Every winter season comes with unpredictable weather. In Virginia, it’s easy to experience a bright and sunny morning that quickly turns to freezing temperatures and piles of snow and ice at night.
These types of conditions are a homeowner’s worst nightmare.
Harsh weather like wind, snow, sleet and ice can do a number on your home. If you’re not careful, it can cause serious damage that costs a fortune in repairs.
Common Damages To Your Home From Winter Weather
Depending on the type of precipitation hammering your home, you could experience:
- Weakened roof. Freezing temperatures can cause water to ice over your roof and chip at the shingles. If it snows, the piles could weigh down on your roof. In extreme cases, the extra weight will cause the roof to collapse.
- Broken gutters. Ice dams can clog up your gutters and cause them to overload and overflow. If the buildup gets large enough, one rain storm is all it takes to create a leak into your home – or even pull the gutters right off the house.
- Cracked foundation. Ice is a force to be reckoned with. If frost hardens the ground around your home too much, the frozen soil could cause your home’s foundation to shift and crack under the pressure. These cracks can expand more with each freeze.
- Deteriorating windows. As durable as your windows are, constant wind and freezing temperatures can nip at the caulk and cause it to pull at the windows – creating gaps that let the cold air into your home. In chilling degrees, a worn down window could even suffer cracked glass.
- Rotted wood. All forms of precipitation are water, which means if your home sees constant rain or snow, the abundance of water could rot and deteriorate your home’s exterior wooden features.
- Damaged siding. Wind and hail are harsh on the exterior surfaces or your home, including your siding – your boards could chip and crack. Cold temperatures in general can make your siding brittle and easier to break.
- Frozen pipes. With water always moving and collecting in your pipes, cold temperatures create the danger of freezing the water, making it expand and bursting the pipe. Burst pipes lead to leaks and floods, which can cause serious damage.
- Flooding in your home. Burst pipes and huge snow storms that cause your roof to leak are all more dangerous than you think. Any of these common occurrences can lead to your home flooding and experiencing water damage.
Water damage can ruin your features, weaken your home’s structure and even create a breeding ground for mold.
How Home Insurance Can Help
While some of these inconveniences only call for minor repairs, one large snow storm could completely damage your house. All it takes is for one frozen tree to fall on the roof or one frozen pipe to burst and flood the area for the entire structure to be deemed unlivable.
You can save yourself from these costly repairs when you invest in quality homeowners insurance that includes covered perils.
Most home insurance policies won’t cover regular wear and tear, but natural disasters and events that are unexpected are considered a covered peril – this includes snow and ice storms.
Protect Your Home With Homeowners Insurance
As a homeowner, it is your responsibility to take care of your house and keep your family safe. While you can’t control the weather, you can take precautions so you don’t end up having to pay a large sum to fix winter weather damages.
Sanford Insurance provides extensive home insurance for homeowners in Richmond who want to protect their property and financially recover from winter mishaps.
Contact us today and see how our home insurance coverage can help you this winter season.