Tips to prevent damage to your home contents

The things you have in your home are valuable. Burglars are most likely to steal home electronics and jewellery. The latter especially can be of great emotional value to you. Taking the right precautions will spare you a lot of grief. 

• Going out? Leave a light on, close your windows and lock the doors. Don’t forget about the garden gate and the shed. 
• If you’re going away for longer, ask your neighbours to keep an eye on your home. 
• Keep valuables out of sight. This includes not leaving the box that your new television came in outside your door for too long.

Any of your belongings that you keep outdoors are more susceptible to weather damage. And they are also more likely to be stolen or vandalised. 

• Perform regular maintenance on any garden stoves, garden fire pits or fire bowls to prevent flammable material from catching fire. 
• Had a party? Take down the party tent on the same day and store it safely to prevent it from being blown away.
• Store as many of your things as possible in a securely locked shed or garage, i.e. things such as bicycles, parasols and your garden furniture. They will be secure there and insured up to the maximum amount under your basic cover.

Your car is not part of your home contents and must be insured separately by taking out car insurance. If your things are inside a locked vehicle, they will be covered for theft up to the maximum amount under your home contents insurance.

The use of electronic appliances is one of the most common causes of house fires. This can be prevented by ensuring that these appliances can properly discharge their heat.

• Switch off appliances instead of leaving them on standby. This will prevent overheating and short circuits, and it will save precious electricity.
• Use only the original manufacturer’s charger that came with the appliance and never place charging devices on flammable surfaces that absorb a lot of heat, such as a bed or a sofa.
• Unplug and disconnect smartphones, tablets and laptops from the charger as soon as they are fully charged, otherwise your device could overheat and catch fire. For this same reason, you should not charge your devices at night or while you’re out either.
• Never join multiple extension cords together.
• Fully unwind power cord reels to prevent the reel from getting hot and catching fire.

If you own your own home, make sure you also take out home insurance. Not only the things inside your home, but also the house itself and the garage and shed will then be covered for fire damage. If you rent, your landlord must take out home insurance. If you live in a flat or apartment building, the owners’ association will generally have arranged home insurance.

A blocked water line can have very unpleasant consequences. Not just the damage, but the smell too will stay with you for a long time. Regular maintenance will spare you a lot of inconvenience. 

• If you often wash your dishes or laundry at low temperatures, greasy food residue and detergent residue will build up in your dishwasher or washing machine. This will not only cause a nasty smell, it may also end up clogging your drain. You can prevent this by running a hot cycle once a month. 
• Having a water trap between the tap and the supply hose to your washing machine is no luxury. It will automatically stop the water supply in the event of a leak. 
• Prevent your pipes from freezing by keeping the central heating running at a minimum temperature of 16 degrees Celsius. In winter, turn off the water supply to any outdoor taps and drain them to prevent them from freezing.
• If the water pressure to your central heating boiler is too low and you want to top up the boiler using a hose, remember to disconnect the hose from your central heating boiler or expansion tank after topping up the boiler. If you don’t, the hose could burst and you could be left with a flooded room.

If you own your own home, make sure you also take out home insurance. Not only the things inside your home, but also the house itself and the garage and shed will then be covered for fire damage. If you rent, your landlord must take out home insurance. If you live in a flat or apartment building, the owners’ association will generally have arranged home insurance.

An intrepid burglar will try anything to get into your home. It’s up to you to make this as difficult as possible for them, or at least to not make it too easy. For example, don’t leave lights on that make your valuables easy to see from outside your home. And make sure that a burglar cannot easily climb up to an open window or other weak spot.

It may not be the nicest job to do around the house, but regularly cleaning your roof gutters can prevent a great deal of water damage. Rain and wind will fill your gutters with leaves, twigs, moss and other debris. This (natural) waste will build up over time and eventually block the drains. A heavy rain shower will then cause water to overflow from your gutters. So, try to clear your gutters with a broom at least once a year.

A smoke detector gives off a loud beep when it detects smoke formation. So, whenever there is a fire out of sight in your home, you will know about it sooner, giving you more time to take action and prevent greater damage.

Since 1 July 2022, it has been compulsory by law to have a smoke detector on every floor of your home. Only basements and attics that are not used as living areas are exempt. That said, it’s obviously better to have a smoke detector too many than not enough.

If in spite of all your precautions you need to make a claim, ABN AMRO Verzekeringen will be here for you. Read more about submitting a claim here.