Keeping Your Home Safe During a Blizzard

1/11/2021 (Permalink)

While we’re more used to dealing with rainstorms, snowstorms can also cause a lot of damage to your home or property. Blizzards are especially high-risk weather phenomena because, along with high winds and heavy snow, freezing temperatures can cause further damage.

Roof damage is one of the worst things that can happen to your home during a blizzard. Heavy snow and winds can cause roofs to collapse under too much weight. Wet snow can be deceptively heavy, and a collapse leads to structural and water damage, which is very expensive to repair. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about this. When the weather subsides, you can climb onto your roof and brush snow off it (having a spotter and taking all safety precautions involved), but this can be dangerous and sometimes a storm will simply not let up.

Gutter damage is another prevalent issue. When water freezes in your gutters, it mixes with debris and can expand inside them, causing them to break and become ineffective. Cleaning your gutters regularly, and especially before expected snowfall, can prevent damage.

The other major, and perhaps most notorious, culprit are burst pipes. The water inside pipes can often freeze and expand. This leads to melted water streaming through the structure of your home, causing severe water damage. In order to protect your property, you can make sure to insulate any exposed pipes. You can also let water drip from your faucets to keep the flow moving and lessen the chance that water freezes.

Of course, if there is damage, you can always call us at SERVPRO of Northbrook / Wheeling / Glencoe, (847) 498-8889. Our team members are professionally trained and available 24/7 for emergency services.