory of their possessions in case they need to file an insurance claim.
Worse, the poll found that 26 percent of residents in the South — 32 percent in Louisiana and Mississippi — wrongly believed that their homeowner’s policies covered flood damage caused by a hurricane. The policies do not.
“With hurricanes, you’re covered for the wind damage, but you’re not covered for the flooding,” said Jeanne Salvatore, spokeswoman for the institute. “Most times there’s flooding in a hurricane.”
One problem this hurricane season is that the National Flood Insurance Program ran out of money on May 31, and, so far, only the House has authorized additional aid. The federal program covers the first $250,000 in building losses and the first $100,000 in personal property losses.
Most private flood policies are written to cover losses above those thresholds, and not all insurers provide primary flood coverage. Ronald Laconi, president of Chartis Private Client Group, a division of the American International Group, says that in areas like coastal Florida, his company offers only coverage above the federal program.
Many policies also have a hurricane deductible for wind damage that can range from 2 to 10 percent of the value of the home — not the actual damage. Ms. Salvatore suggested that homeowners check to make sure their policies included rebuilding their house to meet the current codes.
Beyond the proper insurance coverage, homeowners can do a lot to reduce the risk of damage.
“In a coastal area, the single most important thing we recommend is the protection of the openings of the house with either storm shutters or impact-resistant glass,” said Barry Davis, a regional manager for risk services at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company in Orlando, Fla.
He also said people often forgot to secure the garage. If it blows in, the structure of the house can be compromised. In one particularly fierce hurricane, Mr. Davis said, he backed his cars against the garage door to keep it from blowing in.
Todd Triano, vice president of loss prevention at Chartis, said 80 percent of catastrophic damage to houses was caused by garage doors being blown in. And he pointed out that homeowners might have reinforced doors and shutters, but if the latches or hooks had been corroded by salt air, they would not hold.
Another risk is what is in your yard. “In Florida, the missiles you have to worry about are palm trees and lawn furniture,” Mr. Triano said. Mr. Davis cautioned that everything should be inside or tied down in a hurricane.
High-end insurers spend a good deal of time counseling their wealthier clients on how to protect their homes. They often offer services that will monitor a home if the owners are away. At Fireman’s Fund, Mr. Davis said part of his job was to make recommendations on the homes before a policy was written.
Less-affluent clients bear the onus of making sure their own homes are secure. And being complacent is quite risky.
“A lot of people are put off by the time it takes to go through this process with them,” said Dale Tomlinson, assistant vice president for premier accounts at ACE. “We don’t get much pushback, but when we do it’s about time consumption. Too often, we think this is not going to happen to us.”
WILDFIRES Just as hurricanes in the Southeast make headlines in the summer, wildfires on the West Coast usually dominate the fall news cycle. Wildfires have also become an issue in other dry states starting as early as the summer.
Taking precautions is crucial here, too. The most obvious ones are managing the vegetation around your house. Planting fire-resistant plants is important. So, too, is clearing brush around your property. Wood mulch in wildfire areas is also a risk; it creates a wick.
Again, high-end insurance companies offer services to protect houses in wildfire-prone areas. Chartis sprays Foschek — a chemical fire retardant that is the orange solution you see dropped from helicopters — on the perimeter of houses to deflect the wildfire, while ACE coats clients’ houses in a fire-repellent gel.
WINDSTORMS Vast swaths of the country do not have to worry about hurricanes or wildfires, but as residents of the Northeast learned after storms in March, trees can pose a serious risk to their homes.
Mr. Spencer of the Chubb Corporation offered a checklist of warning signs to know if trees could fall on your home. If part or all the tree is not leafed out, it is unhealthy or dead. If you have excavated around a tree, the root system could be weakened. Piling mulch around the trunk is discouraged because it robs the tree of nutrients.
The challenge with trees, though, is if your neighbors are negligent, you may be stuck paying the deductible on your homeowner’s policy. “If your neighbor’s tree falls and hits your house, it’s your insurance claim,” Mr. Spencer said. “The best you can do is make him aware of the tree health issues.”
And that’s when a natural disaster becomes even more frustrating.
Natural Disasters Happen. Will Your Home Be Ready?
