Prepare your home for heavy rain

During a long, hot summer you may find yourself wishing for rain. Your lawn is dead and your plants are barely hanging on. The beautiful flowers are gone and all that remains is long expanses of dust, dirt and brown grass.

But summer is the perfect time to ensure your home is ready for Autumn and the rain that will once again dominate the weather forecast. The last thing you want is to find an issue in the middle of a storm.

Preparing the outside of your home

Check your roof

It’s better to do this before the weather turns, but we should all be in a routine of checking regularly. A leak in your roof can spiral into hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds worth of damage to your property.

Be on the lookout for any loose or missing tiles. Calling someone to fix a loose tile is better than trying to repair damage.

Clear your gutters and check they’re secure

Gutters are easily forgotten but are an integral part of your home. They deposit all running roof water into a drain, rather than falling freely and causing issues.

Keeping your gutters clear can help to prevent water damage to the rest of your home.

If you do see water overflowing along your gutters, this could indicate that you have a blockage. This will need clearing out.

If you aren’t confident doing this yourself, a local tradesperson should be able to help you relatively easily.

Protect valuable items

If you have valuable items in your garden, such as tables, chairs, or even a BBQ, it’s a good idea to cover them and secure them during bad weather. Even if they are waterproof, covering them will prolong their lifespan and keep them looking nicer for longer. This will also reduce the number of times you find yourself cleaning them.

If you have a shed, it’s the perfect place to store these items during heavy rain.

Clear your storm drains

While they’re not necessarily part of your home, keeping the storm drains on your street clear prevents flooding which can cause damage to your property.

Debris and rubbish can collect around storm drains, which reduces their effectiveness. This can cause a flood if all the drains along a road are blocked. Clearing this blockage will help increase the amount of water they can drain, and how quickly they can drain it.

If you notice the drains are clear but the water is still backing up, you should contact your local council and report this.

Preparing the inside of your home

Check the roof again

Check the inside of your roof by heading into the loft to make sure there are no leaks that are hidden from the outside. Wet or damp walls, mould or rotting wood indicates that you could potentially have an unchecked leak.

If you can see daylight through cracks or feel a draft, then water could get in. Anywhere light or a draft can get in, so can any water on your roof. If you notice any crack or leaks, you should make sure the area is secure and move any valuables away from the area.

Welcome Mats

This may seem like an obvious piece of advice, but if you don’t have a welcome mat then you will be bringing dirty rainwater into your home on your shoes. If you don’t have a welcome mat, a cheap alternative is to put down a couple of sheets of newspaper in the entrance to your home and leaving wet shoes to dry on a few more sheets.

Check window and door seals

If your windows and doors don’t seal properly, they can let in both the cold and the wet. A relatively cheap and easy solution is to invest in a waterproof draft excluder to block up any gaps at the bottom of your door.

Unfortunately, if the seal is letting in a significant amount of water, or water from a number of places, the only long-term solution may be replacing the door or window.