3 Most Expensive Home Disasters and How to Prevent Them

What are the most expensive home disasters and how to prevent them?

Owning a home comes with multiple potentials for disaster. Flooded basements, broken HVAC, electrical repairs, plumbing repairs and more are risks that every homeowner faces. These issues and ones like them are expensive to deal with, make living in the home miserable while the problem persists, and just don’t go away easily. In fact, if the repair was done on the cheap, the problem plagues the homeowner until the job gets done correctly. Fortunately, a lot of these issues are avoidable with regular maintenance. Following are three of the most expensive home disasters and how to prevent them.

Flooded Basements

Whether you live on a flood plain or in an area where floods happen “once a century,” you’re going to flood. No ifs, ands, or buts. A flood will happen, and because water finds its lowest ground, that means basements are at the highest risk of taking on water. It’s a nightmare scenario that many homeowners deal with, and it’s one that is never anticipated.

Prevention for a flooded basement is involved, but spending money now instead of dealing with the mess later is money well spent. An engineer who specializes in water runoff is a good person to start with. They know how to determine how and where water gets into the basement during heavy rains. Installing overhead drains that eject water out of the home via a pump is also good insurance against a flood.

Broken HVAC Units

Air conditioning in the summer and heating during the winter are necessary to remain comfortable and prevent the house from suffering the ravages of weather. When one of them breaks, it’s practically a guarantee that everyone’s going to quickly get miserable. Breakdowns don’t have to happen provided regular maintenance gets performed on the existing units.

Many HVAC repair companies are happy to set up a regular maintenance schedule for clients. They come out in the spring before the AC goes on for the summer, and again in the fall when the heating needs to get turned on. Any needed repairs get caught before they become a problem, reducing costs and extending the life of the unit.

Broken Plumbing

Plumbing wears with age, but does it quietly. Some materials, such as PVC, are more sensitive to changes in temperature if not maintained properly. All it takes is a bad defrost-freeze cycle to expose weakness in a pipe. And the way that weakness gets found is when the home floods as a result. Water creates unrelenting damage destroying drywall, carpets, wood floors, and anything porous enough to absorb water.

Have an experienced plumber take a look at the pipes on a schedule they suggest. There may be areas that need closer watch than others. Catching the problems sooner than later means no flooding and an inexpensive repair.

These are just some of the issues a homeowner needs to keep an eye on. Engaging in preventative maintenance goes a long way towards saving money, preserving comfort, and maintains the home for decades.

Author BIO

Ashley Carter is a full time student writing her way through college. When she’s not writing she enjoys hiking and any other outdoor activity imaginable.