By PAUL SULLIVAN
THE oil spill wreaking havoc in the Gulf of Mexico may be capturing your attention at the moment. But the odds are far greater that a natural disaster — a hurricane, wildfire or windstorm, for instance — will affect you.
The insurance industry is reminding homeowners of those odds this month, at the official start of the hurricane season, noting that forecasters have said it may be a bad one.
Getting out of your home safely is the priority in a storm. But from a financial point of view, homeowners should focus on protecting their property long before a storm is bearing down.
Homeowners in coastal Florida have learned the hard way the value of storm shutters and proper construction, but Robert Courtemanche, chief executive of ACE Private Risk Services, said homes farther up the East Coast were not as well protected. He said the building codes in the Carolinas, which frequently get hit hard by hurricanes, had not caught up with those in Florida, and in areas like the Hamptons, on Long Island, many houses lacked shutters or reinforced windows.
“The theory goes that with global warming, sea temperatures are going up, and that increases the likelihood of more severe storms further up the East Coast,” Mr. Courtemanche said.
Of course, plenty of people live far from the coast and have little to worry about from hurricanes. But there are still wildfires on the West Coast, hailstorms and plenty of things outside a house that could do damage in a severe windstorm.
Regardless of the threat, preparation is the key. “I wouldn’t recommend packing your most valuable possessions in the back of your Jag and heading up I-95,” said Scott Spencer, worldwide appraisal and risk prevention manager at Chubb Corporation. “I’d recommend having a plan.”
Before the storm season begins, here are tips on preparing for trouble that may befall you.
HURRICANES Every year, hurricanes form in the Atlantic and work their way across Florida, through the Gulf of Mexico or up the East Coast. They can cause millions of dollars in property damage, deaths and dislocation. Still, year after year, people remain unprepared.
According to a poll in May sponsored by the Insurance Information Institute, a nonprofit advocacy group, only 50 percent of Americans have an inventory of their possessions in case they need to file an insurance claim.
Worse, the poll found that 26 percent of residents in the South — 32 percent in Louisiana and Mississippi — wrongly believed that their homeowner’s policies covered flood damage caused by a hurricane. The policies do not.
“With hurricanes, you’re covered for the wind damage, but you’re not covered for the flooding,” said Jeanne Salvatore, spokeswoman for the institute. “Most times there’s flooding in a hurricane.”
One problem this hurricane season is that the National Flood Insurance Program ran out of money on May 31, and, so far, only the House has authorized additional aid. The federal program covers the first $250,000 in building losses and the first $100,000 in personal property losses.
Most private flood policies are written to cover losses above those thresholds, and not all insurers provide primary flood coverage. Ronald Laconi, president of Chartis Private Client Group, a division of the American International Group, says that in areas like coastal Florida, his company offers only coverage above the federal program.
Many policies also have a hurricane deductible for wind damage that can range from 2 to 10 percent of the value of the home — not the actual damage. Ms. Salvatore suggested that homeowners check to make sure their policies included rebuilding their house to meet the current codes.
Beyond the proper insurance coverage, homeowners can do a lot to reduce the risk of damage.
“In a coastal area, the single most important thing we recommend is the protection of the openings of the house with either storm shutters or impact-resistant glass,” said Barry Davis, a regional manager for risk services at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company in Orlando, Fla.
He also said people often forgot to secure the garage. If it blows in, the structure of the house can be compromised. In one particularly fierce hurricane, Mr. Davis said, he backed his cars against the garage door to keep it from blowing in.
Todd Triano, vice president of loss prevention at Chartis, said 80 percent of catastrophic damage to houses was caused by garage doors being blown in. And he pointed out that homeowners might have reinforced doors and shutters, but if the latches or hooks had been corroded by salt air, they would not hold.
Another risk is what is in your yard. “In Florida, the missiles you have to worry about are palm trees and lawn furniture,” Mr. Triano said. Mr. Davis cautioned that everything should be inside or tied down in a hurricane.
High-end insurers spend a good deal of time counseling their wealthier clients on how to protect their homes. They often offer services that will monitor a home if the owners are away. At Fireman’s Fund, Mr. Davis said part of his job was to make recommendations on the homes before a policy was written.
