It’s Summer time which means it’s storm season. For businesses and home owners there are many preventative tactics that you can employ to make sure that heavy rain does not damage your property. Water is an element that will go into any crack that it can find and sometimes your home or office may not be protected. The first measure of prevention for water damage is making sure you have a proper drainage system.  Make sure you know where drains are located around your home or office building. At home drains may be located at entrances and doors. These areas are important to protect because your door might not be water tight when it floods. There might be window well drains around basement or low level windows. On your flat roofs, which may be more common on commercial buildings, there is typically a drain because water cannot runoff a flat surface as easily as an angled roof. Once you identify where your drains are, you can begin taking preventative measures. These measures consist of actively cleaning your drainage systems before and after storms because over time debris such as leaves, branches and dirt build up which blocks the water flow and can cause flooding. This goes for your gutters as well. Anything that lands on your roof will often roll down and get stuck in your gutters. The next step is to make sure your windows and doors are locked tight because sometimes the difference between locking them and not is a tiny crack which water can seep through. If locking doesn’t prevent water from entering your home or office leave a rolled up towel at the area so that it will soak up the water. Heavy rain can cause serious damage to your home or office building so take these preventative tactics into consideration next time there is a severe weather alert.

Picture of water damage restoration process after hurricane Sandy.