Putting Into Consideration Natural Disasters When Designing Your Home

The cost of making changes to home goes up by a factor of ten as you move through the construction process. It is far cheaper to change the drawings than it is to chop and change while the house is being built. The cost of renovating your home to install a safe room that doubles as a storm shelter or preparing for the worst is roughly ten times higher than if you altered the plans to include these features. Let’s discuss options when you’re considering the potential impact of natural disasters on your home when designing it.

Planning for Shelter

While your home provides shelter on a daily basis, it may not be good enough on its own unless you take extra steps to make it ready. If you are designing your new home, consider steel frames instead of wood frames and a roof that won’t be blown away in the next hurricane. If you already own your own home, you could upgrade the roof to something sturdier. A side benefit of a better roof is that it won’t be damaged in the next hail storm, allowing you to save on homeowners insurance premiums.

Another tactic is reinforcing a specific room in your home to allow you to shelter in place. Don’t try to hide your family in the bathtub or worry if a closet is safe enough. Install reinforced doors and shielding so that you know you’ll be safe from flying debris. A potential side benefit of this safe room, if you add in the necessary hardware, is that it can double as a safe room if someone invades your home.

Ensuring Infrastructure Destruction Doesn’t Inconvenience You (Much)

Whether there is a storm, earthquake or massive fire, you may lose power. Instead of storing a generator in the garage that you have to set up and maintain during a power outage, consider having one of the 10000-watt generators on the market today installed on its own dedicated concrete pad. Natural gas generators will be able to tap into fuel lines to provide constant power when the electric power lines are down, and it could run most if not everything in your home. You won’t have to wait in line for gasoline or decide between keeping food in the fridge or freezer safe.

Another tactic is designing for multiple fuel sources so that life doesn’t come to a screeching halt due to disruptions. Dual fuel ovens allow you to switch from electric power to natural gas if the power is out. Installing furnaces that can switch from electricity to natural gas or a backup natural gas heater is a possible solution, though it is easier to install a generator that can keep all of the electric appliances in your home running.

Preparations Now for the Coming Storm

Consider taking steps now to protect your property during a disaster. For example, have your outdoor grill or fireplace anchored down so that it can’t be blown away by heavy winds. A side benefit of this is that it can’t be picked up and thrown against the house, compounding the property damage. Install shutters that you can close when a storm is coming to protect your windows. If possible, upgrade doors and windows to sturdy double or triple pane windows that are energy efficient year round but resist storm damage and fires when they strike. When you are designing your home, ensure that water, gas and power shutoff valves are readily accessible and clearly labeled.

Minimize the Potential Damage

When you’re designing your new landscaping, ensure that there is adequate space between landscaping and the structure to make it easy to escape. Keeping brush away from your home prevents wildfires from having a fuel line right up to the house. Trimming back tree branches ensures that they can’t fall on the roof or your car if they are overloaded by ice, damaged by wind or hit by lightning. Consider having a sprinkler system built into your home to minimize the damage caused by a fire, and use fire-resistant materials that are less likely to catch fire in the first place.

Summary

You can take steps now to minimize the risk of a disaster disrupting your life or destroying your home. And with a little forethought and effort, you can protect your family and your possessions even if disaster does strike.