Less-affluent clients bear the onus of making sure their own homes are secure. And being complacent is quite risky.
“A lot of people are put off by the time it takes to go through this process with them,” said Dale Tomlinson, assistant vice president for premier accounts at ACE. “We don’t get much pushback, but when we do it’s about time consumption. Too often, we think this is not going to happen to us.”
WILDFIRES Just as hurricanes in the Southeast make headlines in the summer, wildfires on the West Coast usually dominate the fall news cycle. Wildfires have also become an issue in other dry states starting as early as the summer.
Taking precautions is crucial here, too. The most obvious ones are managing the vegetation around your house. Planting fire-resistant plants is important. So, too, is clearing brush around your property. Wood mulch in wildfire areas is also a risk; it creates a wick.
Again, high-end insurance companies offer services to protect houses in wildfire-prone areas. Chartis sprays Foschek — a chemical fire retardant that is the orange solution you see dropped from helicopters — on the perimeter of houses to deflect the wildfire, while ACE coats clients’ houses in a fire-repellent gel.
WINDSTORMS Vast swaths of the country do not have to worry about hurricanes or wildfires, but as residents of the Northeast learned after storms in March, trees can pose a serious risk to their homes.
Mr. Spencer of the Chubb Corporation offered a checklist of warning signs to know if trees could fall on your home. If part or all the tree is not leafed out, it is unhealthy or dead. If you have excavated around a tree, the root system could be weakened. Piling mulch around the trunk is discouraged because it robs the tree of nutrients.
The challenge with trees, though, is if your neighbors are negligent, you may be stuck paying the deductible on your homeowner’s policy. “If your neighbor’s tree falls and hits your house, it’s your insurance claim,” Mr. Spencer said. “The best you can do is make him aware of the tree health issues.”
And that’s when a natural disaster becomes even more frustrating.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Storm Smart CEO wins Corporate Leader Award
Brian Rist, owner and CEO of Storm Smart Industries was recently awarded the Corporate Leadership Award, 2010! Rist was elected by several different Emergency Management chapters and was chosen for the award by the 24th Annual Governor’s Hurricane Conference committee.
“Storm Smart has always been here for emergency management and supports us in our seminars and with the publication of our All Hazzards Guide. We are grateful for that!” said Wayne Sallade, Emergency Management for Charlotte County and nominator for Brian Rist.
Blog Sponsor: Garage Door Florida
Garage Door Florida is an educational website for homeowners and consumers who are considering purchasing a new garage door. The Garage Door Florida website provides information on Eden Coast Custom Garage Doors which are crafted from composite materials and color matched to your home.There are many advantages to a Garage Door in Florida that looks great and will not need nearly the amount of maintenance a wooden garage door would need. For more information on how your home can have an Eden Coast Garage Door please visit the website Garage Door Florida.
The award ceremony will took place on May 23- 28th, 2010 in Greater Fort Lauderdale at the Broward County Convention Center. Brian received the award from Governor Charlie Crist. “I am so proud to have achieved this award, I really feel like Emergency Management does a lot for Southwest Florida and I want to give back to them by helping in any way we can.” commented Brian Rist.
Storm Smart Industries has been an active participant with Emergency Management for 15 years and as well as with the Governors Hurricane Conference.The Governor’s Hurricane Conference is an event where emergency managers and personnel, first responders, state, federal, volunteer agency, business and industry representatives, along with health and medical professionals from around the state, nation and world as they come together to train and learn from each other during the week’s many activities.
Storm Smart Industries is the largest and most innovative hurricane protection company in Ft. Myers, Florida.
“Storm Smart has always been here for emergency management and supports us in our seminars and with the publication of our All Hazzards Guide. We are grateful for that!” said Wayne Sallade, Emergency Management for Charlotte County and nominator for Brian Rist.
Blog Sponsor: Garage Door Florida
Garage Door Florida is an educational website for homeowners and consumers who are considering purchasing a new garage door. The Garage Door Florida website provides information on Eden Coast Custom Garage Doors which are crafted from composite materials and color matched to your home.There are many advantages to a Garage Door in Florida that looks great and will not need nearly the amount of maintenance a wooden garage door would need. For more information on how your home can have an Eden Coast Garage Door please visit the website Garage Door Florida.
