Hurricane Florence: Prepare Your Home Exterior Now

As Hurricane Florence chugs across the Atlantic Ocean, she’s gearing up quickly. She’s expected to make landfall on Thursday with a powerful Category 4 impact. The anticipated impact for the low-lying coastal areas will be significant property damage along with beach erosion. For those of us in the inland regions of North Carolina, preparations are a must. Make home exterior preparations now to protect your home from the damage of high winds, torrential rain showers, lightning, and more.

Here are a few essential things you need to do now to have your home prepared for the impact.

Call Your Insurance Agent

Check in with your home insurance agent to make sure that all insurance premiums are paid and that your policy is in force. As the storm approaches, they will not be permitted to make changes or to bind new policies. This is a Monday morning must-do.

Trim Tree Limbs

Here in the “Land of the Pines,” we have enormous trees with sprawling limbs. If you see any limbs directly over your home, get them cut back asap. You should always keep your roofline free of branches that can scrape up the roof and lift your shingles or crash through your roof. With an approaching hurricane of this power, it’s ultra-important to take care of this now as wind shear can turn branches into projectiles during a hurricane.

If you’re not equipped to remove those branches, call a tree expert in to tackle the task for you.

Clean Your Gutters

Raleigh is called the “City of Oaks” thanks to the gorgeous towering oak trees that provide a shade canopy against the summer heat. While that shade is a blessing it’s also a curse. The leaves and acorns drop and fill our gutters with debris that blocks the water from flowing through freely.

Your gutters direct the rainwater away from your home and will help to minimize flooding around your foundation. Clean them of debris so that this can happen as Florence begins to drop the deluge on us. After you’ve cleaned out the gutters, use a gutter protection system to keep them free of accumulating debris during the storm. I’ve installed the GutterBrush and so far, it’s worked quite well for me.

Inspect Your Roof

An annual roof inspection is another must-do job that we sometimes forget about until a storm approaches the Carolina coast. If you’ve not done one recently, get up there and take a look around. Check for any loose shingles or flashing and re-secure if needed. Loose caulking? Pull it out and replace it. Any of these are potential places that can leak.

Ready the Windows

Close your storm windows to create an extra layer of protection from the driving rainshowers that we expect. If you’re lucky enough to have real storm shutters, make sure they are in good working order and get them closed off on Wednesday.

Many of us have older homes with wood window frames that preserve the period integrity of our homes. These need to be caulked to seal against moisture and bugs periodically. Hurricane Florence will be bringing driving rains and shifting winds with her. Seal out that moisture ahead of the storm to keep your home dry and comfy as the storm rages.

Get Out There and Get Ready!

Hurricane Florence is coming this week. She will be making a weather impact that we will feel. The best thing you can do is to prepare your home’s exterior, stock up on water and canned goods, and ride out the storm. Keep safe, neighbors!