With harsh wind storms and hurricane season upon us, the prospect of wind damage to your roof and home becomes a real possibility. There are precautions that you can take prior to a severe storm to minimize damage to your roof. Since insurance carriers often aggressively fight wind damage claims, you can make your life easier if you mitigate your risk of damage before a storm occurs.
Homeowners should conduct a visual inspection of their roof prior to storm season to identify shingles that are missing. This inspection should be close enough to also allow you to spot any shingles that are damaged or that have become loose. When you have missing shingles or the shingles have become compromised, the severity of damage to your roof during a wind storm will be magnified.
Although a careful inspection of the shingles is important, there still may be pre-existing damage that must be dealt with even if all of the shingles in your roof appear to be intact. Another area that should be inspected is the attic of your home. Moisture trapped in the attic or wood that has swollen because of water penetration might reveal leaks that you were unable to locate when you examined the shingles.
Another way that strong winds can cause water penetration damage to your home involves leaks around windows and doors. If there are issues with the door or window frames that may permit water penetration, appropriate maintenance should be performed. This may also be a good time to determine that the caulking is adequate and supplement the caulking to the extent necessary.
A final step that homeowners should consider is to examine trees on the premises to determine if there are branches or limbs that might break off and cause damage under the force of strong winds. The cost to have a gardener trim trees can be trivial when compared with the cost of repair when a limb crashes through the roof of your home.
Admittedly, these may seem like fairly common sense steps to prevent wind damage, but they can save you thousands of dollars in damage when wind and rain threaten your home with loss. A wind scale established by researchers at the University of North Carolina provides insight into how the force of wind correlates with specific threats to a residence:
- Winds at 39 mph can cause small branches to break off
- Winds that reach 47 mph can cause some damage to a structure, such as blowing shingles loose
- Winds of 55 mph cause major problems like structural damage and toppling of trees
- Winds that reach 64 mph cause extensive widespread damage to homes
- Wind of 74 mph constitute hurricane level winds
If you have questions about filing a wind damage claim or your insurance carrier is giving you the run around after filing such a claim, a Florida wind damage insurance claims attorney might be able to help.
You can reach Miami Insurance Claims Lawyer J.P. Gonzalez-Sirgo by dialing his direct number at (786) 272-5841, calling the main office at (305) 461-1095, or Toll Free at 1 (866) 71-CLAIM or email Attorney Gonzalez-Sirgo directly at [email protected].