The award ceremony will took place on May 23- 28th, 2010 in Greater Fort Lauderdale at the Broward County Convention Center. Brian received the award from Governor Charlie Crist. “I am so proud to have achieved this award, I really feel like Emergency Management does a lot for Southwest Florida and I want to give back to them by helping in any way we can.” commented Brian Rist.
Storm Smart Industries has been an active participant with Emergency Management for 15 years and as well as with the Governors Hurricane Conference.The Governor’s Hurricane Conference is an event where emergency managers and personnel, first responders, state, federal, volunteer agency, business and industry representatives, along with health and medical professionals from around the state, nation and world as they come together to train and learn from each other during the week’s many activities.
Storm Smart Industries is the largest and most innovative hurricane protection company in Ft. Myers, Florida.
How to Guard Your Home Against a Hurricane
From the Florida Home Builder Website
f you want to safeguard your home from the devastating winds and rain of a hurricane, there are steps you can take now, long before a storm is on the horizon.
Some of these preparations you can do yourself. Others require the expertise of an experienced contractor. For the name of a reputable contractor in your area, contact the Local Home Builders Association in your area or call the National Association of Home Builders Remodelors Council at 800-368-5242.
The Roof System
Install hurricane straps or clips to the inside of your roof. This must be done by a roofing contractor when your roof is being replaced since it requires access to the inside of the roof underneath the sheathing. These straps/clips should be placed where the roof truss adjoins the exterior wall.
When the trusses are exposed, check to make sure that they are properly fastened. Fasteners include nails and staples. If the fasteners have missed the truss, the roof is weakened. You may want to add nails if they are scarce or if many have missed the top cord of the roof.
If you have a gable-end roof, make sure it is properly braced at the ends. This can be done at any time. Attach 2x4s or 2x6s to the gable end perpendicular to the truss system. Use screws, not nails, to attach the braces. Also, install steel angles to the gable end bracing to reinforce the gable ends.
Blog Sponsor: Garage Door Florida
Garage Door Florida is an educational website for homeowners and consumers who are considering purchasing a new garage door. The Garage Door Florida website provides information on Eden Coast Custom Garage Doors which are crafted from composite materials and color matched to your home.There are many advantages to a Garage Door in Florida that looks great and will not need nearly the amount of maintenance a wooden garage door would need. For more information on how your home can have an Eden Coast Garage Door please visit the website Garage Door Florida.
Exterior Openings
Windows, French doors and sliding doors must be protected either by hurricane shutters or by an impact-resistant glazing such as laminated glass. Shuttering can be done with 5/8 inch plywood or metal storm panels. To save time before a hurricane, install the anchors or brackets now and store the shutters. Pre-cut plywood pieces should be mounted overlapping windows on all sides by four inches so that the shutters are attached to the frame underneath the exterior surface. Use anchors and wood screws to attach the anchors to siding or lag bolts for masonry.
Double garage doors are another weak point that needs to be reinforced. This can be done at anytime; the bracing can remain on the doors year round. Install cross bracing or girts horizontally across the door. Use six to eight 2x4s or steel girts.
Also, reinforce the track of the garage door with heavier gauge metal and anchor it to the frame with long screws.
Check with the manufacturer of your garage door to see if a strengthening package for is available.
Double-entry doors are another frail spot. Check the inactive door and make sure it's secured to the header and threshold; if not, add reinforcing pins to the top and bottom of the door. Also, add heavier hinges and more secure locks.
Fences and Porches
If you're putting up fencing, leave spaces at the bottom instead of driving every panel into the ground to allow air to go under the fence, rather than knocking it down.
Porches normally have weak roofs. Make sure the roof is bolted to the exterior wall of the house. Also, attach porch flooring firmly to the house.
By the time weather forecasters knew that Hurricane Andrew was going to strike South Florida, homeowners had little time to prepare their homes. Those who tried to buy plywood for shuttering windows a day or two before the storm found supplies completely depleted. By taking these precautions now, you'll save time, heart ache and money if a hurricane hits your area.
f you want to safeguard your home from the devastating winds and rain of a hurricane, there are steps you can take now, long before a storm is on the horizon.
