When water damage invades your home, it can be extremely expensive. It can happen in many ways, from a washing machine leaking in the basement to a torrential downpour outside.
If you’ve ever dealt with a flooded basement before, you understand why it’s vital to prevent these situations from happening as much as you possibly can.
You could end up losing a large part of your living space if the damage gets too out of hand. Follow these tips to make sure that this doesn’t happen to you, and if it does, you’ll suffer.
How to Prevent Water Damage in Your Home
The most important thing you can do when it comes to dealing with water damage is to make sure that you’re taking the right steps to prevent it in the first place. Water damage cleanup is expensive, time consuming, and doesn’t always reverse the damage.
If you still become the victim of a flood or a leak, the impact will be less tragic if you follow these tips.
Why is Water Damage Prevention so Important?
Water damage has the potential to cost you thousands and thousands of dollars in repairs.
Flood cleanup is extremely expensive and time consuming, and you might never get your basement back the way it used to be.
There are also serious health repercussions that come with water damage due to the potential buildup of mold. It’s extremely important to prevent mold for many reasons. Most importantly, mold could make you and your family very sick.
Black mold in particular is extremely toxic. It can build up without you knowing it because it likes to build up in out of sight places.
Black mold can cause serious, sometimes fatal, damage to your health. It’s been known to cause permanent internal organ damage, hemorrhage, breathing problems, mental impairment, damage to the immune system, and sometimes death.
Check all Appliances, Pipes, and Fixtures Regularly
This might seem like more of a hassle than anything. But it’s vital that you are constantly aware of the status of your appliances, especially those that use water.
A washing machine leaking can easily cause a basement flood, especially when you haven’t been keeping an eye on it.
Keeping an eye on your pipes and plumbing is also a key factor in water damage prevention. Bursting pipes are a common source of damage. This is especially relevant during the winter when they can freeze to the point of breaking.
You might never think to check the back corners of your cabinets, but this is also a common place where mold can build up, because it can get damp in those darker places.
Keep Your Home Dry
This means keeping all surfaces dry and making sure that you don’t leave any excess water anywhere that it could seep into the foundation.
Some hotspots in your home for high moisture levels are the kitchen, washroom, basement, laundry room, and attic. These areas are at high risk for mold and should be given adequate attention.
All washrooms should have an exhaust fan installed to ensure that moisture levels never get too high. This will also make sure that the humidity levels remain reasonable and that there won’t be too much water buildup in those neglected corners.
Know Your Home’s History
Some homes are more susceptible to floods and natural damage due to their location. It’s also affected by the type of land plot they were built on. If you live in a high-risk flood zone, you’ll be familiar with this reality.
When you’re buying a home, pay significant attention to the condition of the basement. If it looks like there’s extensive water damage, or if there has been extensive water damage in the past, you might want to reconsider.
In addition, you want to make sure you ask if the house has a history of flooding. If it does, you might want to reconsider buying the property. If you’ve really fallen in love with the home, make sure you install a sump pump and take cautionary measures to prevent future damage and flood cleanup.
Install a Sump Pump
Installing a sump pump is an effective method for water damage prevention. It will help you avoid expensive cleanup costs and burdens in the future.
A sump pump is a machine that sits in your basement in what’s called a sump pit. Essentially, the sump pump will pump out excess water that gets in the basin and redirect it away from your house. This prevents a backup of water that could lead to a flood.
Sump pumps help to prevent sewer backup that can leak into your house and cause black water damage, the most serious type of water damage you can get.
You might also want to consider having a secondary pump installed in your home in case of an emergency. Sump pump failure does exist, and can cause significant water damage to your home.
You can also purchase sump pumps that have battery backups. This means your pump won’t stop working even in a power outage.
It’s one of the more expensive flood control systems, but it can save you thousands of dollars in the long run. In addition, if you have a sump pump installed in your home, it can actually get you a lower insurance rate.
Make Sure You Have the Right Home Insurance Coverage
When it comes to home insurance, it’s can be hard to understand what you’re covered for. Different types of water damage are covered under different individual policies. Additionally, each insurance company handles their coverage differently.
Water damage claims are the leading payout of insurance companies. In fact, 8 out of 10 home insurance claims are water related.
It’s vital that you do have water damage insurance coverage in your policy, and that it’s the right protection for the claim you have to make. If it’s not, you won’t be able to get anything covered in case of an emergency.
Your Hometown Brokers Will Get You Covered
At Duliban Insurance Brokers, our friendly staff are hometown community members who will treat you like family. We wouldn’t want our own family to be unprepared for a flood, so why would we let it happen to you?
Trust us to get you the insurance premiums that work for you and your budget.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to make sure that we always have you covered in case of an emergency- or even just a question.
Call us today at 1-855-385-4226 or visit our website to get a free quote and start a claim today.
