5 Tips Every Peoria Home Owner Should Know About During Extreme Weather

Here in Peoria, we see a wide range of weather types throughout the year, from heat waves to storms, droughts to snowstorms.

And all of these types of weather can put your home (and your investment) at risk.

Thus, as a home owner, you should be aware of what you can do to protect your home during extreme weather.

What You Should Know About Extreme Weather Home Protection in Peoria

Recent studies have shown that global warming is having an impact on all different types of weather: Wildfires are getting bigger, average temperatures are steadily rising, and the number of natural disasters have doubled in the past 15 years.

While this has implications beyond just being a home owner, we did want to take a few moments to focus in on what you can do as a resident to protect your home:

Address sweltering heat by installing a cool roof. A traditional dark-colored roof can heat up to nearly 190 degrees, creating hot indoor conditions. Instead, a lighter-colored roof stays 50 to 100 degrees cooler since it reflects sunlight rather than absorbs it. You might also consider cool-colored roofing tiles, which look like traditional tiles but have a higher solar reflectance.

Prepare for power outages by installing a standby generator. That way, you'll have electricity to run essential appliances as well as your heating and air system. It can even assist you in reducing the chances of flood damage by keeping your sump pump running.

Fortify your home against strong winds by making your home impact resistant. Even though we don't see a lot of hurricanes around these parts, we are subject to tornados and other high-wind storms. So you should invest in making your home windproof by adding tuss bracing to your homes with gabled roofs, installing impact-resistant windows and doors and installing shutters as well as retrofitting your garage door to include impact-resistant windows and doors.

Fend off wildfires by incorporating fire-resistant landscaping. You can do this by limiting the number of flammable vegetation as well as other materials around your home. You should also consider replacing mulch with pebbles or gravel, replacing a wood deck with a concrete patio and adding pavers and rocks.

Invest in Green Power to Slow Climate Change: The electricity we use to power our properties is the largest source of greenhouse gases. But you can do your part to help the planet by purchasing electricity-generated from renewable energy sources through alternate power suppliers. This may include wind and solar, which don't produce carbon emissions. These products are also becoming less expensive to build and maintain and the price of renewable energy is always the same: nothing.

We're Your Dedicated Peoria, Illinois Realtors

We hope you found this information valuable as a home owner in the Peoria, Illinois area.

For more useful tips on how you can prepare your home for extreme weather – or for any other Peoria real estate assistance – please be sure to connect with us at The Knell Group.

We would be happy to assist you!

Until next time,

The Knell Group