Some of these preparations you can do yourself. Others require the expertise of an experienced contractor. For the name of a reputable contractor in your area, contact the Local Home Builders Association in your area or call the National Association of Home Builders Remodelors Council at 800-368-5242.
The Roof System
Install hurricane straps or clips to the inside of your roof. This must be done by a roofing contractor when your roof is being replaced since it requires access to the inside of the roof underneath the sheathing. These straps/clips should be placed where the roof truss adjoins the exterior wall.
When the trusses are exposed, check to make sure that they are properly fastened. Fasteners include nails and staples. If the fasteners have missed the truss, the roof is weakened. You may want to add nails if they are scarce or if many have missed the top cord of the roof.
If you have a gable-end roof, make sure it is properly braced at the ends. This can be done at any time. Attach 2x4s or 2x6s to the gable end perpendicular to the truss system. Use screws, not nails, to attach the braces. Also, install steel angles to the gable end bracing to reinforce the gable ends.
Blog Sponsor: Garage Door Florida
Garage Door Florida is an educational website for homeowners and consumers who are considering purchasing a new garage door. The Garage Door Florida website provides information on Eden Coast Custom Garage Doors which are crafted from composite materials and color matched to your home.There are many advantages to a Garage Door in Florida that looks great and will not need nearly the amount of maintenance a wooden garage door would need. For more information on how your home can have an Eden Coast Garage Door please visit the website Garage Door Florida.
Exterior Openings
Windows, French doors and sliding doors must be protected either by hurricane shutters or by an impact-resistant glazing such as laminated glass. Shuttering can be done with 5/8 inch plywood or metal storm panels. To save time before a hurricane, install the anchors or brackets now and store the shutters. Pre-cut plywood pieces should be mounted overlapping windows on all sides by four inches so that the shutters are attached to the frame underneath the exterior surface. Use anchors and wood screws to attach the anchors to siding or lag bolts for masonry.
Double garage doors are another weak point that needs to be reinforced. This can be done at anytime; the bracing can remain on the doors year round. Install cross bracing or girts horizontally across the door. Use six to eight 2x4s or steel girts.
Also, reinforce the track of the garage door with heavier gauge metal and anchor it to the frame with long screws.
Check with the manufacturer of your garage door to see if a strengthening package for is available.
Double-entry doors are another frail spot. Check the inactive door and make sure it's secured to the header and threshold; if not, add reinforcing pins to the top and bottom of the door. Also, add heavier hinges and more secure locks.
Fences and Porches
If you're putting up fencing, leave spaces at the bottom instead of driving every panel into the ground to allow air to go under the fence, rather than knocking it down.
Porches normally have weak roofs. Make sure the roof is bolted to the exterior wall of the house. Also, attach porch flooring firmly to the house.
By the time weather forecasters knew that Hurricane Andrew was going to strike South Florida, homeowners had little time to prepare their homes. Those who tried to buy plywood for shuttering windows a day or two before the storm found supplies completely depleted. By taking these precautions now, you'll save time, heart ache and money if a hurricane hits your area.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Garage Door Florida Website Launched
When you think of green products for your home you probably don't think of your garage door. It is the largest moving part of your home and helps insulate your home from outside temperatures. Typical wooden doors need frequent maintenance, re-painting and needs to be replaced every 5-7 years. A new website, Garage Door Florida provides Florida homeowners with information on composite garage doors that are great for homes on the Florida coastal areas.
The Garage Door Florida website was launched by Eden Coast LLC, an Atlanta based manufacturer of high quality eco-friendly garage doors. The quality of the doors must be seen to be believed. The stain and painting options are matched to the colors of your home and each Eden Coast Garage Door is custom made in their Atlanta manufacturing plant. For more information please visit their Garage Door Florida Website.
The Garage Door Florida website was launched by Eden Coast LLC, an Atlanta based manufacturer of high quality eco-friendly garage doors. The quality of the doors must be seen to be believed. The stain and painting options are matched to the colors of your home and each Eden Coast Garage Door is custom made in their Atlanta manufacturing plant. For more information please visit their Garage Door Florida Website.
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