Water damage to your home can be caused by hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, and flooding from spring rains or snow melt.
Here’s how to protect valuable items in your home from water damage.
Waterproof Storage
Place valuable items that can be damaged by water in large, sealable plastic containers.
Tape the lid with duct tape, and store the containers on the second story of your home or in the attic.
Elevate Furniture
Place concrete blocks under sofas and other furniture to raise them up off the floor away from rising floodwaters.
If you get six inches of floodwater in your home, a few eight-inch cinder blocks may provide the protection you need to save that dining room suite you’re so fond of.
Cover with Plastic
Cover furniture, computers, TVs, and other items with plastic sheeting to protect them from roof leaks.
Watch this video to find out more.
Further Information
- How to Prepare for a Hurricane and Other Natural Disasters (article)
- How to Prepare for a Hurricane at the Last Minute (article)
- Dealing with Storm Damage to Your Home (article)
- Boarding Up: Hurricane Storm Panels for Your Home (article)
- Top 10 Hurricane Myths Debunked (article)
- Flood Insurance for Your Home (video)
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Danny Lipford: For many of us severe weather is an unfortunate fact of life during the summer, and that can lead to water damage in our homes. It could be flooding from sudden summer storms; but for me, here along the Gulf Coast, hurricanes are the big concern.
Now, whether the issue is rising water or a leaky roof caused by high winds, the problem is this. When the time comes to evacuate your home you can only take so much with you, so how do you protect that stuff you have to leave behind? Well here are a few ideas that might help you.
Now spending just a few dollars spent on some of the large plastic containers can buy you a big piece of mind, if you use them to store items like photos that can’t get wet, but they do have sentimental value. Seal the lid well with duct tape, and if rising water is your concern, then move the boxes to the highest level in your home, that may even be your attic.
Furniture, for example, is valuable, too, but you can’t move it all of it to the attic before you leave so consider just raising it up off of the floor where it is. If your home say gets six inches of floodwater in it, a few eight-inch cinder blocks may provide the protection you need to save that dining room suite you’re so fond of. You can also protect furniture and electronics from overhead leaks by covering them with lightweight plastic.
So, plan ahead, have this stuff on hand before severe weather threatens, and then do what I do—hope and pray you don’t have to use it.
I never thought of this and I wish I would have utilized the cinder blocks during the flood.
I love your idea of using plastic boxes and I am going to migrate to them. I encourage people to test your plastic boxes first and maybe even putting a layer of plastic wrap between the lid and box just for grins. I am going to be a lot of these boxes and have them in my attic so if the time comes, I can have immediate access. Excellent idea.
need advice to protect heavy furniture in case of 3 ft flooding.