Weathering The Storm - How to Rebuild Your Home After a Natural Disaster
Mother Nature sure knows how to surprise you. Whether it’s a hurricane, an earthquake, lightning striking or a devastating flood, you might be wondering what to do next. If your home has been affected by a natural disaster, let’s take a look at the steps you should take to get back on your feet as soon as possible.
Assess the situation
The first step you should take is to step back and assess the situation. You need to assess all damages properly. If there are still things happening that need to be addressed, now is the time to do it.
For example, if your home is still being flooded due to an earthquake or a burst river bank, now is the time to put an end to this. Put in temporary fixes like tarping and sandbags to stop any further water damage to your home. If you haven’t already, turn off your main water supply to help dry out your home as soon as possible.
You should also be taking pictures of all damages that have been caused by the disaster. Make sure these are date stamped as these can help when it comes to dealing with insurance claims. Not only can it help make your claims a smoother process, but it will help keep you motivated during the clean up and rebuild process.
Start the clean up
Once you’ve got the situation above handled, it’s time to start the dreaded clean up. If your home is unlivable, your first step should be to find somewhere to stay for the time being. Your next step should be to call out professional emergency restoration and reconstruction services to help you out. While the damage may already be done, there may still be some dangers lurking. Don’t attempt to do them yourself!
Once they have done their part, you can go in and do any finishing touches like tackle mould caused by flooding or repaint your walls once everything is dried and safe to be around again.
Roll up your sleeves and rebuild
Finally, once there are no dangers in your home and you’ve cleared any debris, it’s time to get to work to make your house a home again. Firstly, you’ll need to speak with a structural engineer to see if there was any damage that could be an issue in the future. Reinforcing at this stage of the process helps prevent any problems or injuries later on.
Once you know it’s safe to rebuild, embrace it! Now is your change to channel your inner design guru and rebuild the damaged parts of your home exactly how you’ve always wanted them. You can bring a fresh aesthetic to your space, and even use this as a chance to extend your home to make it a bigger and more enjoyable space to be in.
Experiencing a natural disaster is hard enough, but rebuilding your life and home after is an even bigger challenge. Follow these tips and your home should be as good as new in no time.
