Keep the Roof Over Your Head with These Risk Mitigation Strategies

There are many milestones we encounter during our lives, but whether you just purchased your first home or your tenth, homeownership is a proud achievement for everyone. Receiving the first set of keys to the house you now own is often a cherished memory. However, getting the first bill as a new homeowner because your water heater broke or your dishwasher leaked can be memorable, but it is often less cherished.

Beyond the cost of repairs is home maintenance. When it’s your house that you have turned into your home and your investment in your future, it’s always best to be proactive. As simple as it sounds, given the current climate of severe weather across the country, it can be quite challenging. Severe weather events test how well a house is built, maintained, and protected. This is part of what makes homeowners insurance so important. However, it’s not just about having homeowners’ insurance; it’s about having the right coverage for your home and your lifestyle. The unpredictability of what the future holds can be daunting, but knowing you’re covered in the event your home or property are damaged can bring peace of mind. 

As a homeowner, there’s a lot you can do to make your home more resilient. Being proactive in mitigating your risks may assist in obtaining adequate insurance coverage for your home and in some cases may even result in credits or discounts on your insurance policy. More critically, due to the increase in frequency and severity of severe weather, insurance carriers are meticulously evaluating how you maintain and update your home when making decisions about premiums and the insurability of your property. 

Strong roofs = resilient homes

Let’s start at the top! While it may not be as exciting as a kitchen remodel, an updated and well-maintained roof is one of the most important areas of your home to focus on. Despite the roof being the first line of defense against severe weather, it’s often overlooked when buying or building a house.

Your roof should be inspected annually as part of routine home maintenance. Here are some things to consider when checking your roof:

• Make sure the gutters are clear.
• Ensure there are no missing shingles or tiles.
• Check that the flashing is functioning properly.
• Confirm that the material on top of your roof is adequately protecting the layer underneath (the underlayer prevents water from entering your home).

For slate, clay, or concrete tiled roofs, make sure any missing or broken tiles are replaced each year.

For flat roofs, a professional roofer should confirm there is no water ponding, settling on the roof, tears in the material, and no debris in the drains or scuppers.

Insurance carriers are examining roofs much more closely these days, and as roofs age (regardless of the material), carriers often feel they are more susceptible to loss. Taking the time for annual roof maintenance can help lower your chance of loss, potentially improve your standing with the insurance carrier, assist in your long-term insurability, and often enhance your home’s resale value. 

Don’t let the wind sway you.

When you’re east of the Rocky Mountains, stretching all the way to the Atlantic coast, Class 4-rated roofs should be the new standard. These roofs are more durable during hailstorms, and you can often find products that are more resistant to high winds.

Wind events, whether from a hurricane, tornado, or derecho, are similar stressors impacting your home. Did you know that roofs can be engineered to stay attached to the house even during high-wind events with engineering modifications? The IBHS and Fortified Programs offer guidance on this, and as always, finding a good, licensed contractor is part of that equation. 

Doors, windows, and garage doors

Beyond your roof, the next critical components are the entry points—this includes doors, windows, and the often-overlooked garage door. Thankfully, doors and windows are regulated by building codes to withstand certain wind speeds. However, keeping tree branches and other debris clear from your windows is just as critical because most areas of the country don’t use impact-rated windows.

When windows break from tree branches or various debris, wind pressure can enter the home and cause intense uplifting, which compromises the roof-to-wall connections. This is often shown in storm videos you see after an extreme weather event, such as a roof blown hundreds of feet away from a home.

The garage door is another common point of entry for wind unless it is designed to withstand wind speeds of over 140 mph. Winds may also blow in a garage door if it’s not properly rated and braced for high-wind impact, which can cause the roof to fly off due to interior pressure.

The threats posed to homes by severe convective storms (tornadoes, thunderstorms, derechos, etc.) are similar to those from hurricanes. Hurricanes often stir up severe convective storms ahead of their landfall, as we saw with Hurricane Milton, where tornadoes were popping up in inland Florida. These inland areas were not all built to withstand strong hurricanes because, previously, by the time a hurricane hit inland, the wind speed would have dropped dramatically, reducing the chance of large-scale damage. 

Don’t let a leak become a lake.

Inside a home, water damage is the most common insurance claim. You can lower your chances of having a water claim from an interior water source with a couple of simple tools.

In cold climates, alarm companies often offer low-temperature sensors, which can be placed throughout your home and trigger an alert if the temperature drops below a pre-set threshold. For instance, the sensor could alert you if the indoor temperature falls below 50 degrees, likely signaling that a heating element has failed. This would allow you to quickly rectify the situation before pipes freeze and a burst pipe creates a lake inside your home.

Another consideration is installing a flow-based automatic water shut-off device. These devices can automatically turn off the water supply when a leak is detected. Some can also be connected to your home security system, allowing for remote access to shut off the water supply, thus stopping a small leak from becoming a lake.

Your insurance carrier may require these devices or offer a discount if you have them installed.

Don’t let the embers in.

Wildfires are no longer bound to a season; they happen year-round across the country. For homeowners, it’s important to take action to harden your home in advance. The top things to consider are:

1. Remember your vents. The vents on your roof, crawl space, and the sides of your home should be retrofitted with ember-resistant venting, as embers cause up to 90% of structural fires. The embers can enter through a vent, spark an interior flame, and spread to the rest of your home.

2. Materials matter. A concrete tile roof is made of material that is not combustible. If you have one, there is no need to spray it down with water as a wildfire approaches. Hardie panel siding is a great, durable, non-combustible material that can be used instead of wood siding. There are many new innovative products on the market for the exterior of your home that hold up significantly better than wood siding during a wildfire. Think of embers like snowflakes, blowing at up to 80 mph against the side of your home—all it takes is one ember to embed itself in the siding for a fire to start.

3. Adequate defensible space. Defensible space refers to the buffer zone created between your home and the natural elements surrounding it. The first five feet around a structure is known as the “immediate zone.” Homeowners should focus on this space to ensure there are no combustible materials, no mulch or coniferous plants, and that trees and shrubs are trimmed back away from the home. If embers land in gravel or bare earth, there is nothing within the first five feet of your home that could catch fire, thus improving your home’s defensible space.

Benefits of working with a broker

In today’s challenging insurance market, it’s important to have additional conversations with your broker, especially before starting any new projects, like a renovation or a new addition. These conversations can help if you ever experience a loss. Our team provides guidance to our clients from planning through completion to help ensure your home is as resilient as possible. The additional benefit is that by working with us throughout the process, we can ensure your home meets the needs of the insurance companies we work with.

Over the past year, we have had several clients reach out who live in wildfire-prone areas looking for guidance on how to best harden their homes and improve their defensible space. Beyond providing guidance, we have taken a holistic approach to their properties and spoken to them about additional carrier expectations in this ever-changing insurance landscape. There are many factors that insurance carriers evaluate when looking at your home to underwrite a policy. Ensuring that you check all the boxes the insurance carriers have outlined for you gives you an advantage in possibly receiving multiple offers from carriers.

These days, insurance is competitive, capacity is limited, and carriers want to cover the best homes in their area. It’s essentially your home against your neighbors, and the homes that have mitigated the most risks are the ones carriers will reserve capacity for. We have a team dedicated to reviewing your policy, regardless of your area, to make sure you’re aware of the various measures you can take to improve your opportunities in the insurance market.