Heavy storms have become increasingly common in recent years, especially in the autumn. This is causing a great deal of storm damage, including to people’s homes. The good news is that there are things you can do to prevent storm damage. Take a look at our tips on how to prevent damage to your home. These will help you prevent a situation where damage is not covered because of poor maintenance or negligence. If despite all this, your home is still damaged by a heavy storm, home insurance will have your home covered in most cases.
Whenever you spot any loose or dislodged tiles on your roof, the best course of action is to repair it right away, otherwise any damage may not be covered. A storm can easily blow roof tiles off your roof, causing considerable damage to cars parked around your home, but also to passers-by. You can secure roof tiles using roof tile hooks or screw a number of tiles to the roof structure, which will often be enough to keep the entire roof surface in place.
Storms in the Netherlands regularly rip (parts of) roofs off houses. In many cases, this could have been prevented through the right maintenance. Failing to perform regular maintenance on a roof may lead to roofing material coming loose due to the force of a storm. Regularly check that your roof still meets the requirements. Also, keep your roof gutters clean to prevent water damage.
Besides roofing material coming loose and roof tiles being blown away, a fair number of garden fences will not survive a storm either. Fence posts rot in the ground or rust away with time. Replace rotten parts in time, otherwise the damage may not be covered. If you share a garden fence with your neighbours, your insurer and your neighbours’ insurer will each pay half in case of storm damage.
We have all seen images of trees blown over onto houses in a storm, and every time we do, we hope it never happens to us. To prevent this from happening to you, make sure you do something about that lopsided tree by your house. And not only a lopsided tree; a sick tree is also more likely to topple in a storm. Pruning in time and removing loose dead twigs will also prevent damage to your garden. If you have a large tree right next to your house, make sure you regularly check your roof gutters and clean them whenever necessary.
Did you know that anything you have outside your home is not covered by home insurance in the event of a storm? Move your things indoors before the storm comes and remember to either fix parasols, trampolines, and garden furniture to the ground or put them inside. Also make sure you close your windows and doors properly and retract the awning. If any of your belongings inside your home are damaged because of a storm, having home contents insurance will come in very handy.
Regularly check that your awning is still properly secured. When there is a storm coming, retract the awning to prevent gusts of wind from tearing the fabric. Damage to any awnings that are attached to your house is covered by your home insurance.
If your entire garden is tiled, make sure that rainwater can run off somewhere. Having rainwater run off into a pond or lower area is the most sensible option. And preferably not into your neighbours’ garden!
Every year, there are over 2,000 chimney fires in the Netherlands that do great damage to homes (Source: brandweer.nl). Strong winds combined with a chimney that has not been swept for some time may lead to a chimney fire. In fact, an unswept chimney can also be a fire hazard when there is no wind. Chimneys need maintenance too and a poorly maintained chimney can cause a lot of damage to the house or the garden in a storm. The chimney or parts of it may be blown off the house, for example. So, regularly check that the joints have not come loose and that the lead flashings are still properly fixed in place.
