If a storm damages your home, homeowners insurance could mean the difference between repairing your house and facing a financial disaster. Severe thunderstorms can cause a lot of damage to and around your home. By assessing the damage completely, you'll be in a better position to deal with insurance companies.
Security Remodeling suggests you follow these simple tips before contacting your insurance company. By having first hand knowledge and by knowing what to look for you will be able to ensure that the insurance companies give you everything you are entitled to.
Roofing Damage:
Thoroughly inspect your roof for loosened, missing or even torn shingles. Check for bent or missing sections flashing. If it isn't practical for you to get up on the roof, an inspection is often possible from the ground using a pair of binoculars. You may have to move a distance away from the house (across the street or into a neighbor's yard) to get a view, but the binoculars usually make it possible to see the entire roof without the risk of falls.
Because most siding is installed in an interlocking pattern, it is important to discover problems when they are still small. If a storm causes damage to your siding and it is overlooked or ignored, it often becomes necessary to replace all the siding on that side of the house.
Check your windows and doors for cracks, broken glass and holes. Often tree branches will not only break the glass in your windows, but from time to time you will find that with enough wind during a storm could cause a branch to puncture your siding or even a door.
Check to see if the gutters around your roof still slope towards the downspouts. During storms gutters will do more than just collect and channel water run off from your roof. High winds will also through debris into your gutters.
Also be sure that the gutters are still fastened securely. It is quite also likely that storm debris has or will clog your gutters, so you may want to make arrangements to have them cleaned for good measure.
