Protecting Your Home

Precautionary measures can be taken to secure the safety of your home, increase the value of your home, as well as protect your family and assets. By nature, we observe the news and the disasters of people’s lives and think it could never happen to us. If it does happen, our instinctive reaction is, “How could this happen to me?” The reality of the situation is that anything could happen to any of us at any given moment, and the secret is to protect yourself well in advance. Why not start with your home?

A multitude of events could affect your home negatively, including hail, lightning, winter storms, flooding, hurricanes, and tornadoes. In addition to the natural causes named above, there are robberies, breaking and entering, and the list goes on. I know what you are thinking, “It will never happen to me”.

Here is a bit of a history lesson. In 1954, hurricane Hazel hit Toronto with winds traveling at approximately 110 km per hour causing serious flooding, taking eighty-one lives, and leaving 4,000 people homeless. On August 19, 2005, 175 mm of rain fell within 2-3 hours, flooding the Kitchener to Toronto area; the damages exceeded $500 million. A record-breaking twister hit the Durham Region on August 2, 2006. In the summer of 2008, a man was killed due to lightning. Unfortunate deaths as well as millions of dollars of damage are a result of lightning. In addition, freezing rain, hail, ice, heavy snow, and sub-zero temperatures could damage buildings, homes, and vehicles. The point is, protect your home and your assets – it could happen to you. Here are some suggestions to start you off.

The most advertised way to protect yourself and your home is by installing an alarm system. This form of protection is beneficial because they can detect intruders, fires, and the presence of carbon monoxide. Some of them could also perform to detect high temperatures and flooding. Something to consider when installing an alarm system is that smart burglars will cut the telephone lines before breaking into a home as a precaution against alarm systems. In order to avoid that, ensure that the telephone lines are well secured and out of reach from the outside. Perhaps you could have the telephone lines run underground to your home. 

Glass-Gard is a safety and security film applied to glass windows and doors. It does not make the glass bulletproof, but takes away the most valuable asset to a burglar – time. The purpose of Glass-Gard is to increase the amount of time it takes to penetrate a window by smashing it. It is also a protective shield against any objects that may be thrust at the window, including, for example, a garbage can, or even a street sign, by the means of wayward winds. Something to think about: over 70% of all break-ins occur through glass.

Something else to consider is installing a home standby generator in cases of blackouts, to keep general appliances running. A generator is beneficial because it provides you with peace of mind if you are on a trip, away from the home, or even within your home, knowing that a blackout or power outage will not affect your activities in any way. Spoiled food, water leakage, pipe damage, and any other property damage costs combined would pay for the generator.

Heated cables could be used around the outside of the home to prevent ice buildup, and in turn prevent leakage through the roof into the home. Ultimately, any measures whether big or small taken to protect your home are advisable. You never know when you will need the extra security features.

Written By: Sevinj Najafova, you may contact Sevinj via e-mail at snajafova@terrequity.com.